History Literature / HistoriaBrittonum

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Arthur isn't a king, Ambrosius is considered the most glorious king of the Britons instead, and there's no Myth/{{Merlin}}, no Guinevere, no Table Round, no Grail, no Excalibur, and no Knights. There's basically nothing of what defines Arthur in the writings of Creator/ChretienDeTroyes and Creator/ThomasMalory.

The book’s main theme is the struggle of the Romano-British and the UsefulNotes/AngloSaxons for control of Britain, and it does its best to paint the Anglo-Saxons as [[AlwaysChaoticEvil treacherous cutthroat barbarian riff-raff]], while extolling the ancient and glorious history of the Britons. The book’s most extravagant claim - which serves to underpin the superior pedigree of the Britons - is that they are descendants of [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar refugees from Troy]], who were led to Britain by one Brutus, a descendant of [[Literature/TheAeneid Aeneas]] ([[ContinuitySnarl or is he?]]), and from whom the island of Britain received its name.

According to ''Historia Brittonum'', the culprit for the downfall of the Britons was a certain King Vortigern, who grabbed the hegemonial power over the island after [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire the Romans]] had left. When some exiled Saxons under their leaders Hengist and Horsa asked for asylum in Britain, Vortigern allowed them to settle on the island of Thanet in exchange for their military services against Picts and Irish. But once Hengist successfully sets up Vortigern with his own beautiful daughter, the autocratic king grows more and more dependent on his foreign hirelings. Eventually, Vortigern can no longer satisfy the newcomers' greed, and the scheming king of the Saxons shows his true face when, [[NastyParty after inviting them to a banquet]], he has three-hundred British nobles massacred, with Vortigern taken prisoner. Vortigern ransoms himself by ceding Essex, Sussex, and Middlesex, having already given away Kent earlier.

The book’s main theme is the struggle of Celtic Britons and UsefulNotes/AngloSaxons for control of Britain, and it does its best to paint the Anglo-Saxons as [[AlwaysChaoticEvil treacherous cutthroat barbarian riff-raff]], while extolling the ancient and glorious history of the Britons. The book’s most extravagant claim - which serves to underpin the superior pedigree of the Britons - is that they are descendants of [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar refugees from Troy]], who were led to Britain by one Brutus, a descendant of [[Literature/TheAeneid Aeneas]] ([[ContinuitySnarl or is he?]]), and from whom the island of Britain received its name.

Despite its self-designation as a chronicle, the book is pseudohistory rather than history and clearly serves up [[Myth/CelticMythology ample helpings of legend]]. Nevertheless, as one of the very few sources on the era in British history otherwise known as the [[DarkAgeEurope Dark Ages]], it developed a huge impact over time; specifically, it is the first known work that offers a coherent description of the career Myth/KingArthur's career, and thus can be considered the first work of what would later become Myth/ArthurianLegend.

Despite its self-designation as a chronicle, the book is pseudohistory rather than history and clearly serves up [[Myth/CelticMythology ample helpings of legend]]. Nevertheless, as one of the very few sources on the era in British history otherwise known as the [[DarkAgeEurope Dark Ages]], it developed a huge impact over time; specifically, it is the first known work that offers a coherent description of Myth/KingArthur's career, and thus can be considered the first work of what would later become Myth/ArthurianLegend.

Fed up with the Saxons and Vortigern alike, the disgruntled Britons rise under Vortigern's more virtuous son Vortimer to make war on the Saxons, while that holy man of God, Saint Germanus, flits around Britain doing miracles and reproaching the king for his plentiful vices. Eventually, Vortigern, having lost all respect from his former subjects, dies two miserable deaths - the book can’t decide which one – and his rival, the noble Ambrosius takes the helm of the Britons, eventually halting the Saxon advance with the help of the Britons' greatest war-hero, the glorious Arthur. The short account of Arthur's heroics contains most of the hard facts that constitute "{{canon}}" within traditional Welsh Arthurian lore. Most obviously, Arthur here is not called a king himself, but a "war chief" (''dux bellorum'', literally "leader of battles") and a warrior (''miles'')[[note]]though it's been argued that the text does not preclude Arthur from having been a king himself; additional text in a variant manuscript makes his less noble status more explicit, showing there was indeed at least a tradition about a non-royal Arthur.[[/note]]

''Historia Brittonum'' ("History of the Britons") is a short Latin-language UsefulNotes/{{W|ales}}elsh chronicle. It was compiled around 830 from several older texts of different provenance, loosely connected by an unknown editor. The preface, which is included in most but not all manuscripts, claims that this editor was Nennius, a 9th century Welsh monk. However, modern researchers regard the preface as a forgery of later centuries to lend greater credibility to the work.

