![History of the Kings (f](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/History_of_the_Kings_%28f.41%29_Severus.jpg)
''Brut y Brenhinedd'' ("Chronicle of the Kings") is a collection of variant
Middle Welsh
Middle Welsh ( cy, Cymraeg Canol, wlm, Kymraec) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh ( cy, Hen G ...
versions of
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiograph ...
's Latin ''
Historia Regum Britanniae
''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. I ...
''. 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
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, where it was largely regarded as an accurate account of the early history of the
Celtic Britons
The Britons ( *''Pritanī'', la, Britanni), also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons, were people of Celtic language and culture who inhabited Great Britain from at least the British Iron Age and into the Middle Ages, at which point th ...
.
Geoffrey's ''Historia'' and the ''Brut y Brenhinedd''
Geoffrey's ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' (completed by ) purports to narrate the history of the
Kings of Britain from its eponymous founder
Brutus of Troy
Brutus, also called Brute of Troy, is a legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, known in medieval British history as the eponymous founder and first king of Britain. This legend first appears in the ''Historia Brittonum'', an anonymous ...
to
Cadwaladr
Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon (also spelled Cadwalader or Cadwallader in English) was king of Gwynedd in Wales from around 655 to 682 AD. Two devastating plagues happened during his reign, one in 664 and the other in 682; he himself was a victim of t ...
, the last in the line. Geoffrey professed to have based his history on "a certain very ancient book" written in ''britannicus sermo'' (the "British tongue", i.e.
Common Brittonic
Common Brittonic ( cy, Brythoneg; kw, Brythonek; br, Predeneg), also known as British, Common Brythonic, or Proto-Brittonic, was a Celtic language spoken in Britain and Brittany.
It is a form of Insular Celtic, descended from Proto-Celtic, a ...
,
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
,
Cornish or
Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
** Breton people
** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Ga ...
) which he had received from
Walter of Oxford
Walter of Oxford (died 1151) ( la, Valterus Calenius) was a cleric and writer. He served as archdeacon of Oxford in the 12th century. Walter was a friend of Geoffrey of Monmouth, who claimed he got his chief source for the ''Historia Regum Britanni ...
. It became one of the most popular works in the medieval West, but its impact was particularly profound and enduring in Wales, where the ''Historia'' was accepted as a largely authentic and authoritative account.
[Roberts, "''Brut y Brenhinedd''".] The influence is most clearly evidenced by the existence of several translations into Welsh from the 13th century onwards, usually known as ''Brut y Brenhinedd''. The manuscript history of these texts is a rich and long one attesting to the production of several translations and new redactions, most of which were copied many times over.
The Welsh renderings are not straightforward translations in the modern sense, but by contemporary standards, they are generally close to their Latin source text, with only some commentary or additional material from bardic traditional lore (''cyfarwydd'') appended to the text.
Importantly, several manuscripts include a version of the tale known as ''
Lludd and Llefelys
''Lludd and Llefelys'' ( cy, Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys) is a Middle Welsh prose tale written down in the 12th or 13th century; it was included in the ''Mabinogion'' by Lady Charlotte Guest in the 19th century. It tells of the Welsh hero Lludd Llaw ...
'' inserted in the segment about
Lludd Llaw Eraint Lludd Llaw Ereint, "Lludd of the Silver Hand", son of Beli Mawr, is a legendary hero from Welsh mythology. As Nudd Llaw Ereint (the earlier form of his name, cognate of the Irish Nuada Airgetlám, derived from the pre-Roman Celtic god Nodens) he ...
; the presence or absence of this tale has been used to classify the early versions of the ''Brut''.
[Bromwich, ''Triads''. p. 416.] One notable area in which Welsh translators have corrected or adapted Geoffrey based on native traditions is that of personal names and soubriquets. For Geoffrey's "Heli", for instance, was substituted
Beli Mawr Beli Mawr ("Beli the Great") was an ancestor figure in Middle Welsh literature and genealogies. He is the father of Cassivellaunus, Arianrhod, Lludd Llaw Eraint, Llefelys, and Afallach. In certain medieval genealogies he is listed as the son or h ...
, an ancestor figure who also appears in ''
Branwen ferch Llŷr
; "Branwen, daughter of Llŷr" is a legendary tale from medieval Welsh literature and the second of the four branches of the Mabinogi. It concerns the children of Llŷr; Bendigeidfran (literally "Brân the Blessed"), high king of Britain, and ...
'' and elsewhere in Middle Welsh literature.
Versions
There are about sixty attestations of the Welsh ''Brut'' in the manuscripts.
