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Matthew Paris
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<p>Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris , was an <a href="/facts/English_people/IeI9c7BK">English</a> <a href="/facts/Benedictine/QsRVmXpw">Benedictine</a> monk, <a href="/facts/English_historians_in_the_Middle_Ages/lYho3qbv">chronicler</a>, artist in <a href="/facts/Illuminated_manuscript/4IPxhUdM">illuminated manuscripts</a>, and cartographer who was based at <a href="/facts/St_Albans_Cathedral/S6gqKzQy">St Albans Abbey</a> in <a href="/facts/Hertfordshire/TcBlCoSp">Hertfordshire</a>. He authored a number of historical works, many of which he scribed and illuminated himself, typically in drawings partly coloured with watercolour washes, sometimes called "tinted drawings". Some were written in Latin, others in <a href="/facts/Anglo-Norman_language/GmwkRAzQ">Anglo-Norman</a> or <a href="/facts/Old_French/QcRpPdAc">French</a> verse. He is sometimes confused with the nonexistent <a href="/facts/Matthew_of_Westminster/oyH6GUW6">Matthew of Westminster</a>. </p><p>His <i><a href="/facts/Chronica_Majora/GD9BlhgY">Chronica Majora</a></i> is a renowned Medieval work, in many cases being a key source for mid-13th century Europe, partially due to his verbose insertion of personal opinions into his narrative and his use of sources such as records, letters, and conversations with witnesses to events including the English king <a href="/facts/Henry_III_of_England/yRC7X3ge">Henry III</a>, earl <a href="/facts/Richard_of_Cornwall/kh0oujgX">Richard of Cornwall</a>, the Norwegian king <a href="/facts/Haakon_IV/xxoKeApG">Haakon IV</a>, a number of English bishops, and many others. Modern historians recognise Paris's biases. He often tended to glorify Holy Roman Emperor <a href="/facts/Frederick_II%2c_Holy_Roman_Emperor/bRH1VNPd">Frederick II</a> and denigrate the pope, expressing strong criticism of centralised church authority and at times royal power. However, in his <i>Historia Anglorum</i>, Paris displays a highly negative view of Frederick, going as far as to describe him as a "tyrant" who "committed disgraceful crimes". </p>