Geoffrey the Baker (died ), also called Walter of Swinbroke, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

chronicler. He was probably a secular clerk at Swinbrook in Oxfordshire. He wrote a ''Chronicon Angliae temporibus Edwardi II et Edwardi III'', which deals with the history of England from 1303 to 1356. From the beginning until about 1324 this work is based upon

Adam Murimuth Adam Murimuth (1274/751347) was an English ecclesiastic and chronicler. Life He was born in 1274 or 1275 and studied civil law at the University of Oxford. Between 1312 and 1318 he practised in the papal curia at Avignon. King Edward II of En ...

's ''Continuatio chronicarum'', but after this date it contains information not found elsewhere, and closes with a detailed account of the

Battle of Poitiers The Battle of Poitiers was fought on 19September 1356 between a French army commanded by King JohnII and an Anglo- Gascon force under Edward, the Black Prince, during the Hundred Years' War. It took place in western France, south of Poit ...

. The author obtained his knowledge about the last days of Edward II from William Bisschop, a companion of the king's alleged murderers, Thomas Gurney and

John Maltravers John Maltravers, 1st Baron Maltravers (1290?–1364) was an English nobleman and soldier. Early life He was son of Sir John Maltravers (1266–1343?) of Lytchett Matravers, Dorset, born by his first wife Eleanor, about 1290. He was knighted, as ...

. Geoffrey also wrote a ''Chroniculum'' from the creation of the world until 1336, the value of which is very slight. His writings have been edited with notes by Sir

Edward Maunde Thompson Sir Edward Maunde Thompson (4 May 1840 – 14 September 1929) was a British palaeographer and Principal Librarian and first Director of the British Museum. He is noted for his handbook of Greek and Latin palaeography and for his study of Will ...

as the
Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke
' (Oxford, 1889). Some doubt exists concerning Geoffrey's share in the compilation of the ''Vita et mors Edwardi II'', usually attributed to Sir Thomas de la More, or Moor, and printed by

William Camden William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ''Ann ...

in his ''Anglica scripta''. It has been maintained by Camden and others that More wrote an account of Edward's reign in French, and that this was translated into Latin by Geoffrey and used by him in compiling his ''Chronicon''. Nineteenth-century scholarship, however, asserts that More was no writer, and that the ''Vita et mors'' is an extract from Geoffrey's ''Chronicon'', and was attributed to More, who was the author's patron. In the main this conclusion substantiates the verdict of

William Stubbs William Stubbs (21 June 182522 April 1901) was an English historian and Anglican bishop. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford between 1866 and 1884. He was Bishop of Chester from 1884 to 1889 and Bishop of O ...

, who has published the ''Vita et mors'' in his ''Chronicles of the reigns of Edward I and Edward II'' (London, 1883). The manuscripts of Geoffrey's works are in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.

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