Walter of Oxford (died 1151) () was a cleric and writer. He served as

archdeacon of Oxford The Archdeacon of Oxford is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Diocese of Oxford, Church of England, England. The office responsibility includes the care of clergy and church buildings within the area of the ''Archdeaconry of Oxford.'' Hist ...

in the 12th century. Walter was a friend of

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth (; ; ) was a Catholic cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle '' The History of ...

, who claimed he got his chief source for the ''

Historia Regum Britanniae (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a fictitious account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the List of legendary kings o ...

'' from Walter. In the dedication to his ''Historia Regum Britanniae'', Geoffrey claims that while writing the book he had struggled to find material on the early Kings of the Britons. This problem had been solved when Walter gave him a "very ancient book" written in ''britannicus sermo'' (The "British" tongue, i.e. Brittonic, Welsh, or Breton). Geoffrey claims that his ''Historia'' is a faithful translation of that book into

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. However, few modern scholars believe this to be true.Thorpe, pp. 14-19

Biography

Walter's name is attached to the ''Brut Tysilio'', a variant of the Welsh chronicle ''

Brut y Brenhinedd ''Brut y Brenhinedd'' ("Chronicle of the Kings") 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. Adapt ...

''. According to a colophon attached to the chronicle, Walter was responsible for translating the book, which is ascribed to the 7th-century Saint

Tysilio Saint Tysilio (also known as/confused with Saint Suliac; ; died 640 AD) was a Welsh bishop, prince and scholar. Sources The 12th century poet Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr wrote "An Ode to Tysilio". There is a genealogy of Tysilio in the Bonedd y ...

, first from Tysilio's Welsh into Latin, and then back again: "I ��translated this book from the Welsh into Latin, and in my old age have again translated it from the Latin into Welsh."''Brut Tysilio'', tr. P. Roberts, ''The Chronicle of the kings of Britain''. p. 190. Some antiquarians, notably

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Sir Flinders Petrie, was an English people, English Egyptology, Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. ...

in 1917, suggested that Walter's original Welsh source for the ''Brut Tysilio'' was in fact the "ancient book" described by Geoffrey.

, "Neglected British History", ''Proceedings of the British Academy'', Volume VIII, pp. 251-278. However, modern scholarship has established that all variants of the ''Brut y Brenhinedd'' in fact originate with Geoffrey's work, and do not represent some prior chronicle tradition. Brynley F. Roberts, ''Brut y Brenhinedd'', Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1971, pp. xxiv-xxxi Indeed, the ''Brut Tysilio'' probably postdates Walter by centuries; Brynley F. Roberts argues that it is an "amalgam" of previous versions and came together around 1500.

Notes

References

*''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 Tysilio'', ed. A. Griscom, 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). *Geoffrey of Monmouth; Thorpe, Lewis (Ed.) (1966). ''The History of the Kings of Britain'', New York: Penguin. {{Authority control 1151 deaths 12th-century English writers Archdeacons of Oxford Geoffrey of Monmouth 12th-century English Roman Catholic priests Year of birth unknown