Conversation so far:
How did Paris become a historian?
From 1235, the point at which Wendover dropped his pen, Paris continued the history on the plan which his predecessors had followed.
What was the plan?
He derived much of his information from the letters of important people, which he sometimes inserts, but much more from conversation with the eyewitnesses of events.

Question: was being a historian related to the church?
Self-contained rewrite: was Matthew Paris being a historian related to the church?