Historia Regum Britanniae
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Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniæ (English: The History of the Kings of Britain) was written around 1136. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years. It begins with the Trojans in Homer's The Illiad and continues until the Anglo-Saxons had assumed control of Britain around the 7th century.
Of the many rulers mentioned in the history, most notable are:
- Brutus of Britain - Founded the colony of Britain and named the island after himself
- King Lear - Romanticized in Shakespeare's play King Lear
- Cassivelaunus - King of the Britons when Julius Caesar invaded
- Cymbeline - Parodied in Shakespear's tragicomedy Cymbeline
- Lucius of Britain - First Christian king in Britain
- Old King Cole - Romanticized in a nursery rhyme
- Constantine the Great - First Christian Roman Emperor
- Vortigern - Famous king written in many medieval stories
- King Arthur - Most famous of all legendary kings
The history of Geoffrey is rough and unreliable but forms the basis for much English lore and literature. It also provides a rich source of material for Welsh bards. The source of the history comes from Nennius and Gildas as well as Welsh chronicles and documents to which Geoffrey refers but now seem lost. The Historia became tremendously popular during the High Middle Ages, despite the criticism of such writers as Giraldus Cambrensis. For many centuries, the Historia was accepted at face value, and much of its material was incorporated into Holinshed's 16th century Chronicles. Modern historians have regarded the Historia as a work of fiction with some truth mixed in. John Morris in The Age of Arthur calls it a deliberate spoof.
Geoffrey of Monmouth's narrative is one of the central pieces in the Matter of Britain.
Bibliography
- John Morris. The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles from 350 to 650. Barnes & Noble Books: New York. 1996 (originally 1973). ISBN 0-7607-0243-8
- John Jay Parry and Robert Caldwell. Geoffrey of Monmouth in Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, Roger S. Loomis (ed.). Clarendon Press: Oxford University. 1959. ISBN 0198115881
- Brynley F. Roberts, Geoffrey of Monmouth and Welsh Historical Tradition, Nottingham Medieval Studies, 20 (1976), 29-40.
- J.S.P. Tatlock. The Legendary History of Britain: Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and its early vernacular versions. University of California Press. Berkeley. 1950.
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