Nigel de Longchamps

He is known to have been a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, from 1186 to 1193, and perhaps earlier (he claims to have met Thomas Becket, killed in 1170).

The recorded working language is medieval Latin and Middle English. Works named in the authority record are Epistola ad Willelmum, Speculum stultorum, Passio Sancti Laurentii martyris, Tractatus contra curiales et officiales clericos and Miracula sancte Dei genitricis virginis Marie, versifice.

He is the author of the Speculum stultorum (A Mirror of Fools), a satire in Latin elegiac verse on the clergy and society in general. The hero is Burnellus, or Brunellus, a foolish ass, who goes in search of a means of lengthening his tail. Brunellus first visits Salernum to obtain drugs for this purpose. However, he loses these when attacked by a Cistercian monk with dogs. He then goes to Paris to study, but makes no progress there, being unable to remember the city's name after eight years of study. He then decides to join a religious order, but instead founds a new one by taking the easiest parts from the rules of other orders. Finally, his master recaptures him. The poem was immensely popular for centuries. Under the title "Daun Burnel the Asse" it is mentioned by Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales, in the Nun's Priest's Tale.

Many other short Latin poems from a thirteenth-century manuscript are attributed to him, along with a prose treatise, Contra Curiales et Officinales Clericos. This treatise is an affectionate reproof to William Longchamp the Chancellor, in his role as Bishop of Ely. Wireker takes his intimate friend (possibly a relative) to task for attempting to combine Church with State.

The authorities additionally record the headings Nigel of Canterbury and Nigel Wireker. His recorded languages were medieval Latin and Middle English.

Works recorded as notable number 5: Epistola ad Willelmum, Speculum stultorum, Passio Sancti Laurentii martyris, Tractatus contra curiales et officiales clericos and Miracula sancte Dei genitricis virginis Marie, versifice.