Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniæ (English: The History of the Kings of Britain) is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans of Homer's Iliad founding the British nation and continuing until the Anglo-Saxons assume control of Britain around the 7th century. It is one of the central pieces of the Matter of Britain.

Of the many rulers mentioned in the history, the most notable are:

• Brutus of Troy - Founded the colony of Britain and named the island after himself
• Leir - Romanticized in Shakespeare's play King Lear
• Cassibelanus - King of the Britons when Julius Caesar invaded
• Cymbeline - Parodied in Shakespeare'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 and villain who first invited the Saxons to Britain
• 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 as well as being 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 factual information contained within. John Morris in The Age of Arthur calls it a "deliberate spoof," though this is not the majority opinion about Geoffrey's intentions.

References

• 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.

Arthurian literature | Medieval Latin literature | Medieval literature | Welsh literature

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