Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ralph of Bristol
RALPH of Bristol (d. 1232), bishop of Kildare, was a native of Bristol, but settled in Dublin. He became a canon and treasurer of St. Patrick's, Dublin, and ‘Magistri Galfridus de Bristollia et Radulphus de Bristollia’ occur as witnesses to charters of Henry de Loundres [q. v.] (Chart. St. Mary, Dublin, i. 189–90, ii. 19; Reg. St. Thomas, Dublin, p. 306). Ralph was also a clerk of William de Payvo, bishop of Glendalough, from whom he received half the church of Salmonleap, with a pension of half a mark from Conephy (ib. p. 329). In 1223 he was consecrated bishop of Kildare, where he beautified and repaired the cathedral. He died in 1232. Ralph wrote a life of St. Laurence O'Toole, archbishop of Dublin, which appears to be that preserved in Trinity College, Dublin, MS. 652 (792) ii. It is said to be identical with the life given by Laurentius Surius in his ‘De Probatis Sanctorum Historiis’ (1570–5).
[Chartulary of St. Mary, Dublin, Register of St. Thomas, Dublin (both in Rolls Ser.); Ware's Works, ii. 354–5, ed. Harris; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 127; Cotton's Fasti Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ, ii. 172, 227; Hardy's Descriptive Catalogue of British History, ii. 426, iii. 70.]