Roman de Brut

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The opening of the Roman de Brut in Durham Cathedral MS C. iv. 27. This is the earliest manuscript of the poem, and dates from the late 12th century. Roman de Brut.jpg
The opening of the Roman de Brut in Durham Cathedral MS C. iv. 27. This is the earliest manuscript of the poem, and dates from the late 12th century.

The Brut or Roman de Brut (completed 1155) by the poet Wace is a loose and expanded translation in almost 15,000 lines of Norman-French verse of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin History of the Kings of Britain . [1] It was formerly known as the Brut d'Engleterre or Roman des Rois d'Angleterre, though Wace's own name for it was the Geste des Bretons, or Deeds of the Britons. [2] [3] Its genre is equivocal, being more than a chronicle but not quite a fully-fledged romance. [4]

Contents

It narrates a largely fictional version of Britain's story from its settlement by Brutus, a refugee from Troy, who gives the poem its name, through a thousand years of pseudohistory, including the story of king Leir, up to the Roman conquest, the introduction of Christianity, and the legends of sub-Roman Britain, ending with the reign of the 7th-century king Cadwallader. Especially prominent is its account of the life of King Arthur, the first in any vernacular language, [5] which instigated and influenced a whole school of French Arthurian romances dealing with the Round Table – here making its first appearance in literature – and with the adventures of its various knights.

Composition

The Norman poet Wace was born on the island of Jersey around the beginning of the 12th century, and was educated first at Caen on the mainland and later in Paris, or perhaps Chartres. He returned to Caen and there began writing narrative poems. [6] At some point in this stage of his life he visited southern England, perhaps on business, perhaps to conduct research, perhaps even wanting to visit Geoffrey of Monmouth, [7] [8] whose Latin Historia Regum Britanniae he translated as the Roman de Brut. The Brut's subject, the history of Britain from its mythical Trojan beginnings, was calculated to appeal to a secular Norman readership at a time when Normandy and England formed part of the same realm. Working under the patronage of Henry II, he completed his poem in 1155, and presented a copy of it to Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry's wife. [9] Its success is evidenced by the large number of surviving manuscripts, and by its extensive influence on later writers. [10]

Treatment of sources

The primary source of the Roman de Brut is Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, a pseudo-history of Britain from its settlement by the eponymous Brutus and his band of Trojans down to the eclipse of native British power in the 7th century. It magnifies the prestige of British rulers at the expense of their Roman contemporaries, and includes an account of King Arthur's reign. Wace knew this work in two versions: the Vulgate, written by Geoffrey himself, and the Variant, a rewriting of Geoffrey's text by person or persons unknown. [11]

Wace made two significant additions to the story on the authority, as he tells us, of Breton tales he had heard. One is King Arthur's Round Table, which here makes its appearance in world literature for the first time, and the other is the Breton belief that Arthur still remains in Avalon. [12] [13] There may, however, be quite a different reason for giving Arthur a Round Table, since there is good iconographic evidence to suppose that round or semi-circular tables were commonly used before Wace's time for ostentatious feasts. [14] Other minor sources of the Brut include the Bible, Goscelin's life of St. Augustine of Canterbury, the Historia Brittonum , William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum , Geoffrey Gaimar's earlier translation of the Historia Regum Britanniae, and such chansons de geste as the anonymous Gormond et Isembart . Certain changes he made in geographical details suggest that Wace also drew on his personal knowledge of Normandy, Brittany and southern England. [15] [16] [17]

