Historia Brittonum

Publication history

Manuscripts

At least 5 manuscripts preserve the Historia, with the Harleian being the most complete. The Chartres manuscript was the oldest until it was largely destroyed during the accidental bombing of the library in 1944.

Overview

The Historia Brittonum describes the supposed settlement of Britain by Trojan settlers and says that Britain was named for Brutus, a descendant of Aeneas. It was the "single most important source used by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae" and, through the enormous popularity of this latter work, the Historia Brittonum version of Britain's early history, including the Trojan origin tradition, was incorporated into subsequent chronicles of the long-running history of the land, such as the Middle English Brut of England, also known as The Chronicles of England.

The Historia Brittonum can be dated to about 829. The work was written no earlier than the "fourth year of [the reign of] king Mermenus" (who has been identified as Merfyn Frych ap Gwriad, king of Gwynedd). Historians have conservatively assigned 829 to the earliest date for the work, which is consistent with the statement in chapter 4 that "from the Passion of Christ 796 years have passed. But from his Incarnation are 831 years".

The 19th-century classicist Theodor Mommsen divided the work into seven parts:{{ordered list

The work was the first source to portray King Arthur, who is described as a dux bellorum ('military leader') or miles ('warrior, soldier') and not as a king. It names the twelve battles that Arthur fought, but, unlike the Annales Cambriae, does not give any actual dates.

The reference in the Historia Brittonum to Arthur carrying the image of St. Mary on his shoulders in a battle has been interpreted by later commentators as a mistranslation of Arthur bearing the image of Mary on his shield; the words in Welsh are very similar.

The text makes use of two narrative techniques that are generally considered not reliable by modern academic standards: synthesizing and synchronizing history. Synthetic history combines legendary elements with fact, which makes the veracity of the text challenging to evaluate. Various specious causal connections and attempts to synchronize material from different sources and traditions also contribute to undermining the reliability of the chronicle.

Authorship, recensions and editions

The question of the nature of the text of the Historia Brittonum is one that has caused intense debate over the centuries. Some scholars have taken the position that treating the text as anonymously written would be the best approach as theories attributing authorship to Nennius have since been disputed by subsequent scholars.

Classical debate

Repudiating the so-called vindication of Nennius in 1890 by the Celtic scholar Heinrich Zimmer, Mommsen returned to the earlier view of a ninth-century Nennius merely building on a seventh-century original, which he dated to around 680. The historian Ferdinand Lot swiftly challenged Mommsen; but it was not until 1925 that the Anglo-Saxon scholar Felix Liebermann offered a major reconstruction of the Mommsen view, arguing that Nennius in fact first put the whole work into shape in the ninth century. Re-analysing the eleven manuscript variants of Mommsen, he produced a two-stemma analysis of their hypothetical descent, noting however that "Only one branch, viz. C2d2 of the second stem, preserves Nennius's name." His overall conclusion (based on uniform particularities of style) was that "The whole work...belongs to Nennius alone", but this did not prevent him from recognising that "we must lower Nennius's rank as a historian...[but] praise his patriotic heart."

Recent re-assessments

The Nennius question was re-opened in the 1970s by the historian David Dumville, who revisited the stemmatics of the various recensions and published the Vatican version. Dumville called the Nennian preface (Prefatio Nennii) a late forgery, and believes that the work underwent several anonymous revisions before reaching the forms that now survive in the various families of manuscripts. Dumville's view is largely accepted by current scholarship, though not without dissent. Peter Field in particular has argued for the authenticity of the preface, suggesting that it was left out of many recensions because it was seen as derogatory to British scholarship. However, Field believes Liebermann's earlier argument for Nennius's authorship still bears consideration.

Compiler's approach

Various introductory notes to this work invoke Nennius's (or the anonymous compiler's) words from the Prefatio that "I heaped together (coacervavi) all I could find" from various sources, not only concrete works in writing but "our ancient traditions" (i.e. oral sources) as well. This is quoted from the Apologia version of the preface. Giles's translation rendered this as "I put together", obscuring the fact that this is indeed a quote from the work and not from some commentator (See Morris's more recent translation as given in wikiquote: Historia Brittonum). Leslie Alcock was not the first to draw attention to the phrase though he may have started the recent spate of interest.

