Geoffrey of Monmouth (mŏn`məth), c.1100–1154, English author. He was probably born at Monmouth and was of either Breton or Welsh descent. In 1152 he was named bishop of St. Asaph in Wales. His Historia regum Britanniae (written c.1135), supposedly a chronicle of the kings of Britain, is one of the chief sources of the Arthurian legend Arthurian legend, the mass of legend, popular in medieval lore, concerning King Arthur of Britain and his knights.

Medieval Sources

The battle of Mt. Badon—in which, according to the Annales Cambriae (c.
..... Click the link for more information. . Geoffrey was the first to write a coherent account of Arthur, establishing the great warrior as a national hero, the conqueror of Western Europe. He drew information from the writings of Bede Bede, Saint (bēd), or Baeda
..... Click the link for more information. , Gildas Gildas, Saint (gĭl`dəs), d. 570, British historian, possibly a Welsh monk.
..... Click the link for more information. , Nennius Nennius (nĕn`ēəs), fl. 796, Welsh writer, to whom is ascribed the Historia Britonum.
..... Click the link for more information. , the Welsh chronicles, and folklore, and imaginatively wove the whole into a fictional narrative in the form of a history. His work had great influence on Wace Wace (wās), c.1100–1174, Norman-French poet of Jersey. King Henry II made him canon of Bayeux.
..... Click the link for more information. , Layamon Layamon (lā`əmən, –mŏn, lī`–), fl. c.1200, first prominent Middle English poet.
..... Click the link for more information. , and many chroniclers of the Middle Ages. Another work attributed to him, the Vita Merlini (1148), also influenced later stories of Arthur and Merlin Merlin, in Arthurian legend , magician, seer, and teacher at the court of King Vortigern and later at the court of King Arthur. He was a bard and culture hero in early Celtic folklore. In Arthurian legend he is famous as a magician and as the counselor of King Arthur.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Bibliography

See his History of the Kings of Britain, tr. by L. Thorpe (1966); study by J. S. P. Tatlock (1950).

Geoffrey of Monmouth

(died 1155) Medieval British chronicler. He was probably an Oxford cleric for most of his life. His mostly fictional History of the Kings of Britain (c. 1135–39) traced the descent of British princes from the Trojans; it brought the figure of Arthur (see Arthurian legend) into European literature and introduced the enchanter Merlin, whose story Geoffrey related in the Vita Merlini (c. 1148–51?). Though denounced from the first by other historians, the History was one of the most popular books of the Middle Ages and had an enormous influence on later chroniclers.

?1100--54, Welsh bishop and chronicler; author of Historia Regum Britanniae, the chief source of Arthurian legends