Wace makes some omissions of controversial or politically charged passages from his source text, notably the whole of Book 7 of the Historia Regum Britanniae, Merlin's prophecies, which he tells us he will not translate because he does not understand them. He also shortens or cuts out some passages of church history, expressions of exaggerated sentiment, and descriptions of barbarous or brutal behaviour, and in battle scenes he omits some of the tactical details in favour of observations bringing out the pathos of war. [18] [19] [20] [21] In the material he keeps he makes many changes and additions. He presents the action of Geoffrey's story with greater vividness, the characters have clearer motivation and more individuality, a certain amount of humour is added and the role of the supernatural is downplayed. [22] [23] [24] He adds a good deal of dialogue and commentary to Geoffrey's narrative, and adapts it to the royal listeners it was intended for, adding details drawn from 12th-century military and court life. The overall effect is to reconcile his story to the new chivalric and romantic ethos of his own day. [25] He is especially assiduous in highlighting the splendour of the court of king Arthur, the beauty of its ladies and gallantry of its knights, the relationship between Guinevere and Mordred, the depth of Arthur's love for Guinevere and grief over the deaths of his knights, and the knightly prowess of Gawain, Kay and Bedivere. [26] [27] [28] He expands with descriptive passages of his own episodes such as Arthur's setting sail for Europe, the twelve years of peace in the middle of his reign, and his splendid conquests in Scandinavia and France. [19] [29] [30] By such means he expands Arthur's share of the whole story from one fifth of the Historia to one third of the Brut. [31]

Style

Wace's chosen meter, the octosyllabic couplet, was in the 12th century considered suitable for many purposes, but especially for translations from Latin. He had already used it in earlier works, [32] and in the Brut managed it with facility and smoothness. His language was a literary form of Old French, the dialect being Norman, but not markedly so. He was a master of the architecture of the phrase and the period, and also of rhythmic effects. [33] [34] The rhetorical devices he most favoured were repetition (both in the forms of anaphora and epizeuxis), parallelism, antithesis, and the use of sententiae , or gnomic sayings. [35] [36] [37] He had a rich vocabulary, could employ an almost epigrammatic irony, and, while conforming to the conventions of poetic art, gave an appearance of spontaneity to his verse. His style was neat, lively, and essentially simple. [38] [33] His poem is sometimes garrulous, but moderately so by medieval standards, and he avoids the other medieval vice of exaggeration. [36] [39] As an authorial voice he distances himself from the narrative, adding his own comments on the action. [40] [41] Often he confesses ignorance of precisely what happened, but only on very minor details, thereby buttressing his authority on the essentials of his story. [42] He conjures up his scenes with a remarkable vividness which his Latin original sometimes lacks, [43] and his descriptions of bustling everyday life, maritime scenes and episodes of high drama are especially accomplished. [44] [45]

Influence

The emphasis Wace placed on the rivalries between his knights and on the role of love in their lives had a profound effect on writers of his own and later generations. [46] His influence can be seen in some of the very earliest romances, including the Roman d'Enéas and the Roman de Troie , and in Renaud de Beaujeu's Le Bel Inconnu and the works of Gautier d'Arras. [47] [48] [49] Thomas of Britain's romance Tristan draws on the Brut for historical details, particularly the story of Gormon, and follows its example in matters of style. [50] [51] His influence is especially evident in the field of Arthurian romance, later writers taking up his hint that many tales are told of the Round Table and that each of its members is equally renowned. [46] There are general resemblances between the Brut and the poems of Chrétien de Troyes, in that both are Arthurian narratives in octosyllabic couplets, as well as stylistic similarities, [52] [44] but there are also specific signs of Chrétien's debt. He adapts Geoffrey's narrative of Mordred's last campaign against Arthur in his romance of Cligès , [53] and various passages in the Brut contribute to his account of the festivities at Arthur's court in Erec and Enide . [54] There are likewise verbal reminiscences of the Brut in Philomela and Guillaume d'Angleterre , two poems sometimes attributed to Chrétien. [47] It is certain that Marie de France had read Wace, but less certain how many passages in her Lais show its influence, only the raids by the Picts and Scots in Lanval being quite unambiguous. [50] [55] Two of the Breton lais written in imitation of Marie de France also show clear signs of indebtedness to the Brut. It gave to Robert Biket's Lai du Cor certain elements of its style and several circumstantial details, and to the anonymous Melion a number of plot-points. [56] The description of Tintagel in the Folie Tristan d'Oxford included details taken from the Roman de Brut. [57] In the early 13th century Le Chevalier aux Deux Epees was still demonstrating the influence the Roman de Brut could exert. In this case the author seems to have been impressed by Wace's account of Arthur's birth, character, battles, and tragic death. [58] Robert de Boron based his verse romance Merlin , which only survives in fragmentary form, on the Roman de Brut, with some additions from the Historia Regum Britanniae, [59] and also drew on the Brut for his prose romance Didot Perceval. [44] The story of Robert's Merlin was continued in the prose Suite Merlin, one of the romances in the Lancelot-Grail or Vulgate Cycle, which likewise takes and adapts Wace's narrative, especially when describing Arthur's Roman war. [60] The final sections of the Mort Artu, another Vulgate romance, take their narrative basis from Wace's account of the end of Arthur's reign, and his influence also appears in the Livre d'Artus, a romance loosely associated with the Vulgate Cycle. [44] [61] Much later, the mid-15th century Recueil des croniques et anchiennes istories de la Grant Bretaigne by Jean de Wavrin, a compilation of earlier chronicles, takes its British history up to the beginning of the Arthurian period from an anonymous French adaptation of Wace's Brut dating from c. 1400, though with substantial additions taken from the romances. [62] [63]

