Brutus Greenshield ( cy, Brutus Darian Las) was a legendary king of the

Britons British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mo ...

as accounted by

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 ...

. He was the son of King

Ebraucus Ebraucus ( cy, Efrawg/Efrog) was a legendary king of the Britons, as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the son of King Mempricius before he abandoned the family. Following the death of his father, Mempricius, he became king and reigned 3 ...

Geoffrey's account

According to Geoffrey, Brutus, called Greenshield (''

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

:'' ''Viridescutum''), was the eldest of twenty sons and the only remaining son of Ebraucus in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

at the time of his death. All Ebraucus's other sons were in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

establishing a new kingdom there. He reigned for twelve years after his father's death. He was succeeded by his son, Leil. This is all that Geoffrey says of him.

In Elizabethan culture

Polydore Vergil Polydore Vergil or Virgil (Italian: ''Polidoro Virgili''; commonly Latinised as ''Polydorus Vergilius''; – 18 April 1555), widely known as Polydore Vergil of Urbino, was an Italian humanist scholar, historian, priest and diplomat, who spent ...

says that Greenshield "was greatly renowned neither at home nor in warfare". However, in Elizabethan England he acquired a reputation as a great warrior who is supposed to have led an expedition against the French at Hainaut.

Michael Drayton Michael Drayton (1563 – 23 December 1631) was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. He died on 23 December 1631 in London. Early life Drayton was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothin ...

refers to him in ''Poly-Olbion'' as "Brute Green-Shield, to whose name we providence impute / Divinely to revive the land's first conqueror, Brute". Greenshield's supposed conquest of Hainaut is also described in

Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...

's ''

The Faerie Queene ''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...

'', in which it is stated that "to repair his father's loss" he fought "a second battle at Henault with Brunchild rince of Hainautat the mouth of the river Scaldis".Schwyzer, Philip, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Welshman" in Maley & Schwyzer (eds), ''Shakespeare and Wales: From the Marches to the Assembly'', Ashgate, 2013, p.33. The battle turned his green shield red with blood. Greenshield also appears in other works. ''Brute Greenshield'', a play about the king, was performed by the

Admiral's Men The Admiral's Men (also called the Admiral's company, more strictly, the Earl of Nottingham's Men; after 1603, Prince Henry's Men; after 1612, the Elector Palatine's Men or the Palsgrave's Men) was a playing company or troupe of actors in the El ...

in 1598, but the text is lost. It may have been written by John Day and

Henry Chettle Henry Chettle (c. 1564 – c. 1606) was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer of the Elizabethan era, best known for his pamphleteering. Early life The son of Robert Chettle, a London dyer, he was apprenticed in 1577 and became a me ...

.Robert Boies Sharpe, ''The Real War of the Theaters: Shakespeare's Fellows in Rivalry with the Admiral's Men, 1594-1603; Repertories, Devices, and Types'', D.C. Heath, Boston, 1935, p. 104. In all these works Greenshield's Hainaut expedition becomes the mythical foundation of the British empire, the first foreign venture to expand British influence in the world. Hainaut was also important to Elizabethans because the Earl of Leicester had led Elizabeth's army against the Spanish there in 1579, so "the Greenshield episode thus prefigures Merlin's prophecy that Elizabeth shall 'stretch her white rod over the ''Belgicke'' shore'".

In popular culture

Greenshield is the namesake of a

dungeon synth Dungeon synth is a genre of electronic music that merges elements of black metal and dark ambient. The style emerged in the early 1990s, predominantly among members of the black metal scene, such as Mortiis, Burzum, Robert Fudali of Lord Win ...

group, Brutus Greenshield, who have released several albums on the popular music site

bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

References

{{Authority control Legendary British kings