Godfrey of

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; pcd, Kimbré; nl, Kamerijk), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department and in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, regio ...

(also known as Godfrey of Winchester) was the

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

Abbey from 1082 until his death in 1107. When he joined the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

community around 1070 he was probably around 15 years old. He also was a composer of poems, writing ecclesiastics and

eulogies A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a ...

of English kings, and a book of moral

epigrams An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two millen ...

in the style of

Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...

. Godfrey's genuine works were later often confused with those of Martial's. His work enjoyed considerable popularity in the century after his death and beyond. One of his poems is included in ''

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreverent ...

''. Twenty-one manuscripts of his works survive. He was popular, under his own name and erroneously under Martial's, during the Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

References

*Thomson, Rodney M., 'England and the Twelfth Century Renaissance', ''Past and Present'' 101 (1983) *Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 11th-century births 1107 deaths 11th-century English clergy 12th-century English Roman Catholic priests Priors Year of birth unknown English satirists Epigrammatists Medieval Latin poets English male poets 12th-century English poets 12th-century English writers 11th-century English poets 11th-century English writers 11th-century Latin writers 12th-century Latin writers {{europe-writer-stub