The influence of Wace's Brut also exerted itself in England. Around the year 1200 Layamon, a Worcestershire priest, produced a Middle English poem on British history, largely based on Wace though with some omissions and additions. Though this was the first version of Wace in English it was not particularly influential, further Bruts, as they became generically known, taking more of their material directly from Wace. [64] [65] In the second half of the 13th century the widely-read Anglo-Norman verse chronicle of Peter Langtoft, divided into three books, presented in its first book an adaptation of Wace's Brut in over 3000 lines. [66] Around the end of the 13th century there appeared the Prose Brut, written in Anglo-Norman prose and taking its material, at any rate in the earlier sections, mostly from Wace's Brut and Geoffrey Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis . It re-appeared many times in the succeeding years in revised and expanded versions, some of them in Middle English translation. In all, at least 240 manuscripts of its various recensions are known, demonstrating its immense popularity. [67] [68] In 1338 Robert Mannyng, already known for his devotional work Handlyng Synne , produced a long verse Chronicle or Story of England which, for its first 13,400 lines, sticks close to Wace's Brut before starting to introduce elements from other sources, notably Langtoft's chronicle. [69] [70] [71] Other Middle English Bruts deriving from Langtoft include that published in 1480 by William Caxton under the title of The Brut of England. [72] The chronicle that passes under the name of Thomas of Castleford, though he may not have been the author, relies on Geoffrey of Monmouth for its early history, but takes its account of King Arthur's Round Table from Wace. [73] Yet another translation of Wace's Brut, this time into Middle English prose, was produced in the late 14th century and is preserved in College of Arms MS. Arundel XXII. [74] [75] Mannyng's Chronicle and Wace's and Layamon's Bruts are among the sources that have been suggested for the late 14th century Alliterative Morte Arthure. [76] [77] Arthur, a late 14th or early 15th century romance preserved in a manuscript called the Liber Rubeus Bathoniae, seems to have been based on a version of Wace's Brut expanded with some elements from Layamon's Brut and the Alliterative Morte Arthure. [78] The dates of Wace manuscripts show that he remained relatively popular in England into the 14th century, but from the 15th century onward his readership faded away. [79]

Manuscripts

The construction of Stonehenge by Merlin, from British Library MS Egerton 3028, an early 14th century manuscript of Wace's Brut. This is the earliest known image of Stonehenge. BLEgerton3028Fol30rStonehengeCropped.jpg
The construction of Stonehenge by Merlin, from British Library MS Egerton 3028, an early 14th century manuscript of Wace's Brut. This is the earliest known image of Stonehenge.

