John Capgrave was a 15th-century English Augustinian friar who wrote theological texts, saints’ lives
(see SAINT’S LIFE), poetry, and historical works in
both Latin and English. He had a wide reputation
throughout Europe as a learned scholar in his own
day, and rose to the position of provincial (that is,
the ecclesiastical governor) of his order in England.
Capgrave was born at Lynn in Norfolk, and
most likely entered the Augustinian order at a
young age. He was probably university educated,
and there is reason to believe that he received a
doctorate degree from Oxford. He was ordained a
priest in 1417 or 1418, and at some point before
1456 he was made provincial of his order. He went
on pilgrimage to Rome at least once, but he spent
most of his life in the King’s Lynn friary, and died
there in 1464 at the age of 71.
Capgrave’s Latin writings include theological
texts, biblical commentary, historical texts, and
lives of saints. Among his Latin works are the Vita
Humfredi Ducis Glaucestriae, a life of Humphrey,
the duke of Gloucester, who was Capgrave’s patron
and to whom he dedicated a number of his works;
the Liber de Illustribus Henriciis (Book of the illustrious Henries), a book on the lives of English
kings, German rulers, and other famous men
named Henry; and the Nova Legenda Angliae, perhaps his most significant Latin text, a collection of
the lives of English saints, which is a revision of an
earlier collection by John of Tinmouth called the
Sanctilogium.
In English, Capgrave wrote a few poems, a
guide to the pilgrimage sites of Rome, a life of the
English saint Gilbert of Sempringham, and a verse
biography of St. Catherine of Alexandria. But Capgrave’s best-known English work is his Chronicle of
England from the Creation to AD 1417. The Chron-
icle is a compilation of many earlier sources and of
Capgrave’s own perceptions. The history is admired for its lucid style as well as its concrete details, especially in the later sections concerned with
Capgrave’s own lifetime. The Chronicle is still an
important source for historical information about
the reign of Henry IV.
Bibliography
Lucas, Peter J., ed. John Capgrave’s Abbreuiacion of
Cronicles. Oxford: Published for the Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press,
1983.
Munro, J. J., ed. John Capgrave’s Lives of St. Augustine
and St. Gilbert of Sempringham, and a Sermon.
1910. Reprint, Milwood, N.Y.: Kraus Reprint, 1987.
Nova Legenda Anglie: As Collected by John of
Tynemouth, John Capgrave, Others, and First
Printed, with New Lives. Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1901.
Winstead, Karen A., ed. The Life of Saint Katherine.
Kalamazoo, Mich.: Medieval Institute Publications, 1999.