Ralph of Diss, the coronation of Philip Augustus (1179) and the English claim to the French throne

Abstract In the 1190s Ralph of Diss, the dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, wrote a universal chronicle from the Creation to the author’s lifetime. This article uses Ralph’s account of the coronation of Philip Augustus of France in 1179 to tackle a series of broader issues: the role of history as a form of erudition, the ability of a remote and distant past to contain lessons for the present, and how this may change our approach to the works of Diss and his brethren. This represents the first attempt to read Ralph’s writings taking seriously his instructions about how history ought to be approached. The interpretation of events in 1179 casts important new light on Ralph’s approach to history, as well as on elite literary and historical culture around the year 1200.