William Stubbs (1824–1901) was an important constitutional medievalist and Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford. This two-volume work, published in 1864–5, was the first of his nineteen editorial contributions to the Rolls Series. It chronicles foreign diplomacy and church affairs during the reign of Richard I, whom Stubbs regarded with disdain. Covering the period 1190–2 especially, Volume 1 presents the most comprehensive contemporary account of the Third Crusade. Transcribed from three separate manuscripts of an early thirteenth-century narrative compiled by Richard de Templo, Canon and Prior of Holy Trinity, London, the work is given in the original Latin. It also includes an eyewitness account of the siege and capture of Lisbon in 1147, allowing for comparison across crusades. A substantial introduction provides commentary on the character and governance of Richard I from one of the most influential historians of the nineteenth century.
