in Antiquity, the assembly of elders at Sparta. The term was also applied to like councils in other Dorian states. See Gerontes.

**GERVAISE**, or **Gervase**, of Tilbury, an historian of the thirteenth century, was a native of Tilbury in Essex, and nephew of Henry II. The exact date of his birth has not been ascertained. Having visited part of Europe, he arrived about 1208 at the court of Otho IV., emperor of Germany, who received him with the greatest distinction, and appointed him marshal of the kingdom of Arles. Gervase died about 1218. His principal works are—*Otia Imperiali*, libri tres, a work which is also known under the titles *Mappa sive Descriptio Mundi*, and *De Mirabilibus Orbis*; *Illustrationes Galfridi Monemuthensis*, libri iv.; *Historia Terra Sanctae*; *De Origine Burgundionum*; *Pocettiorum liber*, dedicated to Henry II. of England; *Tricolumnium Anglie*; and, *Metroica Descriptio Balneorum Puteolanorum*. The compilation of the Exchequer book, entitled *Liber Niger Scaccarii*, was ascribed, though on insufficient evidence, to Gervase. Bale and Pitts differ considerably in their accounts of Gervase's works, the greater part of which still remain in manuscript, and are but little known.