Despite its self-designation as a chronicle, the book is pseudohistory rather than history and clearly serves up [[Myth/CelticMythology ample helpings of legend]]. Nevertheless, as one of the very few sources on the era in British history otherwise known as the [[DarkAgeEurope Dark Ages]], it developed a huge impact over time; specifically, it is the first known work that offers a coherent description of [[Myth/KingArthur "King" Arthur]]'s career, and thus can be considered the first work of what would later become the “Matter of Britain”, a.k.a. the Arthurian Universe.

According to ''Historia Brittonum'', the culprit for the downfall of the Britons was a certain King Vortigern, who grabbed the hegemonial power over the island after [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire the Romans]] had left. When some exiled Saxons under their leaders Hengist and Horsa asked for asylum in Britain, Vortigern allowed them to settle on the island of Thanet in exchange for their military services against Picts and Irish. But once Hengist successfully sets up Vortigern with his own beautiful daughter, the autocratic king grows more and more dependent on his foreign hirelings. Eventually, Vortigern can no longer satisfy the newcomers' greed, and the scheming king of the Saxons shows his true face when, [[NastyParty after inviting them to a banquet]], he has three-hundred British nobles massacred, with Vortigern taken prisoner. Vortigern ransoms himself by ceding Essex, Sussex and Middlesex, having already given away Kent earlier.

Fed up with the Saxons and Vortigern alike, the disgruntled Britons rise under Vortigern's more virtuous son Vortimer to make war on the Saxons, while that holy man of God, Saint Germanus, flits around Britain doing miracles and reproaching the king for his plentiful vices. Eventually Vortigern, having lost all respect from his former subjects, dies two miserable deaths - the book can’t decide which one – and his rival, the noble Ambrosius takes the helm of the Britons, eventually halting the Saxon advance with the help of the Britons' greatest war-hero, the glorious [[KingArthur Arthur]]. The short account of Arthur's heroics contains most of the hard facts that constitute "{{canon}}" within traditional Welsh Arthurian lore. Most obviously, Arthur here is not called a king himself, but a "warchief" (''dux bellorum'', literally "leader of battles") and a warrior (''miles'')[[note]]though it's been argued that the text does not preclude Arthur from having been a king himself, additional text in a variant manuscript makes his less-noble status more explicit, showing there was indeed at least a tradition about a non-royal Arthur.[[/note]]

!! ''Historia Brittonum'' provides examples of the following tropes:

** The book can’t decide whether Brutus, the first King of Britain, is the grandson or the great-great-great-grandson of Aeneas, whether he is identical to Brutus the first consul of Rome, or whether maybe he was descended from Japheth, the son of Noah, and not related to Aeneas at all.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: For Arthurian lore. Arthur isn't a king, Ambrosius is considered the most glorious king of the Britons instead, and there's no Myth/{{Merlin}}, no Guinever, no Table Round, no Grail, no Excalibur, and no Knights. There's basically nothing of what defines Arthur in the writings of Creator/ChretienDeTroyes and Creator/ThomasMalory.

On a minor note, the book also veers into Myth/{{Irish mythology}} by recounting the legendary traditions about the settlement and early history of UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}}, and dedicates a section to St. Patrick. The final part, strangely enough (obviously just another loosely related appendix tacked on at the end) are genealogies of Anglo-Saxon kings, all of whom are traced back to the god Woden.

* RuleOfThree: Creator/JuliusCaesar invades Britain three times, and only the third times he is successful. In reality the Romans only secured Britain under the Emperor Claudius, decades after Caesar's death.

* RuleOfThree: Creator/JuliusCaesar invades Britain three times, and only the third times he is successful.

* DeathByChildbirth: Brutus' mother.

* NastyParty: The "Night of Long Knives", where Hengest invited a bunch of British councillors to talk peace and party, whereupon the Saxon hosts pulled out their concealed knives and stabbed them all to death.

* TropeNamer: Of the term "Night of the Long Knives" (''see above''), which would eventually gain much more fame with regards to UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and the SS.