Walter Map was born into
a Norman family from Herefordshire in
about 1140. After studying in Paris, Map worked for Henry
II as a clerk.
Henry enjoyed Map's company and often took him on his travels round
his kingdom.
Although Map wrote several
books, only one, On the Trivialities of Courtiers,
has survived. The book is extremely witty and contains some entertaining
stories on life in Henry II's court. As the book makes fun of important
people, it was not published in the author's lifetime. Walter Map
died in 1210.
The
Normans: Classroom Activities
(1)
Walter Map, Courtiers' Trifles (c. 1215)
The Cistercians
came to England... They obtain land from a rich man... by much pretending
of innocence and... putting in God at every other word. The wood is
cut down and levelled into a plain... bushes give place to barley,
willows to wheat... in order to give them full time for these operations,
their prayers have to be somewhat shortened... The Cistercians do
not eat meat... Yet they keep pigs to the number of many thousands,
and sell the bacon - though perhaps not quite all of it. The heads,
legs, and feet they neither give away, throw away, nor sell. What
becomes of them God knows.
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