Reginald of Canterbury

Reginald of Canterbury (died after 1109) was a medieval French writer and Benedictine monk who lived and wrote in England in the very early part of the 12th century. He was the author of a number of Latin poems, including an epic entitled Malchus, which still survives.

Born in France around 1050, he arrived in England sometime before 1100. He became a monk at St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, where most of his poetic works were composed. He is last mentioned in 1109, when he was the recipient of a poem from Thomas the Archbishop of York. Reginald's major work was an epic poem in six books on the life of Malchus, a late antique Syrian saint whose first biographer was Jerome. Reginald's other works included a poem about his native town, a group of poems extolling Canterbury and its saints, and one or two on Anselm of St Saba.

Life Reginald, a native of France, was born roughly about 1050 in a place usually called Fagia, which may be the modern Faye-la-Vineuse in Poitou. At some point he formed a connection with Noyers Abbey, near Tours, but its nature is unclear. By 1100, he was a monk at St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, England, and may have been there for quite a number of years before 1100. It is unclear why he travelled to England and most of his poetical works were composed in England while he was at St Augustine's. He may also have been the author of a Versarium de libris ethnicorum that was recorded as being in the library at Rievaulx Abbey around 1200, but as the work does not survive it is not clear whether Reginald was its author.