Geoffrey of Monmouth

Geoffrey of Monmouth was a 12th-century cleric and writer whose Historia Regum Britanniae presented a legendary history of Britain and helped shape Arthurian literature.

Historia Regum Britanniae: A Latin chronicle by Geoffrey of Monmouth that narrates the legendary history of Britain from its founding to the Saxon settlement. This is Geoffrey’s best-known work and the main source of his lasting influence.
Historia Brittonum: A Latin compilation of early British history, traditionally attributed to Nennius and assembled around the ninth century. Its account of early Britain supplied material and precedents for Geoffrey’s historical narrative.
Robert of Gloucester: An Anglo-Norman magnate and earl who supported writers and religious institutions in 12th-century England. Geoffrey dedicated Historia Regum Britanniae to Robert, one of its named patrons.
Wace: A 12th-century Anglo-Norman poet and historian who translated and adapted historical material into verse, including Geoffrey’s British history. Wace’s Roman de Brut carried Geoffrey’s narrative into the vernacular and added the Round Table.
Prophetiae Merlini: A collection of prophecies attributed to Merlin, composed by Geoffrey of Monmouth and incorporated into his historical writing. Geoffrey introduced these prophecies as Merlin’s words within his account of British history.
Gildas: A sixth-century British cleric whose Latin work De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae condemned the Britons and described Saxon invasions. Geoffrey’s account of Britain’s past expanded on a tradition Gildas had treated as moral history.
Waleran de Beaumont: A powerful Anglo-Norman nobleman and earl of Meulan who was active in the politics of 12th-century England and Normandy. Geoffrey addressed a dedication to Waleran in the work’s prefatory material.
Layamon: An English priest and poet who composed the Middle English Brut, adapting Wace’s account of British history. Layamon helped transmit the Galfridian story into early English poetry.
Vita Merlini: A Latin poem by Geoffrey of Monmouth portraying Merlin as a prophet living in the Welsh woods after war and loss. This later poem shows Geoffrey developing Merlin beyond the role he gave him in his chronicle.
Bede: An eighth-century English monk and historian whose Ecclesiastical History of the English People recounts the Christianization of England. Bede’s influential history offered a contrasting framework for writing Britain’s past.

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