Layamon

Layamon was a poet of the early 13th century, whose Brut ( around 1200, perhaps about 1215) a history of England, is written in alliterative verse in Middle English language. It deals with the fabulous history of Britain from Brutus ' arrival after the fall of Troy to the death Cædwallas ( 689 ), the last British king, and delivers with it the first editor of the Arthurian material in English.

Although it is based on the Roman de Brut by Wace in Norman French, Layamons poem is remarkable for its wealth of Anglo-Saxon vocabulary. The researcher Roger S. Loomis counted 150 terms in the 32200 rows. The style and narrative technique transform the courtly French template into a heroic and archaic, is leaning on old English traditions narrative.

Layamon describes himself as a priest, who lives in Ardeley Regis at Bewdley in Worcestershire. His poem provided the model for later writers, Thomas Malory included.

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