Historia Brittonum

The Historia Brittonum Historia or Britonum (Eng. " History of the Britons " ) is a work of historiography, which was created shortly after 820 and now exists in several different versions. It gives the impression of a story to tell the British people of the island from the earliest times, and served in the absence of more reliable sources as a template to write the history of both England and Wales.

Assessment

The text itself is a collection of extracts, chronological calculations, notes and summaries that are based on previous records, many of which no longer exist, with the result that the reliability of this statement is provided in parts and as a whole in question. The archaeologist Leslie Alcock has noted that, in an edition of the manuscript of the author 's work as a accumulation of all that referred to what he could find, and suggested that this text, provided one is willing to apply this metaphor going on, " was a stone hill, uneven and poorly fit each other [ ... ] cruel as the example of the art of the historian. But he has the righteousness of his error. We can see the individual stones of the hill, and in some cases make the parental rock, from which it is derived, determine his age and weathering. "

A different view is offered by David N. Dumville, the major effort has operated to determine the development of the text and the relationships between its spending. Dumville believes that this text by seen between its origin and the origin of extant manuscripts several times and in many ways, was supplemented and rewritten. The intent of the author it was, after the manner of the Irish historian to make a coherent chronicle of his time. And since the manuscript is the only history of Wales in addition to Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, it was written and changed to meet this requirement.

Traditionally, the Historia Brittonum is regarded as a work of Nennius, a Welsh monk of the 9th century. Studies of the various editions, however, show that Gildas was also taken as an author in claim (because he was the only historian that the former clerk knew ), while others (for example, the manuscript Harley 3859 the British Library ) call no author. Dumvilles research has shown that the attribution of the work to Nennius 10th-century dates and occurs only in one branch of copies, ie resulting from a writer who sought the roots of the plant in the spiritual traditions of his time.

Content

The Historia Brittonum has therefore attracted attention because it plays a role in the legends and myths of King Arthur. It is the source of several stories, some of which were repeated and expanded by later authors:

  • The first theme is the story of Vortigern, which allowed the Anglo-Saxons in return for the hand of Hengists daughter to settle in the British Isles (the following Latin texts are taken from the edition by Theodor Mommsen )
  • The second theme begins with the intention Vortigerns to build a fortress in Snowdonia, but the construction fails. When trying to solve the problem, he met Ambrosius Aurelianus (after which the castle Dinas Emrys, Welsh for " fortress of Ambrose ," is called ), the Geoffrey of Monmouth equates in his retelling of Merlin.
  • In a further section twelve battles are listed that King Arthur is said to have beaten, some of which have but clearly nothing to do with him.

The sections of these stories are part of the Harleian manuscript, but not all existing spending. The above " region Ercing " was the ancient Welsh kingdom " Ergyng ", which was later united with Glamorgan.

Others

There are also chapters, the events of Germanus of Auxerre report and pretend to be excerpts from (now lost ) biographies of these saints. They contain a unique collection of traditions about St. Patrick, as a part of the events in the north of England describes the 6th and 7th century, beginning with a paragraph about the beginnings of Welsh literature.

" 62 ... tunc Talhaern Tataguen in poemate claruit et Neirin, et Taliessin, et Bluchbard, et Cian qui vocatur Guenith Guaut, simul uno tempore in poemate Britannico claruerunt ... "

"In this time Talhaiarn Cataguen was famous for poetry, and Aneirin, Taliesin, Bluchbard and Cian, who is called Guenith Guaut, all were famous in British poetry. "

There are a number of other works that are often associated with the Historia Brittonum, partly because some of them for the first time appear in the text of the Harleian manuscript, on the other hand they are often mentioned in studies of the Historia Brittonum:

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