More than thirty manuscripts of Wace's Brut, either complete or fragmentary, are known to exist, though more fragments continue to be discovered from time to time. They were produced in roughly equal numbers in England and in France, demonstrating that it was a highly popular work in both countries. [81] [82] Nineteen of these manuscripts give a more or less complete text of the poem, of which the two oldest are Durham Cathedral MS C. iv. 27 (late 12th century) and Lincoln Cathedral MS 104 (early 13th century). [83] Both of these manuscripts also include Geoffrey Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis and the chronicle of Jordan Fantosme, the three works forming in combination an almost continuous narrative of Britain's story from Brutus the Trojan's invasion up to the reign of Henry II. [84] This indicates that early readers of the Brut read it as history; however, later manuscripts tend to include Arthurian romances rather than chronicles, showing that the Brut was by then treated as fictional. [85]

Editions

Translations

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Foulon 1974, pp. 95–96.
  2. ↑ Labory, Gillette (2004). "Les debuts de la chronique en français (XIIe et XIIIe siècles)". In Kooper, Erik (ed.). The Medieval Chronicle III: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on the Medieval Chronicle Doorn/Utrecht 12–17 July 2002 (in French). Amsterdam: Rodopi. p. 5. ISBN   9042018348 . Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  3. ↑ Traill, H. D., ed. (1894). Social England: A Record of the Progress of the People. London: Cassell. p. 354. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  4. ↑ Lacy, Norris J. (1996). "French Arthurian literature (medieval)". In Lacy, Norris J. (ed.). The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland. p. 160. ISBN   0815323034 . Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  5. ↑ Wilhelm 1994, p. 95.
  6. ↑ Arnold & Pelan 1962, pp. 18–19.
  7. ↑ Le Saux 2005, pp. 8–9.
  8. ↑ Arnold 1938, pp. lxxvii–lxxviii.
  9. ↑ Le Saux 2001, p. 18.
  10. ↑ Wace 2005, pp. xiv–xvi.
  11. ↑ Le Saux 2005, pp. 89–91.
  12. ↑ Williams, J. E. Caerwyn (1991). "Brittany and the Arthurian legend". In Bromwich, Rachel; Jarman, A. O. H.; Roberts, Brynley F. (eds.). The Arthur of the Welsh: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature. Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, I. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 263. ISBN   0708311075 . Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  13. ↑ Foulon 1974, pp. 97–98.
  14. ↑ Tatlock 1950, p. 475.
  15. ↑ Foulon 1974, pp. 96–97.
  16. ↑ Bennett & Gray 1990, p. 69.
  17. ↑ Weiss 1997, pp. xxv, xxviii.
  18. ↑ Le Saux 2001, pp. 19, 21–22.
  19. 1 2 Lupack 2005, p. 28.
  20. ↑ Foulon 1974, p. 96.
  21. ↑ Weiss 1997, p. xxvii.
  22. ↑ Lawman (1992). Brut. Translated by Allen, Rosamund. London: J. M. Dent. p. xvi. ISBN   0460860720 . Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  23. ↑ Saunders, Corinne (2009). "Religion and magic". In Archibald, Elizabeth; Putter, Ad (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 204. ISBN   9780521860598 . Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  24. ↑ Ashe 2015, p. 46.
  25. ↑ Pearsall, Derek (1977). Old English and Middle English Poetry. The Routledge History of English Poetry, Volume 1. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 109–110. ISBN   0710083963 . Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  26. ↑ Cavendish, Richard (1980) [1978]. King Arthur and the Grail: The Arthurian Legends and Their Meaning. London: Granada. p. 34. ISBN   0586083367 . Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  27. ↑ Le Saux 2001, p. 21.
  28. ↑ Chambers, E. K. (1927). Arthur of Britain. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. p. 101. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  29. ↑ Putter, Ad (2009). "The twelfth-century Arthur". In Archibald, Elizabeth; Putter, Ad (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 43. ISBN   9780521860598 . Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  30. ↑ Le Saux 2001, pp. 21–22.
