Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis, as he is sometimes known) was a well-known churchman of the twelfth century and the author of seventeen books about British and Irish history. Gerald of Wales was born in either 1145 or 1146 of three-quarters Norman and one-quarter Welsh parentage, in Manorbier, Pembrokeshire, South Wales. He died in 1223
Gerald of Wales writes that he was present at the exhumation of King Arthur from a grave discovered at Glastonbury Abbey around 1190 or 1191.
"I have seen this cross, and have traced the letters sculpted into it... and they said: 'Here lies buried the famous King Arthur with Guenevere his second wife in the island of Avalon.' "
It is believed today that the "find" of Arthur's body was a scheme by the Glastonbury monks to get pilgrims to come to the abbey, and that it is not in all pobabilty Arthur's grave.
Gerald of Wales was, never the less, a very well known and respected writer at this time.