Robert of Cricklade

Robert of Cricklade
Died	between 1174 and 1180
Resting place	probably St Frideswide's Priory in Oxford
Occupation	Augustinian canon, prior, writer
Nationality	English
Period	Angevin
Genre	religious writings

Robert of Cricklade (died 1174–80) was a medieval English writer and prior of St Frideswide's Priory in Oxford. He was a native of Cricklade and taught before becoming a cleric. He wrote a number of theological works as well as a lost biography of Thomas Becket, the murdered Archbishop of Canterbury.

Robert was from Cricklade in Wiltshire, and was of Anglo-Saxon descent. At some point he taught in the schools, where he was called "master" for his learning. He became an Augustinian canon at Cirencester Abbey before becoming prior of the priory of St Frideswide in Oxford, an office he occupied from sometime before the end of 1139, when he is first securely attested in the office, until after 1174, his last appearance as prior. In 1158 he went to Rome, extending his travels to Sicily and Paris on the same trip. Another trip was to Scotland in the 1160s. Possibly he also travelled to Rome in 1141 and Paris in 1147, but these trips are not securely attested. Although earlier historians claimed that he was chancellor of Oxford, this office did not yet exist during Robert's lifetime. There were students at Oxford in his lifetime, though his precise role in local teaching is unclear.

Robert was the author of a number of works, most of which survive in one or more manuscripts, but some of which are lost. A commentary on the Psalms is also attributed to him, preserved in a single manuscript, but this is more likely the work of Robert of Bridlington.

On the Marriage of Jacob was written while Robert was at Cirencester. It is an allegorical treatment of the Jacob story from the Bible, written after 1137 and before Robert's move to Oxford in 1138/9. He mentions Bernard of Clairvaux and William of Malmesbury as major influences on his writing. It survives in five manuscripts:

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