  31. ↑ Jankulak 2010, p. 96.
  32. ↑ Le Saux 2005, p. 103.
  33. 1 2 Tatlock 1950, p. 466.
  34. ↑ Arnold & Pelan 1962, pp. 32, 34.
  35. ↑ Arnold 1938, p. xciii.
  36. 1 2 Jones 1996, p. viii.
  37. ↑ Foulon 1974, pp. 101–102.
  38. ↑ Arnold & Pelan 1962, p. 32.
  39. ↑ Wace 2005, p. xx.
  40. ↑ Le Saux 2006, p. 100.
  41. ↑ Fletcher 1965, p. 132.
  42. ↑ Le Saux 2005, pp. 102–103.
  43. ↑ Fletcher 1965, pp. 130–131.
  44. 1 2 3 4 Foulon 1974, p. 102.
  45. ↑ Wilhelm 1994, p. 96.
  46. 1 2 Ashe 2015, p. 47.
  47. 1 2 Arnold 1938, p. xciv.
  48. ↑ Eley, Penny (2006). "Breton romances". In Burgess, Glyn S.; Pratt, Karen (eds.). The Arthur of the French: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval French and Occitan Literature. Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, IV. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 398. ISBN   9780708321966 . Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  49. ↑ Wace 2005, p. xv.
  50. 1 2 Foulon 1974, pp. 102–103.
  51. ↑ Whitehead 1974, pp. 135, 141.
  52. ↑ Schmolke-Hasselmann, Beate (1998). The Evolution of Arthurian Romance: The Verse Tradition from Chrétien to Froissart. Translated by Middleton, Margaret; Middleton, Roger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. xvi. ISBN   052141153X . Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  53. ↑ Batt, Catherine; Field, Rosalind (2001) [1999]. "The Romance Tradition". In Barron, W. R. J. (ed.). The Arthur of the English: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval English Life and Literature. Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, II. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. pp. 64, 296. ISBN   0708316832 . Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  54. ↑ Arnold 1938, p. xcvi.
  55. ↑ Hoepffner 1974, pp. 116–117, 119.
  56. ↑ Hoepffner 1974, pp. 114, 120.
  57. ↑ Lecoy, Félix, ed. (2003). Le Roman de Tristan par Thomas, suivi de La Folie Tristan de Berne et La Folie Tristan d'Oxford (in French). Translated by Baumgartner, Emmanuèle; Short, Ian. Paris: Honoré Champion. p. 357. ISBN   2745305204 . Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  58. ↑ Pelan, Margaret M. (1974) [1931]. L'influence du Brut de Wace sur les romanciers français de son temps (in French). Genève: Slatkine Reprints. pp. 133–146. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  59. ↑ Kennedy, Edward Donald (2005). "Visions of history: Robert de Boron and English Arthurian chroniclers". In Lacy, Norris J. (ed.). The Fortunes of King Arthur. Arthurian Studies, LXIV. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer. p. 30. ISBN   1843840618 . Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  60. ↑ Micha, Alexandre (1974) [1959]. "The Vulgate Merlin". In Loomis, Roger Sherman (ed.). Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 322–323. ISBN   0198115881 . Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  61. ↑ Frappier, Jean (1974) [1959]. "The Vulgate cycle". In Loomis, Roger Sherman (ed.). Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 309. ISBN   0198115881 . Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  62. ↑ Kennedy, Edward Donald (2006). "Arthurian history: The chronicle of Jehan de Waurin". In Burgess, Glyn S.; Pratt, Karen (eds.). The Arthur of the French: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval French and Occitan Literature. Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, IV. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. pp. 497–501. ISBN   9780708321966 . Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  63. ↑ Fletcher 1965, pp. 225–231.
  64. ↑ Shepherd, G. T. (1970). "Early Middle English literature". In Bolton, W. F. (ed.). The Middle Ages. History of Literature in the English Language, Volume I. London: Barrie & Jenkins. pp. 80–81. ISBN   9780214650802.
  65. ↑ Jankulak 2010, pp. 96–97.
  66. ↑ "Langtoft, Peter". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16037.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  67. ↑ Le Saux 2005, p. 61.