Brynley F. Roberts
Brynley Francis Roberts (born 1931), known as Bryn Roberts, is a Welsh scholar and critic, who has written much on the Welsh language and Celts, Celtic history. He was Professor of Welsh Language and Literature at the University of Wales, Swansea ...
, citing J.J. Parry and his own examination of the texts, places all the existing versions into six variant classes: 1) Dingestow MS., 2) Peniarth 44, 3) Llanstephan 1, 4) Peniarth 21, 5)
Cotton Cleopatra
This is an incomplete list of some of the manuscripts from the Cotton library that today form the Cotton collection of the British Library. Some manuscripts were destroyed or damaged in a fire at Ashburnham House in 1731, and a few are kept in othe ...
B. v, and 6) the ''Brut Tysilio''.
13th century
*1. The ''Brut'' in
NLW, Llanstephan MS 1 (mid-13th century), is a relatively close translation of Geoffrey's ''Historia''.
*2. The ''Brut'' in NLW, Peniarth MS 44 (mid-13th century). This text becomes increasingly more condensed towards the end, omitting
Merlin
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...
's prophecy in the process on stated grounds that it lacks credibility. Yet it has the distinct quality of being the first ''Brut'' to incorporate the tale ''
Lludd and Llefelys
''Lludd and Llefelys'' ( cy, Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys) is a Middle Welsh prose tale written down in the 12th or 13th century; it was included in the ''Mabinogion'' by Lady Charlotte Guest in the 19th century. It tells of the Welsh hero Lludd Llaw ...
''.
*3. ''Brut Dingestow'' (later in the 13th century), now in MS Aberystwyth, NLW 5266, once appears to have been in MS 6 of the
Dingestow
Dingestow (pronounced , cy, Llanddingad) is a small village in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located south-west of Monmouth and approximately the same distance north-east of Raglan in rural Monmouthshire. The River Trothy passes through the v ...
court collection, and may have originated in Gwynedd. Again, the text is a relatively faithful translation, aided by its occasional reliance on Llanstephan MS 1.
Of these three texts, it is Llanstephan MS 1 and ''Brut Dingestow'' which then came to provide the textual basis for many of the copies attested in other MSS from the 13th century onwards, such as Mostyn MS 117 and NLW Peniarth MS 16.
14th century
![History of the Kings (f](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/History_of_the_Kings_%28f.18%29_Morgan_and_Cunedda.jpg)
* Red Book of Hergest redaction. A revised version, presumably from south Wales, was produced which follows the Dingestow version up to the end of Merlin's prophecy, and continues with the Llanstephan 1 version. Copied in numerous MSS, this conflated version is most famously represented by the text in the ''Llyfr Coch Hergest'' or
Red Book of Hergest
The ''Red Book of Hergest'' ( cy, Llyfr Coch Hergest, Oxford, Jesus College, MS 111) is a large vellum manuscript written shortly after 1382, which ranks as one of the most important medieval manuscripts written in the Welsh language. It preser ...
. In most every manuscript, it is preceded by the ''Ystorya Dared'', i.e. a Welsh translation of the ''De Excidio Troiae'' ascribed to
Dares Phrygius
Dares Phrygius ( grc, Δάρης), according to Homer, was a Trojan priest of Hephaestus. He was supposed to have been the author of an account of the destruction of Troy, and to have lived before Homer. A work in Latin, purporting to be a transla ...
, and followed by the ''
Brut y Tywysogion
''Brut y Tywysogion'' ( en, Chronicle of the Princes) is one of the most important primary sources for Welsh history. It is an annalistic chronicle that serves as a continuation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. ''Bru ...
''. In this way, the text is made the central piece in a world history extending from the
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has ...
up to events close to the redactors' own time. It seems that the ''Ystorya Dared'', which has no independent existence in the manuscripts, was specially composed to serve as its prologue.
*4. The ''Brut'' in NLW Peniarth MS 23 and elsewhere, a fresh and fairly close translation of Geoffrey's ''Historia''.
*5. The ''Brut'' in
BL Cotton Cleopatra B. v, NLW MS 7006 (
Black Book of Basingwerk
The Black Book of Basingwerk ( cy, Llyfr Du Basing) is an illuminated manuscript in the National Library of Wales (NLW MS 7006D) containing, among other texts, a Welsh translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae
''Histor ...
) and elsewhere, appears to have circulated in north-east Wales. It represents a freer and more piquant version than was previously attempted and draws on some extraneous material, notably
Wace
Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his car ...
's ''
Roman de Brut
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''. It was formerly known ...
