Glanville, Ranulf de (?-1190), wrote one of the earliest commentaries on medieval law. This work, called Tractatus de Legibus et Consuetudinibus Regni Angliae (Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England), was written in the 1180’s. It describes proceedings in the king’s court.
Glanville was born in Stratford St. Andrew, near Saxmundham, Suffolk, England. He served as Sheriff of Yorkshire and then of Lancashire. In 1174, he captured King William the Lion of Scotland in a battle. Glanville became a judge and was chief justice and adviser to Henry II during the 1180’s. Following Henry’s death in 1189, Glanville joined a crusade to the Holy Land, which was then under Muslim control. Glanville died at the siege of Acre, in what is now northern Israel.
