page_title: De laude Cestrie
section_title: Contents
hierarchical_section_title: De laude Cestrie / Contents
caption_attribution_description: English: Plan of Chester by William Smith. Published in The Particuler Description of England. With the portratures of certaine of the cheiffest citties &amp; townes (1588)
context_page_description: De laude Cestrie, also known as Liber Luciani de laude Cestrie, is a medieval English manuscript in Latin by Lucian of Chester, probably a monk at the Benedictine Abbey of St Werburgh in Chester. Believed to date from the end of the 12th century, it has been described as "the oldest extant piece of Cheshire writing," and, with its first-hand description of the medieval town of Chester, is one of the earliest examples of prose writing about an English urban centre. It is also notable for the earliest extended description of Chester's county palatine status, which Lucian writes "gives heed ... more to the sword of its prince than to the crown of the king." The original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Excerpts have been published in 1600, 1912 and 2008.
context_section_description: De laude Cestrie provides a first-hand account of the town of Chester and its associated county at the end of the 12th century, under Ranulf de Blondeville (1170–1232). It is among the earliest surviving prose descriptions of an English urban centre, as well as of an urban eulogy (encomium urbis) in praise of an English town. An earlier example praising London, Descriptio Nobilissimae Civitatis Londoniae, was written by William fitz Stephen in 1173–75. (Alcuin's Latin poem to York dates from the late 8th century; a 12th-century Old English poem to Durham and another in Latin to Chester, quoted in a 14th-century work, are also known.) The form dates back to Quintilian in the 1st century AD, and was propagated by handbooks by Priscian and others, which Faulkner argues Lucian would probably have read. Lucian cites many classical authors including Horace, Ovid, Seneca and Virgil, as well as the Bible and Geoffrey of Monmouth.
  Lucian documents a county that has already acquired a distinct regional identity, differentiated not only from Wales but also from the adjacent areas of England. He describes the people of Chester as being generally similar to the Welsh (Britons), "through a long transfusion of morals." He gives the earliest extended description of the county of Chester's special administrative position, later formalised as the county palatine or palatinate, whereby the Anglo-Norman Chester earldom took on the power of the English crown, writing:
  [E]nclosed on the other side by the borders of the Forest of Lyme, the province of Chester is, by a certain distinction of privilege, free from all other Englishmen. By the indulgence of kings and the eminence of earls, it gives heed in the assemblies of its provincials more to the sword of its prince than to the crown of the king. Within their jurisdiction, they treat matters of great importance with the utmost freedom.
  A marginal note adds "the earl is obeyed, the king is not feared."
  The etymology of Chester's Latin name, Cestria, is given as "threefold" (cis tria), and Lucian repeatedly organises material into triples, which Barrett suggests may refer to the Trinity. Lucian gives the derivation of the English name as being "camp of God" (Dei castra), which is similar to the modern etymology from castra.
  The text describes the town's walls with their four gates, the two crossing streets and the central market. Lucian's observations often come from an imagined aerial perspective. The text documents international trade, with ships carrying wine and other goods arriving at the port from Aquitaine, Ireland, Germany and Spain, as well as goods by land including grain, fish and cattle from England, Ireland and Wales, respectively. Lucian makes an extensive comparison of Chester with Rome, and also draws parallels with Jerusalem. Outside Chester's walls, he describes three roads leading to Christleton (identified with Christ), Aldford and the sanctuary for criminals of Hoole Heath (the valley of demons).
  Unlike William fitz Stephen's work on London, De laude Cestrie concentrates on religious rather than secular aspects of his chosen town. Lucian describes Chester via Biblical parallels; according to Barrett, "the city's streets and buildings become scripture made manifest." Faulkner describes the text as "perhaps the fullest application of this Neo-Platonic theology to survive from the Middle Ages." Barrett and Keith D. Lilley highlight several instances where Lucian distorts Chester's geography to suit his rhetorical purposes.
  More than half of the manuscript addresses the roles and characteristics of the town's monks, nuns and clerks. It focuses particularly on the monastery of St Werburgh, the nunnery dedicated to St Mary, and the town's three churches, St John the Baptist's, St Peter's and St Michael's. St Werburgh's name is given as meaning "the one defending the city"; Lucian gives an apparently eye-witness account of the fire of 1180, which he states was extinguished when St Werburgh's shrine was carried in procession through the streets. Lucian describes the monastery of St
caption: A 1588 plan of post-medieval Chester, showing the town walls, gates and crossing streets that Lucian describes
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