'' (a
Norman language
Norman or Norman French (, french: Normand, Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a Romance language which can be classified as one of the Oïl languages along with French, Picard and Walloon. The name "Norman French" is sometimes used to descri ...
work which was in turn based on Geoffrey's ''Historia'') and a Latin chronology. In the manuscripts, it is sandwiched between the ''Ystorya Dared'' and the ''
Brenhinoedd y Saeson'' (''Kings of the English''), a version of the ''Brut y Tywysogyon'' which incorporates material from English chronicles. Also included is a condensed version of the ''Lludd and Llefelys'' tale. This ''Brut'' is the version used for the Welsh historical compilation attributed to the late 15th-century poet
Gutun Owain
Gutun Owain ( fl. 1456–1497) was a poet in the Welsh language. He was born near Oswestry in what is now north Shropshire and was a student of Dafydd ab Edmwnd.
Gutun Owain was closely associated with the Cistercian abbey of Valle Crucis where ...
, as well as for the ''Brut Tysilio''.
14th or 15th century
*6. ''Brut Tysilio''. Oxford, Jesus College MS 28, transcript from Jesus College MS 61 (14th or 15th century) made by Hugh Jones in 1695.
''Brut Tysilio'' and Geoffrey's putative British source
The version known as the ''Brut Tysilio'', attributed to the 7th-century Welsh saint
Tysilio
Saint Tysilio (also known as/confused with Saint Suliac; la, Tysilius, Suliacus; died 640 AD) was a Welsh bishop, prince and scholar, son of the reigning King of Powys, Brochwel Ysgithrog, maternal nephew of the great Abbot Dunod of Bangor ...
, became more widely known when its text was published in ''
The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales'', a once-influential collection of Welsh literary material whose credibility has suffered due to the involvement of the antiquarian forger
Iolo Morganwg
Edward Williams, better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg (; 10 March 1747 – 18 December 1826), was a Welsh antiquarian, poet and collector.Jones, Mary (2004)"Edward Williams/Iolo Morganwg/Iolo Morgannwg" From ''Jones' Celtic Encyclopedi ...
, in 1801–1807. The editors did not place much faith in the attribution to Tysilio, using that title merely to distinguish it from another Welsh ''Brut'' entitled ''Brut Gruffudd ap Arthur'' (the chronicle of Geoffrey son of Arthur, an alternative name for Geoffrey of Monmouth). An English translation of the ''Brut Tysilio'' by Peter Roberts was published in 1811, and San Marte made a German translation of Roberts' English translation in 1854, making it available to non-specialists.
At the very end of the ''Brut Tysilio'' there appears a colophon ascribed to Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford, saying "I
translated this book from the Welsh into Latin, and in my old age have again translated it from the Latin into Welsh." On this basis, some took the ''Brut Tysilio'' to be, at one or more remove, the "very ancient book" that Geoffrey claimed to have translated from the "British tongue".
[Gerald Morgan, "Welsh Arthurian Literature", in Norris J. Lacy (ed.), ''A history of Arthurian scholarship'', Boydell & Brewer, 2006, pp. 77-94] This claim was taken up by the archaeologist
Flinders Petrie
Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egypt ...
, who argued in a paper presented to the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
in 1917 that the ''Brut'' and the ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' were both derived from a hypothetical 10th-century version in
Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
** Breton people
** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Ga ...
and ultimately from material originating in
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
times, and called for further study.
Flinders Petrie
Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egypt ...
, "Neglected British History
''Xestia castanea'', the grey rustic or neglected, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found from central Europe to Morocco, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and Syria.
Technical description and variation
The wingspan is 36–42 mm. ...
", ''Proceedings of the British Academy'', Volume VIII, pp. 251-278.
However, modern scholarship has established that all surviving Welsh variants are derivative of Geoffrey rather than the other way around.
[Roberts, ''Brut y Brenhinedd'', Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1971, pp. xxiv-xxxi] Roberts has shown the ''Brut Tysilio'' to be "an amalgam of versions", the earlier part deriving from Peniarth 44, and the later part abridged from Cotton Cleopatra. It survives in manuscripts dating from , and Roberts argues that a "textual study of the version
shows that this is a late compilation, not different in essentials from other chronicles which were being composed in the fifteenth century".
References
Secondary sources
*Evans, D. Simon. ''A Grammar of Middle Welsh''. Dublin, 1964.
*Koch, John T. "A Welsh Window on the Iron Age: Manawydan, Mandubracios." ''Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies'' 14 (1987): 17–52.
