The Historia Brittonum, or The History of the Britons, is a historical work that was first composed around 830, and exists in several recensions of varying difference. It purports to relate the history of the Brittonic inhabitants of Britain from earliest times, and this text has been used to write a history of both Wales and England, for want of more reliable sources. Nennius is traditionally named as the author of the text, though this is widely considered a secondary tradition, originating in the tenth century.
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Primarily on the basis of a dating clause in § 16, the prevalent view by historians is that the text of the Historia Brittonum was composed for Merfyn Frych ap Gwriad, king of Gwynedd (r. c. 825-844) in the fourth year of his reign, probably sometime between 828 and 830.[1][2]
The text itself is a collection of excerpts, chronological calculations, glosses, and summaries based on earlier records, many of which no longer exist. As a result, the reliability of this work has been questioned both in part and in whole. The archaeologist Leslie Alcock observed that in one recension of this manuscript the author called his work a heap of all he could find, and suggested that if we were to extend this metaphor, this text is:
Another view is offered by Professor David Dumville, who has done a great deal of research into the transmission of this text and the relationship of its recensions. Dumville believes that this text has been revised, supplemented, and rewritten many times and in many ways between the date of its apparent origin, and the date of its surviving manuscripts.[4] The intent of its author was to produce a synchronizing chronicle after the manner of Irish historians in his own time. And since this manuscript offered the only history of Wales complementary to Bede's own Ecclesiastical History of the English People, it was reproduced and revised to meet this demand.
Traditionally, the Historia Brittonum is ascribed to Nennius, a Welsh monk of the ninth century. However, examination of the numerous recensions has shown that Gildas was also claimed as its author (likely because Gildas was the only historical author its scribes knew), while others (such as the British Library manuscript Harleian 3859) do not name an author. Dumville's research has shown that the ascription of this work to Nennius originated in the tenth century in one branch of the manuscript transmission, created by a scribe seeking to root this work in the intellectual traditions of that time.
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.
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.[5] One legend recorded of Vortigern concerns his attempt to build a stronghold near Snowdon, called Dinas Emrys, only to have his building materials disappear each time he tries. His advisers tell him to sprinkle the blood of a boy born without a father on the site to lift the curse. Vortigern finds such a youth in Ambrosius, who rebukes the wise men and reveals that the cause of the disturbance is two serpents buried under the ground.[6]
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 alternate name. Geoffrey also 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.
Chapter 56 discusses twelve battles fought and won by Arthur, here called dux bellorum (war leader) rather than king:
Most of these battle sites are obscure and cannot be identified. Some of the battles appear in other Welsh literature, though not all are connected explicitly with Arthur. Some scholars have proposed that the author took the list from a now-lost Old Welsh poem which listed Arthur's twelve great victories, based on the fact that some of the names appear to rhyme and the suggestion that the odd description of Arthur bearing the image of the Virgin Mary on his shoulders at Guinnion might contain a confusion of the Welsh word iscuit (shield) for iscuid (shoulders).[8] However others reject this as untenable,[9] arguing instead that the author included battles which were not previously associated with Arthur or perhaps 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 Guinnon.[10] T. M. Charles-Edwards argues that these accounts both refer to a single source.[11] Other scholars, however, such as Thomas Jones and N. J. Higham, argue that the Annales account is based directly on the Historia, in which case the name of the battle would have been switched from the unknown Guinnon to the famous Badon, and the icon Arthur carries replaced with a more common one.[11]
The Battle of Mount Badon is associated with Arthur in several later texts, but not in any that predate the Historia.[12] It was clearly a historical battle, being 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.[13]) Of the other battles, only the Battle of Tribuit is generally agreed to be associated with Arthur in another early Welsh source.[14] Tribuit appears as Tryfrwyd in the Old Welsh poem Pa Gur?, dating to perhaps the mid-ninth century. Here it is associated with cinbin, or dogheads; Arthur's men fight them in the mountains of Eidyn (Edinburgh) and spar with a character named Garwlwyd (Rough-Gray), who is likely identical with the Gwrgi Garwlwyd (Man-Dog Rough-Grey) who appears in one of the Welsh Triads.[15][16][17] Arthur's main protagonist in the fight is Bedwyr, later known as Sir Bedivere, and an earlier reference in the poem indicates that the euhemerized god Manawydan is involved as well.[17] "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.[18]
Cat Coit Celidon is a reference to the Caledonian Forest (Coed Celyddon) which once covered the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Scholar Marged Haycock has suggested this battle can be identified with the Cad Goddeu, the "Battle of the Trees," best known from the tenth-century poem Cad Goddeu.[19][20] 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.[21]
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). However, scholar Thomas Green argues that the fact that the only identifiable battles linked explicitly with Arthur in Old Welsh sources are exclusively mythological undermines any claims that the battles had a basis in history.[22]
The Historia also contains a list of marvels, or wonders, in a section known as de mirabilibus britanniae. Several of these are associated with Arthur (Chapter 73):
The sections that provide these stories are present in the Harleian manuscript, but not in all of the existing recensions.
There are also chapters relating events about Saint Germanus of Auxerre that claim to be excerpts from a (now lost) biography about this saint, a unique collection of traditions about Saint Patrick, as well as a section describing events in the North of England in the sixth and seventh centuries which begins with a paragraph about the beginnings of Welsh literature (ch. 62):
There are a number of works that are frequently associated with the Historia Brittonum, in part because some of them first appear with the text preserved in the Harleian manuscript, and partly because whenever the Historia Britonum is studied, these sources eventually are mentioned.