Arthuriana

The Historia Brittonum has drawn attention because of its role in influencing the legends and myths surrounding King Arthur. It is the earliest source that presents Arthur as a historical figure, and is the source of several stories which were repeated and amplified by later authors.

Vortigern and Ambrosius

The Historia contains a story of the king Vortigern, who allowed the Saxons to settle in the island of Britain in return for the hand of Hengist's daughter. One legend about Vortigern says he tried to build a stronghold near Snowdon called Dinas Emrys, only to have his building materials disappear every time he tried. His advisers told him to sprinkle the blood of a fatherless boy on the site to lift the curse. Vortigern found such a youth in Ambrosius, who rebuked the wise men and revealed that the disturbance was caused by two dragons buried underground.

The tower story is repeated and embellished by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae, though he attributes it to Merlin, saying "Ambrosius" is the sage's alternative name. Geoffrey includes Aurelius Ambrosius, another figure mentioned in the Historia, as a king in his own right, and also includes other characters such as Vortimer and Bishop Germanus of Auxerre.

Arthur's battles

Chapter 56 discusses twelve battles fought and won by Arthur, here called dux bellorum (war leader) rather than king:

Many of these battle sites are obscure and cannot be identified with any certitude. Some appear in other Welsh literature, though not necessarily explicitly connected to Arthur. Some scholars have proposed that the author incorporated the list from a now-lost Old Welsh poem, based on the fact that some of the names appear to rhyme. The odd description of Arthur bearing the image of the Virgin Mary on his shoulders at Guinnion might stem from a conflation of the Welsh word iscuit (shield) with iscuid (shoulders). Others reject this as untenable, arguing that the author included battles not previously associated with Arthur, perhaps even made them up entirely.

A similar story to that attached to Guinnion also appears in the Annales Cambriae; here, Arthur is described as carrying "the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ on his shoulders for three days and three nights…", though here the battle is said to be Badon rather than Guinnion. T. M. Charles-Edwards argues that these accounts both refer to a single source. Other scholars, however, such as Thomas Jones and N. J. Higham, argue that the Annales account is based directly on the Historia, suggesting the name of the battle was switched from the unknown Guinnion to the famous Badon, and that the icon Arthur carries was replaced with a more common one.

The Battle of Mount Badon is associated with Arthur in several later texts, but not in any that predate the Historia. It was clearly a historical battle described by Gildas, who does not mention the name of the Britons' leader. He does however mention Aurelius Ambrosius as a great scourge of the Saxons immediately prior. Of the other battles, only the Battle of Tribruit is generally agreed to be associated with Arthur in another early Welsh source. Tribruit appears as Tryfrwyd in the Old Welsh poem Pa Gur?, dating to perhaps the mid-ninth century. This poem follows the story of a battle against cinbin, or dogheads, whom Arthur's men fought in the mountains of Eidyn (Edinburgh); in the Tryfrwyd battle they spar with a character named Garwlwyd (Rough-Gray), who is likely the Gwrgi Garwlwyd (Man-Dog Rough-Grey) who appears in one of the Welsh Triads. Arthur's main protagonist in the fight is Bedwyr, later known as Sir Bedivere, and the poem also mentions the euhemerized god Manawydan. "The City of the Legion" may be a reference to Caerleon, whose name translates as such, but it might also refer to Chester, the site of a large Roman base.

Cat Coit Celidon is probably a reference to the Caledonian Forest (Coed Celyddon) which once covered the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Scholar Marged Haycock has suggested that this battle can be identified with the Cad Goddeu, the "Battle of the Trees", best known from the tenth-century poem Cad Goddeu. Arthur is mentioned towards the end of this poem, and a fragment of a story about the battle preserved in manuscript Peniarth 98B states that the battle had an alternate name, Cad Achren, which suggests a connection with the Caer Ochren raided by Arthur in the earlier poem Preiddeu Annwfn.

Various writers have asserted that this chapter supports a historical basis for King Arthur and have tried to identify the twelve battles with historical feuds or locales (see Sites and places associated with Arthurian legend). On the other hand, Caitlin Green argues that the only identifiable battles linked explicitly with Arthur in Old Welsh sources are mythological, undermining any claims that the battles had a basis in history.

