Gerald of Wales, referring to the late 1160s and 1170s when he was a student at Paris, writes that Ralph "far outdistanced all others in our days as the singular teaching authority on the art of literature and knowledge of grammar" (in artis litteratorie peritia grammaticaque doctrina singulari prerogativa nostris diebus ceteris cunctis longe preminebat).
The chronicler Helinand of Froidmont, who was his pupil, calls him "erudite in divine as much as in secular letters" (in divinis quam in saecularibus litteris eruditus).
The Glose super Donatum[b][3] is a commentary on the 4th-century Latin grammatical treatise Ars minora by Aelius Donatus.
[2] The Liber Tytan[c][4] is a grammatical analysis of Latin poems, mainly selections from Ovid, Lucan and Virgil.
[2] Ralph's teaching is similar to that found in two anonymous treatises, the gloss on Priscian entitled Promisimus and the rudimentary Verba preceptiva.