Lambert of Ardres (active 1194–1203) was a chronicler in the twelfth-century

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...

, from on the frontiers of the

County of Flanders The County of Flanders was a historic territory in the Low Countries. From 862 onwards, the counts of Flanders were among the original twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries, their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypr ...

. Cyriel Moeyaert, "Aarde (Ardres), Lambert van (Lambertus Ardensis)", '' Nationaal Biografisch Woordenboek'', vol. 16 (2002), 1-3. By 1194, Lambert was the

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

Ardres Ardres (; vls, Aarden, lang; pcd, Arde) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. Geography Ardres is located 10.1 mi by rail (station is at Pont-d'Ardres, a few km from Ardres) S.S.E. of Calais, with which it is als ...

. He was related to the Counts of

Guînes Guînes (; vls, Giezene, lang; pcd, Guinne) is a commune in the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais. Historically it was spelt ''Guisnes''. On 7 January 1785, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, a French pioneer in hydrogen-balloon flight, complete ...

, for whom he wrote a ''Historia comitum Ghisnensium'', begun around 1196 and left unfinished in 1203. It is a mixture of history and folklore. It also contains a contemporary description of a

donjon A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

. A chapter of

Georges Duby Georges Duby (7 October 1919 – 3 December 1996) was a French historian who specialised in the social and economic history of the Middle Ages. He ranks among the most influential medieval historians of the twentieth century and was one of Franc ...

's ''The Knight, The Lady, and the Priest'' is dedicated to Lambert's ''Historia''. Lambert's ''Historia'' has been published in a number of editions: * Godfrey de Ménilglaise (ed.), ''Chronique de Guines et d'Ardres par Lambert, curé d'Ardres'' (Paris, 1855). * Johannes Heller (ed.), "Lamberti ardensis historia comitum Ghisnensium", in ''

Monumenta Germaniae Historica The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...

'', Scriptores, vol. 24 (1879), 550-642. * Leah Shopkow (trans.), ''The History of the Counts of Guines and Lords of Ardres'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000)

References

External links

* French chroniclers 1160s births 13th-century deaths 12th-century French historians 12th-century French Roman Catholic priests French male non-fiction writers 12th-century Latin writers People from Pas-de-Calais {{middleages-stub