De laude Cestrie
It is also notable for the earliest extended description of Chester's county palatine status, which Lucian writes "gives heed ... more to the sword of its prince than to the crown of the king.
Its previous history and how Allen acquired it are unknown,[1][6] but it is possible that it remained at St Werburgh's until 1539/40, when the library's texts were dispersed on the abbey's dissolution.
Lucian writes for both residents of Chester and travellers, and appears to have intended the work to be used as a guidebook, at one point recommending that readers should study "the text with one eye and the streets with the other.
"[4] The etymology of Chester's Latin name, Cestria, is given as "threefold" (cis tria),[1][11] and Lucian repeatedly organises material into triples, which Barrett suggests may refer to the Trinity.
[20] Outside Chester's walls, he describes three roads leading to Christleton (identified with Christ), Aldford and the sanctuary for criminals of Hoole Heath (the valley of demons).
[22] Unlike William fitz Stephen's work on London, De laude Cestrie concentrates on religious rather than secular aspects of his chosen town.
[1][10][25] He also mentions four Cistercian abbeys outside the town, Combermere, Pulton and Stanlaw in Cheshire and Basingwerk in Wales, with a marginal diagram indicating how the four delineate a cross with Chester at the centre.
[1][26] The text goes on to describe the general organisation of church and monastery, with details on the roles of the abbot, prior and sub-prior, and concludes with an examination of the afterlife and the Day of Judgement.
[1] The classical archaeologist Margerie Venables Taylor prepared a greatly abridged edition, incorporating only about 9% of the text, which was published by the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire in 1912.
Taylor disliked Lucian's style, writing that "[m]etaphor and allegory are worked to death",[6] and she lacked interest in the religious aspects of the text, which she described as "one long sermon disguised as a guide-book".
[6] More-appreciative analyses of the manuscript have appeared in the 21st century by Robert Barrett Jr, Catherine Clarke, John Doran, Mark Faulkner and others.
Another edition was prepared in 2008 by Faulkner for the Mapping Medieval Chester Project, again as a series of excerpts incorporating only 8% of the text, with a parallel English translation.
