ABSTRACT
Gerald's reputation as a writer and scholar rests largely upon his Irish and Welsh works. The number of manuscripts surviving from the medieval period indicates their popularity. Neither the theory nor the vocabulary of ethnographic description were in any way formalized in the twelfth century. The basic unit with which Gerald dealt was an ethnic one: gens, natio, orpopulus. The society Gerald presented in the Descriptio Kamhriae strikes as a coherent and plausible social world. Gerald's picture of the Welsh was detailed and coherent and this detail and coherence represent a major achievement. In the field of theory he was not such a trail-blazer. Gerald believed that climatic influences could leave a permanent imprint upon a race. In the Descriptio Kambriae he discussed Welsh boldness in speech, and commented that they shared this gift with the Romans and the French.
