De laude Cestrie

De laude Cestrie ("On the Glory of Chester"), also known as Liber Luciani de laude Cestrie ("The Book of Lucian in Praise of Chester"), is a medieval English manuscript in Latin by Lucian of Chester, probably a monk at the Benedictine Abbey of St Werburgh in Chester. Believed to date from the end of the 12th century, it has been described as "the oldest extant piece of Cheshire writing," and, with its first-hand description of the medieval town of Chester, is one of the earliest examples of prose writing about an English urban centre. It is also notable for the earliest extended description of Chester's county palatine status, which Lucian writes "gives heed ... more to the sword of its prince than to the crown of the king." The original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Excerpts have been published in 1600, 1912 and 2008.

De laude Cestrie is known from a single copy, Bodley 672, held by the Bodleian Library in Oxford, which is believed to be the original copy written by Lucian. It was presented to the Bodleian in 1601, together with eighteen other manuscripts collected by Thomas Allen (1542–1632). Its previous history and how Allen acquired it are unknown, but it is possible that it remained at St Werburgh's until 1539/40, when the library's texts were dispersed on the abbey's dissolution.

The manuscript is a book, in its original binding, of 198parchment leaves which are 150 mm by 110 mm, with 23–26 lines per page. One or more leaves are missing from the end. It has been dated at around 1194–97, around 1195 or 1195–1200. Robert W. Barrett, Jr, describes it as "the oldest extant piece of Cheshire writing." The manuscript is in prose form, and is a little over 82,000 words long. The opening has a decorated initial in red and blue. There are marginal annotations, which might be by Lucian or another monk at St Werburgh's. These refer to events in 1199–1200.

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