  68. ↑ Burrow, J. A. (2009). "The fourteenth-century Arthur". In Archibald, Elizabeth; Putter, Ad (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 69. ISBN   9780521860598 . Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  69. ↑ Lupack 2005, p. 37.
  70. ↑ Bennett & Gray 1990, pp. 93–95.
  71. ↑ Wace 2005, p. xiv.
  72. ↑ Crane, Susan (1999). "Anglo-Norman cultures in England, 1066–1460". In Wallace, David (ed.). The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 51. ISBN   0521444209 . Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  73. ↑ Johnson, Lesley (2001) [1999]. "Metrical chronicles". In Barron, W. R. J. (ed.). The Arthur of the English: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval English Life and Literature. Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, II. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. pp. 45–46. ISBN   0708316832 . Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  74. ↑ Johnson, Lesley; Wogan-Browne, Jocelyn (1999). "National, world and women's history: Writers and readers in post-Conquest England". In Wallace, David (ed.). The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 101. ISBN   0521444209 . Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  75. ↑ Thompson, John J. (2001) [1999]. "Postscript: Authors and audiences". In Barron, W. R. J. (ed.). The Arthur of the English: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval English Life and Literature. Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, II. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 381. ISBN   0708316832 . Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  76. ↑ Lupack 2005, p. 31.
  77. ↑ Johnson, Lesley (2001) [1999]. "The Alliterative Morte Arthure". In Barron, W. R. J. (ed.). The Arthur of the English: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval English Life and Literature. Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, II. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 94. ISBN   0708316832 . Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  78. ↑ Hodder, Karen (2001) [1999]. "Arthur, The Legend of King Arthur, King Arthur's Death". In Barron, W. R. J. (ed.). The Arthur of the English: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval English Life and Literature. Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, II. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 72. ISBN   0708316832 . Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  79. ↑ Foulon 1974, p. 103.
  80. ↑ "Wace's Roman de Brut". British Library Collection Items. British Library. n.d. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  81. ↑ Le Saux 2005, p. 85.
  82. ↑ Urbanski, Charity (2013). Writing History for the King: Henry II and the Politics of Vernacular Historiography. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p. 83. ISBN   9780801451317 . Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  83. ↑ Le Saux 2006, p. 96.
  84. ↑ Le Saux 2005, p. 86.
  85. ↑ Le Saux 2006, pp. 96–97.
  86. 1 2 Brun 2020.
  87. ↑ Le Saux, F. (1998). "Review of Marie-Françoise Alamichel (trans.) De Wace à Lawamon". Cahiers de civilisation médiévale (in French). 41: 375–376. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
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The Battle of Camlann is the legendary final battle of King Arthur, in which Arthur either died or was fatally wounded while fighting either alongside or against Mordred, who also perished. The original legend of Camlann, inspired by a purportedly historical event said to have taken place in the early 6th-century Britain, appears only in vague mentions found in several medieval Welsh texts dating since around the 10th century. The battle's much more detailed depictions have emerged since the 12th century, generally based on that of a catastrophic conflict described in the pseudo-chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae. The further greatly embellished variants originate from the later French chivalric romance tradition, in which it became known as the Battle of Salisbury, and include the 15th-century telling in Le Morte d'Arthur that remains popular today.

