The Lives of the Two Offas

The Vitae duorum Offarum ('The Lives of the Two Offas') is a literary history written in the mid-thirteenth century, apparently by the St Albans monk Matthew Paris; however, the most recent editor and translator of the work rejects this attribution and argues for an earlier date, in the late twelfth century. The earliest editor, William Wats, argues that the texts are older than Matthew's day but were revised by him; he bases this view on stylistic elements, such as the inclusion in the first Vita of a quotation from Lucan (Pharsalia I. 92–3) which also appears repeatedly in Matthew's Chronica maiora.