Mirabilia

Attached to the Historia is a section called De mirabilibus Britanniae (or simply Mirabilia for short, a Latin word meaning 'marvels, miracles'). It gives a list of 13 topographical marvels, or wonders of Britain, followed by a few marvels of Anglesey (Menand insulae or Mona) and of Ireland. The Mirabilia section is thought to not be part of the original work, but to have been composed shortly after (early 9th cent.).

Two of the marvels are Arthurian lore (Chapter 73 of the Historia). Old editions give "Troynt" as the name of the great boar and "Anir" as the name of Arthur's tragic son in the Harleian manuscript, but Fletcher suggested the variant readings "Troit" and "Amr" be preferred since they are closer to the Welsh forms of those names.

The first concerns Arthur's dog, Cabal (Cavall in Welsh), and the footprint it left while chasing the boar Troynt (→Troit) (Twrch Trwyth in Welsh): — See also a slightly different annotated translation quoted at Twrch Trwyth.

The second concerns Arthur's son Anir or Amr (Amhar in Welsh) and his sepulchre:

Germanus

Chapters relating events in the life of Saint Germanus of Auxerre claim to be excerpts from a (now lost) biography of the saint. The document includes a collection of traditions about Saint Patrick, as well as a section describing events in the North of England in the sixth and seventh centuries, starting with a paragraph about the beginnings of Welsh literature:

Associated works

There are a number of works that are frequently associated with the Historia Brittonum, in part because some of them first appear with the Harleian manuscript, and partly because, when the Historia Britonum is studied, these sources are eventually mentioned.

• The Frankish Table of Nations – Written around 520, this is a short genealogical text in the mould of the Biblical Table of Nations. Both tables are incorporated into the genealogical sections of the Historia. The Frankish Table transmits to the Historia some information derived from Tacitus' Germania, albeit in garbled form. It is probably Byzantine in origin.
• The Lebor Bretnach – An Irish translation of the Historia Brittonum and a recension of the 'Nennian' Historia Brittonum.
• The Annales Cambriae – This is a chronicle consisting of a series of unnumbered years, from AD 445 to 977, some of which have events added. Two notable events are next to AD 516, which describes The Battle of Badon, and 537, which describes the Battle of Camlann, "in which Arthur and Mordred fell." A version of this was used as a starting point for later Welsh Chronicles.
• Welsh Genealogies – One of many collections of Welsh genealogies, this documents the lineage of Hywel Dda, king of Wales, and several of his contemporaries. The Pillar of Eliseg is frequently discussed in connection with these genealogies.
• Anglo-Saxon Genealogies – A collection of genealogies of the kings of five pre-Viking kingdoms: Bernicia, Deira, Kent, East Anglia, and Mercia. A similar collection either derived from or sharing a similar source with this collection is found in the stand-alone Anglian collection of royal pedigrees, and embedded within annals of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Notes

Citations

References

Primary sources

Mirabilia only

Texts and translations

• • reprinted, with emendations, in *
• (lacks Mirabilia)
• • Nennius's History of the Britons (Giles tr.) in Six Old English Chronicles, 1, (1848) (Mirabilia section is edited but untranslated).
• (includes Mirabilia).
• google
• Latin library
• wikisource:History of the Britons (tr., composite of Gunn, Giles, and others).

Secondary sources

General and dictionaries

• (Reprint, paperback: , Peter Bedrick Books, 1987)
• ;

Manuscript catalogues

• ( Rolls Series:Rerum Britannicarum medii Ævi Scriptores (Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages)), p. 318- (#776-).

