GERVASE, or Gervaise, of Tilbury (Gervasius Tilburi-ensis), an English Latin writer of the 13th century, was probably born at Tilbury in Essex. He is frequently said to have been a nephew of Henry II. of England; but if this was the case, it is strange that in speaking of Henry to Otto IV. he makes no allusion to this relationship, but simply calls him “my master the illustrious king of the English, Henry II., your uncle vestri αvunculif The truth probably is that the statement owes its origin to some careless copyist or reader either taking vestri for nostri in this passage, or, as Μ. Petit Radel suggests, the contraction vri for mei. Gervase was present at the peace of Venice in 1177, was professor of canon law some years later at Bologna, and afterwards entered the service of William II. of Sicily. Having obtained the favour of Otto IV., who had close intercourse with England, he was by him appointed about 1200 chancellor and marshal of the kingdom of Arles. He subsequently received the provostship of the nunnery at Ebsdorf, and died about 1235. His best known, if not his only important work, is the Otia Imperialia, which he composed about 1212 for the entertainment of his imperial patron. The first two books are a sort of geographical and historical compendium, and the third 13 devoted to all kinds of curious facts and beliefs. The history begins at the beginning with the creation of the world, but it only comes down to the author’s own days, as he confesses he had not the gift of prophecy. It is a fairly learned but on the whole very dry digest of the ordinary narratives handed on from chronicler to chronicler, relieved at times with curious disquisitions, or passages from the writer’s own experience. It is mainly the third book which justifies Mr ...