(Girald), commonly called Giraldus Cambrensis, i.e. Girald of Wales, an historian and ecclesiastic. fiastic in the reigns of Henry II. and Richard I. was born at the castle of Mainarper, near Pembroke, A.D. 1146. By his mother he was descended from the princes of South Wales; and his father, William Barry, was one of the chief men of that principality. Being a younger brother, and intended for the church, he was sent to St David's, and educated in the family of his uncle, who was bishop of that see. He acknowledges, in his history of his own life and actions, that in his early youth he was too playful; but being severely reproached for it by his preceptors, he became a very hard student, and greatly excelled all his school-fellows in learning. When he was about 20 years of age, he was sent, A.D. 1166, for his further improvement, to the university of Paris; where he continued three years, and became, according to his own account, a most excellent rhetorician; which rendered him very famous.

On his return into Britain, he entered into holy orders, and obtained several benefices both in England and Wales. Observing, with much concern, that his countrymen, the Welsh, were very backward in paying the tithes of wool and cheese, which he was afraid would involve them in eternal damnation, he applied to Richard archbishop of Canterbury, and was appointed his legate in Wales for rectifying that disorder, and for other purposes. He executed this commission with great spirit; excommunicating all, without distinction, who refused to save their souls by surrendering the tithes of their cheese and wool. Not satisfied with enriching, he also attempted to reform, the clergy; and dilated the archdeacon of Brechin to the archbishop, for the unpardonable crime of matrimony; and the poor old man, refusing to put away his wife, was deprived of his archdeaconry; which was bestowed upon our zealous legate. In discharging the duties of this new office, he acted with great vigour, which involved him in many quarrels; but, if we may believe himself, he was always in the right, and always victorious. His uncle, the bishop of St David's, dying A.D. 1176, he was elected his successor by the chapter: but this election having been made without the permission, and contrary to the inclination of Henry II. our author prudently declined to insist upon it, and went again to Paris to prosecute his studies, particularly in the civil and canon law, and theology. He speaks with great raptures of the prodigious fame he acquired by his eloquent declamations in the schools, and of the crowded audiences who attended them, who were at a loss to know whether the sweetness of his voice, the beauty of his language, or the irresistible force of his arguments, were most to be admired. Having spent about four years at Paris, he returned to St David's; where he found everything in confusion; and the bishop being expelled by the people, he was appointed administrator by the archbishop of Canterbury, and governed the diocese in that capacity to A.D. 1184, when the bishop was restored. About the same time he was called to court by Henry II. appointed one of his chaplains, and sent into Ireland A.D. 1185, with prince John. By this prince he was offered the united bishoprics of Fernes and Leighlin; but declined them, and employed his time in collecting materials for his Topography of Ireland, and his History of the conquest of that island. Having finished his Topography, which consisted of three books, he published it at Oxford, A.D. 1187, in the following manner, in three days. On the first day he read the first book to a great concourse of people, and afterwards entertained all the poor of the town; on the second day he read the second book, and entertained all the doctors and chief scholars; and, on the third day, he read the third book, and entertained the younger scholars, soldiers, and burgesses. "A most glorious spectacle! (says he) which revived the ancient times of the poets, and of which no example had been seen in England." He attended Baldwin archbishop of Canterbury, in his progress through Wales, A.D. 1186, in preaching a croisade for the recovery of the Holy Land; in which, he tells us, he was far more successful than the primate; and particularly, that the people were prodigiously affected with his Latin sermons, which they did not understand, melting into tears, and coming in crowds to take the cross. Although Henry II. as our author assures us, entertained the highest opinion of his virtues and abilities; yet he never would advance him to any higher dignity in the church, on account of his relation to the princes and great men of Wales. But on the accession of Richard I. (A.D. 1189), his prospects of preferment became better: for he was sent for by that Prince into Wales to preserve the peace of that country, and was even joined in commission with William Longchamp, bishop of Ely, as one of the regents of the kingdom. He did not, however, improve this favourable opportunity; refusing the bishopric of Bangor in A.D. 1190, and that of Landaff the year after, having fixed his heart on the see of St David's, the bishop of which was very old and infirm. In A.D. 1192, the state of public affairs, and the course of interest at court, became so unfavourable to our author's views, that he determined to retire. At first he resolved to return to Paris to prosecute his studies; but meeting with some difficulties in this, he went to Lincoln, where William de Monte read lectures in theology with great applause. Here he spent about six years in the study of divinity, and in composing several works. The see of St David's, which had long been the great object of his ambition, became vacant, A.D. 1198, and brought him again upon the stage. He was unanimously elected by the chapter; but met with so powerful an adversary in Hubert archbishop of Canterbury (who opposed his promotion with great violence), that it involved him in a litigation which lasted five years, cost him three journeys to Rome, at a great expense, and in which he was at last defeated, A.D. 1203. Soon after this he retired from the world, and spent the last 17 years of his life in a studious privacy, composing many books, of which we have a very correct catalogue in the Biographia Britannica. That Girald of Wales was a man of uncommon activity, genius, and learning, is undeniable; but these and his other good qualities were much tarnished by his insufferable vanity, which must have been very offensive to his contemporaries, as it is highly disgusting to his readers.

in heraldry, is when an escutcheon is divided bar-ways, that is, across from side to side, into an even number of partitions, consisting of two or more tinctures, interchangeably disposed: it is to be expressed in the blazon by the word barry, and the number of pieces must be specified; but if the divisions be odd, the field must be first named, and the number of bars expressed.

BARRY-BENDY is when an escutcheon is divided evenly, bar and bend-ways, by lines drawn transverse and diagonal. Barbarian, interchangeably varying the tinctures of which it consists.

Barry-Pity is when a coat is divided by several lines drawn obliquely from side to side, where they form acute angles.