The Anatomy of Ethnography

: The role of Medical and Natural Philosophical Theories in the Ethnographic Writing of Walter Map, Gervase of Tilbury and Gerald of Wales.

Abstract

This study examines the descriptions of peoples in the works of three authors who were active
in the Angevin court during the twelfth century - Walter Map, Gervase of Tilbury, and Gerald
of Wales – and their use of theories of the natural world. These authors all composed
ethnographic accounts of the peoples of the world, and especially the Celtic peoples of the
British Isles, and were all highly educated men from the schools of Paris or Bologna. This thesis
will examine how these authors used and expressed theories of the natural world to describe
peoples for a courtly audience. Whilst natural, humoral and climatic, theories have long been
identified as a consistent element of medieval ethnography it has, in the twelfth century, been
portrayed as relatively crude, monolithic, and separable from the rich observational studies
of culture produced in this period. This study examines how these theories were integrated
more generally into these three authors’ thought and creatively deployed by them as an
essential part of their ethnographic thought.
The thesis begins with an introduction an analysis of its key analytical themes before
considering its three authors devoting a chapter to Gervase of Tilbury and Walter Map and
two to Gerald of Wales. These chapters will each discuss an author’s historiographical
portrayal before discussing the role of natural theory and ethnography in their works. This
will begin with an examination of natural theory in universal abstract terms before discussing
how these writers applied theoretical concepts in individual cases. This will trace the author’s
theoretical knowledge and the limits of its application. The final section will be a re-evaluation
of the author’s traditionally non-theoretical ethnography in the context of their natural
theory, tracing the influence of theoretical reasoning. The conclusion will draw together these
authors’ works and discuss ethnographic and theoretical themes shared between these
authors of the Angevin court.

Date of Award	23 Mar 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Brendan G C Smith (Supervisor) & Ian P Wei (Supervisor)