Constantine was a 6th-century king of Dumnonia in sub-Roman Britain, who was remembered in later British tradition as a legendary King of Britain. The only contemporary information about him comes from Gildas, who castigated him for various sins, including the murder of two "royal youths" inside a church. The historical Constantine is also known from the genealogies of the Dumnonian kings, and possibly inspired the tradition of Saint Constantine, a king-turned-monk venerated in Southwest Britain and elsewhere.

Geoffrey Gaimar, also written Geffrei or Geoffroy, was an Anglo-Norman chronicler. His contribution to medieval literature and history was as a translator from Old English to Anglo-Norman. His L'Estoire des Engleis, or History of the English People, written about 1136–1140, was a chronicle in eight-syllable rhyming couplets, running to 6,526 lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brocéliande</span> Mythical medieval forest

Brocéliande, earlier known as Brécheliant and Brécilien, is a legendary enchanted forest that had a reputation in the medieval European imagination as a place of magic and mystery. Brocéliande is featured in several medieval texts, mostly related to the Arthurian legend and the characters of Merlin, Morgan le Fay, the Lady of the Lake, and some of the Knights of the Round Table. It first appeared in literature in the Roman de Rou chronicle by Wace in 1160 and today is most commonly identified as Paimpont forest in Brittany, France.

Layamon's Brut, also known as The Chronicle of Britain, is a Middle English alliterative verse poem compiled and recast by the English priest Layamon. Layamon's Brut is 16,096 lines long and narrates a fictionalized version of the history of Britain up to the Early Middle Ages. It is the first work of history written in English since the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Named for Britain's mythical founder, Brutus of Troy, the poem is largely based on the Anglo-Norman French Roman de Brut by Wace, which is in turn a version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin Historia Regum Britanniae. Layamon's poem, however, is longer than both and includes an enlarged section on the life and exploits of King Arthur. It is written in the alliterative verse style commonly used in Middle English poetry by rhyming chroniclers, the two halves of the alliterative lines being often linked by rhyme as well as by alliteration.

The Alliterative Morte Arthure is a 4346-line Middle English alliterative poem, retelling the latter part of the legend of King Arthur. Dating from about 1400, it is preserved in a single copy in the 15th-century Lincoln Thornton Manuscript, now in Lincoln Cathedral Library.

Pridwen was, according to the 12th-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth, King Arthur's shield; it was adorned with an image of the Virgin Mary. Geoffrey's description of it draws on earlier Welsh traditions found in Preiddeu Annwfn, Culhwch and Olwen, and the Historia Brittonum. The shield is also named and described by Wace, Layamon, Roger of Wendover and Robert of Gloucester among other medieval writers, and it directly inspired the description of Sir Gawain's shield in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

<i>Brut y Brenhinedd</i> Collection of Middle Welsh versions of Historia Regum Britanniae

Brut y Brenhinedd is a collection of variant Middle Welsh versions of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin Historia Regum Britanniae. About 60 versions survive, with the earliest dating to the mid-13th century. Adaptations of Geoffrey's Historia were extremely popular throughout Western Europe during the Middle Ages, but the Brut proved especially influential in medieval Wales, where it was largely regarded as an accurate account of the early history of the Celtic Britons.

<i>Merlin</i> (Robert de Boron poem) French epic poem

Merlin is a partly lost French epic poem written by Robert de Boron in Old French and dating from either the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th century. The author reworked Geoffrey of Monmouth's material on the legendary Merlin, emphasising Merlin's power to prophesy and linking him to the Holy Grail. The poem tells of his origin and early life as a redeemed Antichrist, his role in the birth of Arthur, and how Arthur became King of Britain. Merlin's story relates to Robert's two other reputed Grail poems, Joseph d'Arimathie and Perceval. Its motifs became popular in medieval and later Arthuriana, notably the introduction of the sword in the stone, the redefinition of the Grail, and turning the previously peripheral Merlin into a key character in the legend of King Arthur.

<i>Prophetiae Merlini</i> Book about the prophecies of Merlin

The Prophetiæ Merlini is a Latin work of Geoffrey of Monmouth circulated, perhaps as a libellus or short work, from about 1130, and by 1135. Another name is Libellus Merlini.

Prydwen plays a part in the early Welsh poem Preiddeu Annwfn as King Arthur's ship, which bears him to the Celtic otherworld Annwn, while in Culhwch and Olwen he sails in it on expeditions to Ireland. The 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth named Arthur's shield after it. In the early modern period Welsh folklore preferred to give Arthur's ship the name Gwennan. Prydwen has however made a return during the last century in several Arthurian works of fiction.

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