Godfrey of Cambrai

Who was Godfrey of Cambrai?

Godfrey of Cambrai was the prior of Winchester Abbey from 1082 until his death in 1107. He also was the composer of many poems, writing eulogies of English kings and ecclesiastics, and a book of moral epigrams in the style of Martial. Godfrey's genuine works were later often confused with those of Martial's.

His work enjoyed considerable popularity in the century after his death and beyond. Twenty-one manuscripts of his works survive.

He was popular, under his own name and erroneously under Martial's, in the Italian Renaissance.