*Koch, John T. "The Celtic Lands." In ''Medieval Arthurian Literature: A Guide to Recent Research'', ed. N. Lacy. New York, 1996. 239–322.
*Petrie, Flinders. "Neglected British History." ''Proceedings of the British Academy'' 8 (1917–18): 251–78.
*Roberts, Brynley F. “''Brut y Brenhinedd''.” In ''Celtic Culture. A Historical Encyclopedia'', ed. John T. Koch. 5 vols. Santa Barbara et al., 2006. pp. 298–9.
*Roberts, Brynley F. ''Brut y Brenhinedd'', cited below.
Primary sources
*''Brut y Brenhinedd'' (Llanstephan MS 1), ed. Brynley F. Roberts, ''Brut y Brenhinedd. Llanstephan MS. 1 version. Selections''. Mediaeval and Modern Welsh series 5. Dublin, 1971. Extracts and discussion.
*''Brut Dingestow'', ed. Henry Lewis, ''Brut Dingestow''. Cardiff: Gwasg Pryfisgol Cymru, 1942. In Welsh.
*''Brut Tysilio'', ed. Owen Jones et al., ''The Myvyrian archaiology of Wales''. Vol. 1. London, 1801; tr. R.E. Jones, in ''The Historia regum Britanniæ of Geoffrey of Monmouth'', ed. A. Griscom an J.R. Ellis. London, 1929; tr. Peter Roberts, ''The chronicle of the kings of Britain. Translated from the Welsh copy attributed to Tysilio''. London, 1811; updated translation in Petrie's "Neglected British History" cited above; tr. A.S. San Marte, ''Brut Tysilio. Gottfrieds von Monmouth Historia Regum Britanniae und Brut Tysilio''. Halle, 1854 (German translation).
*''Brut y Brenhinedd'' (Cotton Cleopatra B. v and Black Book of Basingwerk), ed. and tr. John Jay Parry, ''Brut y Brenhinedd (Cotton Cleopatra Version)''. Cambridge (Mass.), 1937. Criticised by W.J. Gruffydd, especially for errors in the translation, ''Medium Aevum'' 9 (1940): 44–9.
*Red Book of Hergest 'edition' of ''Brut y Brenhinedd'', ed. John Rhys and J.G. Evans, ''The Text of the Bruts from the Red Book of Hergest''. Oxford, 1890. Diplomatic edition.
Further reading
*Bromwich, Rachel (2006). ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain''. University Of Wales Press. .
*Griscom, A. and J.R. Ellis (eds.). ''The Historia regum Britanniæ of Geoffrey of Monmouth with contributions to the study of its place in early British history''. London, 1929.
*Jarman, A.O.H. "Lewis Morris a ''Brut Tysilio''." ''Llên Cymru'' 2:3 (1953): 161–83.
*Roberts, Brynley F. “Geoffrey of Monmouth, ''Histora Regum Britanniae'' and ''Brut y Brenhinedd''.” In ''The Arthur of the Welsh. The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature'', ed. A.O.H. Jarman, Rachel Bromwich and Brynley F. Roberts. Cardiff, 1991. 97-116.
*Roberts, Brynley F. ''Brut Tysilio. Darlith agoriadol gan Athro y Gymraeg a'i Llenyddiaeth''. Swansea, 1980.
*Roberts, Brynley F. "The Red Book of Hergest version of ''Brut y Brenhinedd''." ''Studia Celtica'' 12/13 (1977-8): 147–86.
*Roberts, Brynley F. "Fersiwn Dingestow o ''Brut y Brenhinedd''." ''Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies'' 27 (1977): 331–61.
*Roberts, Brynley F. "The Treatment of Personal Names in the Early Welsh Versions of the ''Historia Regum Britanniae''." ''Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies'' 25 (1973): 274–90.
*Reiss, E. “The Welsh versions of Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia''.” ''
Welsh History Review
''The Welsh History Review'' (Welsh: Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru) is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the history of Wales. It is published in four parts per volume, one volume every two years. The journal was established in 1960. The editors- ...
'' 4 (1968/9): 97-127.
External links
''Brut Tysilio'', Oxford, Jesus College MS 28A collection of historical prose in Middle Welsh (includes multiple versions of ''Brut y Brenhinedd'')''The Chronicle of the Kings of Britain'' 1811 translation of the ''Brut Tysilio'' by Peter Roberts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brut Y Brenhinedd
15th-century history books
Arthurian literature in Welsh
British traditional history
Medieval Welsh literature
Translations of Geoffrey of Monmouth
Welsh chronicles