Date and Compositon of the History
of the Kings of Britian (Historia Regum Britanniae)
- finished c. 1136-38, though the
date is much debated
- written by Geoffrey of Monmouth
(Gaufridus Monemutensis c. 1100-1155), prior of the Abbey of Monmouth,
Wales
- "active in the emerging
schools of Oxford" (Longman, 160)
- blended his Latin learning
(the liberal arts and Roman Catholic culture) and his Welsh cultural heritage
(oral tradition and written literature) in his writing
- He and his work form a confluence
of Anglo-Norman and Welsh languages and influences, negoiating the cultural
differences between the two traditions extant in 12th-century Britain--the
former a hegemonic, conquering culture, the latter an increasingly peripheral
culture.
- also wrote The Prophecies
of Merlin (finished c. 1135)
- represented as if it were a Latin
prose translation of "a certain very ancient book written in the British
language" (Longman, 161), i.e., probably early Welsh or
Breton
- dedicated to Robert, Earl of Gloucester
(uncle of Henry II), and to Waleran, Count of Mellent, both of whom are depicted
as wise, learned men, skilled in politics, warfare, and protecting their people
- represented as a history in the
tradition of Bede (c. 681-735) and Gildas (d. 570)
- cites documentary and archaeological
evidence, as well as eyewitness testimony to substantiate his narrative
of a British mythology
- presents a counter-history--the
pre-Christian events of British history not recorded in Bede's Christian
history of the island
- Geoffrey creates an earlier
established history for the island than that created by Bede and the Anglo-Saxons
and Catholics whose history he recounts.
- creates an imperial Roman
enemy as an historical foe of all the peoples of Britain
- But we cannot trust many, if any,
of the "facts" Geoffrey presents as history.
Influences Incorporated in Geoffrey's
History
- Vergil's Aeneid, which
provides the starting point for the original British dynasty
- Aeneas, with his son Ascanius,
flees Troy, defeated by the Greeks in the Trojan War, to found Italy;
Brutus, grandson of Ascanius and therefore Aeneas' great-grandson, is
exiled from Italy and eventually sails to Britain (named for him) and
established a colony.
- biblical, Trojan, and Roman histories,
as evidenced in the chronology of events included
- Celtic tradition of Arthur as
found in oral transmission and in Nennius, Gildas, and other early Welsh texts
- Arthur is depicted in early
fragmentary documentary and literary allusions as a king or great war
leader (dux bellorum) who reunited the British after the Saxon
and Pictish incursions and the attempts of the Romans to return to the
island.
- Geoffrey's Prophecies of Merlin,
which allows Geoffrey to legitimize the authority of both texts--each is substantiation
of the other
Influence of Geoffrey's Work on
Later Tradition
It is to Geoffrey that we owe the
later Arthurian romance conventions of
- a brave people battling to stem
their cultural and political decline,
- a dangerous yet compelling lust
that overwhelms its victim and brings about the downfall of the lovers and,
eventually, the structure of the society in which they live,
- "the ambivalent position
of Mordred as cousin or nephew" (Longman, 161) to Arthur, and
- the end of Arthur's kingdom, brought
about by treachery among those closest to the king--loyal knights and kin--and
by sexual transgressions much like those that led to Arthur's own conception.
Return to King
Arthur and the Matter of Britain
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