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History of the Kings of the Britons c. 1136
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GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH

c. 1136 The Historia Regum Britanniae, translated as ‘The History of the Kings of Britain’ is a medieval text written by Geoffrey of Monmouth around 1136, and is an account of British history laced with fictitious references and tales of drama.

The book charts the rise and fall of the kings of Britain, tracking the tales of conquest, power and success. Starting with the Trojan founding of the British Isles and following the trail of those in power until the time of the Anglo-Saxons, this body of work forms a vital component of the Matter of Britain.
DATABASES
c. 1136 The Historia Regum Britanniae, translated as ‘The History of the Kings of Britain’ is a medieval text written by Geoffrey of Monmouth around 1136, and is an account of British history laced with fictitious references and tales of drama. The book charts the rise and fall of the kings of Britain, tracking the tales of conquest, power and success. Starting with the Trojan founding of the British Isles and following the trail of those in power until the time of the Anglo-Saxons, this body of work forms a vital component of the Matter of Britain.
Historia regum Britanniae, (Latin: “History of the Kings of Britain”) fictional history of Britain written by Geoffrey of Monmouth sometime between 1135 and 1139. The Historia regum Britanniae was one of the most popular books of the Middle Ages. The story begins with the settlement of Britain by Brutus the Trojan, great-grandson of Aeneas, and the Trojan Corineus, the eponymous founder of Cornwall, who exterminate the giants inhabiting Britain. Then follow the reigns of the early kings down to the Roman conquest. It includes such episodes as the founding of Bath by Bladud and of Leicester by Leir (Lear). The story of the Saxon infiltration during the reign of the wicked usurper Vortigern, of the successful resistance of the Saxons by Vortimer, and of the restoration of the rightful line, followed by the great reigns of Aurelius and his brother Uther Pendragon, leads up to the account of Arthur’s conquests...
The History of the Kings of Britain by the Anglo-Norman cleric, Geoffrey of Monmouth (b. c. 1100, d. 1154) was an enormously popular historical text in the 12th century. Over 220 medieval copies of this work survive. Geoffrey’s history of the kings of England up to the arrival of the Anglo Saxons includes the story of the legendary King Arthur and his court, told for the first time in some detail. This copy of the History was produced in Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy in the mid-12th century
Historia regum Britanniae (The History of the Kings of Britain), originally called De gestis Britonum (On the Deeds of the Britons), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons over the course of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation and continuing until the Anglo-Saxons assumed control of much of Britain around the 7th century. It is one of the central pieces of the Matter of Britain.
Geoffrey was born in or near Monmouth, Wales. By 1129 he was residing in Oxford, probably as a member of a nonmonastic ecclesiastical community. He stayed at Oxford at least until 1151 and during this period wrote his two extant works, Historia regum Britanniae (1136-1138; History of the Kings of Britain) and Vita Merlini (ca. 1148; The Life of Merlin). Geoffrey was a keen observer of contemporary trends in historical writing and combined his observations with a fertile imagination and a consistent, if not profound, philosophical outlook about history to produce his brilliant pseudohistory of the Britons, the Celtic people which inhabited the island of Britain before being conquered by the Anglo-Saxons.
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