MAP or MAPES, WALTER (fl. 1200) mediæval author and wit, was from his name of Welsh descent, and he speaks of the Welsh as his fellow-countrymen (De Nugis, ii. 20). Map, which is Welsh for 'son,' and which has been shortened to Ap in forming modern patronymics, seems to have been used by the Saxons as a nickname for a Welshman. Walter himself was almost, certainly a native of Herefordshire; he calls himself 'a marcher of Wales' (ib. ii. 23), and his De Nugis Curialium' abounds in legends relating to 'that county; moreover, he was throughout his life more or less closely connected with the city of Hereford. It is known that there was a succession of Walter Maps at Wormsley, about eight miles north of that city, between 1150 and 1240 (cf. citations from Hist. MSS. 3586 and 6726, ap. Ward, Cat. of Romanca, i. 736-8). Walter may have been a member of this family, but there is no certain evidence, although he is known to have held land at Ullingswick, at no great distance (Cart. S. Peter Gloucester, ii. 156, Rolls Ser.) It has, however, been argued, though on very insufficient grounds, that Map was a native of Pembrokeshire (Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. xi. 386; Hardy, Cat. Brit. Hist. ii. 487). All that we know of his parents is that they were of sufficient station to have been of service to Henry II, before and after he became king (De Nugis, v. 6). Map was probably born about 1140, and went to study at Paris soon after l154, for Louis VII bad lately married Constance of Castile, and he was there at least as late as 1160, for he studied under Girard la Pucelle, who began to teach in or about that year (ib. v. 5, ii. 7). He was, however, back in England before 1162, for he was present at the court of Henry II, while Thomas Becket was still chancellor (ib. ii. 23). Map says that he bad earned Henry's favour and affection through his parent's merits (ib. v. 6). He was one of the clerks of the royal household, and thus was frequently employed justice itinerant (Giraldus Cambrennis, Opera, iv. 219); his name occurs in this capacity at Gloucester in 1173 (Madox, Hist. Exhequer, i. 701), and as a justice in eyre for Herefordshire and the neighbouring counties in 1185 (Eyton, Itinerary of Henry II, pp. 176, 265). Giraldus says that Map always excepted the Jews and Cistercians from his oath to do justice to all men, since 'it was absurd to do justice to those who were just to none.' Map was with Henry at Limoges in 1173, when tie had care of Peter of Tarentaise. In 1179 Henry sent him to the Lateran Council at Rome (cf. ib. p. 223); on his way he was hospitably entertained by Henry of Champagne. At the council he was deputed by the pope to argue with the representatives of the Waldensiana, who were present there (De Nugis, ii. 3, v. 6, i. 31). In 1178 he received the prebend of Mapesbury at St. Paul's; apparently he was already canon and precentor of Lincoln, and parson of Westbury, Gloucestershire, a living in the gift of the vicars choral at Hereford (Le Neve, ii. 82, 406). In 1183 he was with Henry II in Anjou, and at the time of the young king's death in June was at Saumur (De Nugit, iv. 1, v. 6). Before 1186 he had become chancellor of Lincoln (Cart. S. Peter Glouc. ii. 166). His connection with the court seems to have ceased at the death of Henry II (De Nugis, iv. 2). In 1197 (not 1196 as often stated) he was made archdeacon of Oxford, and at the same time resigned his precentorship (S. de Dicentro, ii. 150). Two years later, on a vacancy in the see of Hereford, the chanter wished to have Walter for bishop; he held at this time one of the prebends, Walter accompanied a deputation from the chapter to Angers in March 1199, when they attempted to gain their end with the aid of Bishop Hugh of Lincoln (Vita S. Hugonis Lincolniesis. p. 281, Rolls Ser.) Their mission was unsuccessful, and John, on his accession soon after, gave the see to Giles de Braos [q.v.] In January 1303 Waller, as archdeacon of Oxford, was ordered to seize all the property of his old friend Giraldus within his archdeaconry (Giraldus Cambrensis, Opera, iii. 20). In November 1203 he was one of the candidates whom Giraldus, not very sincerely, suggested for the see of St. Davids (ib. i, 306, lii. 331). Map was still alive on 15 March 1208, when an order was made for a payment to him (Cat. Rot. Litt. Claus. i. 106), but apparently he was dead when Giraldus wrote the proæmium to the second edition of his' Hibemica' about 1310, for, in referring to Map, Giraldus says, 'cujus animra propitietur Deus' (Opera, v. 410). The date of his death is given as 1 April in a calendar printed from a Hereford missal in the 'History of Hereford,' London, 1717.
In the only extant charter granted by Map, his nephew, Philip Map, is mentioned as a witness (Cotton Charter, xvi. 40, printed ap. Latin Popes, p. xxix). Map had other nephews (De Nugis, p. 13), but nothing further is known of them. 'There is no doubt that Map is the right spelling of his name; it is the form invariably used by his contemporaries, and is given by Walter himself (ib. v. 6, 'cui agnomen Map'). Mapes is the latinised and inaccurate form, though it has been most popularly used. Map is to be carefully distinguished from his predecessor