Critical studies

• Alt URL,
• )

References

1. "Nennius and the Historia Brittonum".
2. "MS 98 (77) - BM - Chartres {{!}} Ireland and Carolingian Brittany: Texts and Transmission".
3. "France, Chartres, Médiathèque L'Apostrophe - 98 (77)".
4. https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Reg.lat.1964 {{Bare URL inline. (August 2025)
5. "London. British Library, Harley MS 3859 {{!}} IIIF Collections of Manuscripts and Rare Books".
6. "Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 139: Simeon of Durham OSB, Historia regum. Richard of Hexham OSA, De gestis regis Stephani et de bello standardii. John of Hexham OSA, Nennius".
7. "cotton ms caligula a viii".
8. {{Harvnb. Koch. 2006
9. {{harvnb. Guy. 2025
10. {{Harvnb. Koch. 2006, p. 926.
11. Higham, ''King Arthur: Myth Making and History'' (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 2002), p. 118.
12. {{Harvnb. Fletcher. 1906 points out this conflation of "shield" ({{langx. cy. ysgwyd, Middle Welsh: ''scuit'') and shoulder ({{langx. cy. ysgwydd), citing J. William's edition of the ''Annales Cambriae,'' (1860), p.xxiv; and Skene, ''Four Ancient Books''(1868), I, 55.
13. Keller, James. (2008). "Arthurian Writers: A Biographical Encyclopedia". Greenwood.
14. N.J. Higham, 'Early Latin Sources', in Helen Fulton ed, ''Blackwell Companion to Arthurian Literature'', (Oxford 2009) p. 31
15. G. O Sayles, ''The Medieval Foundations of England'' (London 1966) p. 4
16. Dumvillle, David, "'Nennius' and the Historia Brittonum", Studia Celtica 10/11 (Cardiff, 1975/6), 78-95
17. {{Harvnb. Koch. 2006 "Although Dumville's case has been widely accepted, ..Field has since argued.."
18. {{Harvnb. Liebermann. 1925
19. Norris Lacy, ''The Fortunes of Arthur'' (2005) p. 2
20. G. Ashe's entry under "Nennius", {{harvnb. Lacy et al. edd.. 1986 (Reprint 1987), ''Arth. Ency.'', p. 404: "..and matter that was probably oral rather than written that they seldom inspired much trust."
21. {{Harvnb. Mommsen. 1898. Giles. 1847
22. "like a cairn of stones, uneven and ill-fitting… as an example of the historian's art it is atrocious. But it has the virtue of its defects. We can see the individual stones of the cairn, and in some cases we can trace the parent rock from which they came, and establish its age and soundness" {{harv. Alcock. 1971
23. Nennius. (1848). "History of the Britons: Chapters 31–38".
24. Nennius. (1848). "History of the Britons: Chapters 40–42".
25. "The History of the Britons (Historia Brittonum)". The Camelot Project.
26. Higham, Nicholas J.. (January 28, 2019). "Who Was King Arthur?".
27. {{harvnb. Bromwich. 2006
28. For the discussion of Gwrgi Garwlwyd as a werewolf, see {{harvnb. Bromwich. 2006
29. [[Geoffrey Ashe. Ashe, Geoffrey]] (1991). "Annales Cambriae." In [[Norris J. Lacy. Lacy, Norris J.]] (Ed.), ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia'', p. 65. New York: Garland. {{ISBN. 0-8240-4377-4.
30. {{harvnb. Bromwich. 2006
31. The count might be fourteen (see the English translation of the full ''Mirabilia'' in {{harvnb. ''Cambrian Quarterly''. 1830. Todd. 1848, cf. p.114n, where Todd makes comparison with the "[[Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain. Thirteen tlysau]], i.e. jewels".
32. For English translation of the full Mirabilia including the Anglesey and Irish wonders, see {{harvnb. ''Cambrian Quarterly''. 1830
33. "Two names in the ''Mirabilia'' should be replaced by better variant readings, Troynt by Troit, and Anir by Amr" {{Harv. Fletcher. 1906
34. ch. 62:
35. (11 August 2008). "Early Welsh poetry". BBC.
36. "Enwau ac Anryfeddodau Ynys Prydain and a Tradition of Topographical Wonders in Medieval Britain". Harvard University.
37. Goffart, Walter. (1983). "The Supposedly 'Frankish' Table of Nations: An Edition and Study". Frühmittelalterliche Studien.
38. {{Harvnb. Todd. 1848
39. "The Irish version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius". University College.
40. Ashe, Geoffrey. (1987). ["The Arthurian Encyclopedia"](https://books.google.com/books?id=YZMbAQAAMAAJ&q=paw-print). Peter Bedrick Books.
41. Higham, Nicholas J.. (2018). "King Arthur: The Making of the Legend". Yale University Press.