Historia Regum Britanniae

Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote his Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain ) in 1136 in Latin, when he was the Canon of St George 's Chapel in Oxford Castle in Oxford. This is a chronicle of the kings of the Britons in a narrative that covers a period of 2000 years. It begins with Troy in Homer's Iliad and goes up to the Anglo-Saxons and their takeover of power in Britain in the 7th century.

The Historia was received mid-13th century by Icelandic scholars and transferred sögur under the title Breta into Icelandic. In the 13th to 15th centuries, the Historia was edited under the title Brut y Brenhinedd [ brit bren'hineð ə ] in the medium or frühneukymrisch. Of these, more than 60 manuscripts have survived.

Among the many rulers who are mentioned in the Historia, are the best known:

• Brutus of Britain - founded the British colony and named the island after himself
• King Lear - romanticized in Shakespeare's King Lear
• Cassivellaunus - King of the Britons at the time of the invasion of Caesar
• Mandubracius / Androgeus - opponent Cassivellaunus ' time of the invasion of Caesar
• Cymbeline - parodied in Shakespeare's tragicomedy Cymbeline
• Lucius of Britain - the first Christian king in Britain
• Eudaf Hen - king in Britain
• Coel - the namesake for the King " Old King Cole " from the English children's song
• Constantine the Great - the first Christian Roman Emperor
• Vortigern - the king of many medieval stories
• Arthur - the most famous of the legendary kings
• Gwendolen - mythical queen

Geoffrey's story is crude and unreliable, but nevertheless the basis for a large part of the English tradition and literature. His sources are Nennius, Gildas and the Welsh chronicles, as well as lost documents to which he refers as well.