Geoffrey of Monmouth

Posts in The Copybook credited to ‘Geoffrey of Monmouth’

Geoffrey of Monmouth (?1100-1154) was a monk at Oxford from about 1130, during which time he composed his ‘History of the Kings of Britain’, along with two books about Merlin, ‘Prophecies of Merlin’ and a ‘Life of Merlin’ in verse. His ‘History’ continues to defy classification, being a mix of history, fantasy, mythology and apocalyptic, based on older chronicles and on ‘a very ancient book in the British tongue’ which scholars (then and now) very much doubt ever existed. But he can justly claim the credit for creating the legend of Merlin and of King Arthur out of scraps of earlier tradition. He was consecrated Bishop of St Asaph in 1152, and died two years later.

1

Brutus of Britain by Clay Lane

Back in the days of the prophet Samuel, so the story goes, a grandson of Trojan hero Aeneas brought civilisation to the British Isles.

Geoffrey of Monmouth (?-1155) was residing in Oxford when, in the 1130s, he wrote his majestic History of the Kings of Britain, in which he entrances us with tales of Merlin and Arthur. He also seized on a throwaway remark in the ninth-century chronicle History of the Britons, that ‘The island of Britain derives its name from Brutus, a Roman consul’, to romance the following tale.

Read

2

Vortigern’s Tower by Geoffrey of Monmouth

Geoffrey of Monmouth tells the tale of how Merlin first came to the attention of Britain’s kings.

Fifth-century tribal leader Vortigern has taken refuge from Saxon invaders in Snowdonia, but his new fortress keeps collapsing. His druid priests say it must be sprinkled with the blood of a virgin’s child — and rumour has it that young Merlin had no father.

Read

Clay Lane The Copybook