Line #31 Literature/HistoriaRegumBritanniae


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/51sk-8fbmul_2651.jpg]]
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3	->''"Whenever I have chanced to think about the history of the kings of Britain, on those occasions when I have been turning over a great many such matters in my mind, it has seemed a remarkable thing to me that, apart from such mention of them as Gildas and Bede had each made in a brilliant book on the subject, I have not been able to discover anything at all on the kings who lived here before the Incarnation of Christ, or indeed about Arthur and all the others who followed on after the Incarnation. Yet the deeds of these men were such that they deserve to be praised for all time. What is more, these deeds were handed joyfully down in oral tradition, just as if they had been committed to writing, by many peoples who had only their memory to rely on."''
4	-->-- '''Geoffrey of Monmouth''', Dedication of ''The History of the Kings of Britain''
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6	''Historia Regum Britanniae'', or ''The History of the Kings of Britain'', is a work by Geoffrey of Monmouth from around the 12th century. This work is notable for kickstarting British history, with some ArtisticLicense taken to fill in the blanks Geoffrey couldn't get from Bede or other sources. For a long time, it was considered a UniverseBible for British History in the MiddleAges, with some hints of propaganda. It can be considered a founding myth for several ethnic groups in Britain.
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8	After a brief introduction the history of the Britons starts around UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar after which [[FamousAncestor Brutus]], a great-grandson of [[Literature/TheAeneid Aeneas]], sets sail with a group of his people to found a new empire, which happens to be UsefulNotes/{{Britain}}.
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10	The most lasting legacy of Geoffrey's ''Historia'' is the invention of Myth/KingArthur and Myth/{{Merlin}} in the form that became {{canon}} throughout the MiddleAges and that we can still recognize today. Two other figures from the book that are still known today by way of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's dramas are Theatre/KingLear (Leir) and Theatre/{{Cymbeline}} (Kymbelinus).
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12	In his outline of British history, Geoffrey largely follows the three hundred years older ''Literature/HistoriaBrittonum'', though he provides a lot more material.
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14	The book can be found [[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/History_of_the_Kings_of_Britain here]] if you want to read it. Your local bookstore probably has a copy as well.
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16	----
17	!!''Historia Regum Britanniae'' provides examples of:
18	* AncientGrome: In spades. ''Brutus'' of Troy (a Roman name in Homeric Greece), anyone?
19	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: 40 years after Geoffrey's death, William of Newburgh extensively criticized Geoffrey for his history and even went so far as to say his work "is a fiction, invented either by himself or by others".
20	* BloodKnight: The Trojans' battle with the Aquitanians is decided by Brutus' ally and fellow Trojan Corineus, who turns the Aquitanians to flight by a reckless charge. As they already retreat, Corineus berates them for running away and calls on them to turn back and fight with him. Later, after settling in Cornwall, Corineus takes "great pleasure" from wrestling with the hostile giants who live there. When Brutus fights a battle with a troop of giants, he makes sure the giant Gogmagog is captured alive only so that Corineus can wrestle him and Corineus is "delighted by this".
21	* CanonWelding: OlderThanPrint example. The story weaves ''Literature/TheAeneid'', ''Literature/TheIliad'' and ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' into Myth/ArthurianLegend by having Brutus sail to pre-Roman Britain and founded an empire there with New Troy (aka UsefulNotes/{{London}}) as the capital setting the stage for Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table to exist.
22	* CompositeCharacter: Geoffrey's Merlin is loosely based on the legendary bard Myrddin, but he also casts him in some episodes that earlier writers attributed to Ambrosius. He therefore claims that Merlin "was also called Ambrosius". Nevertheless, the original Ambrosius still figures as a separate character (Arthur's uncle) in Geoffrey's narrative.
23	* {{Dedication}}: To Robert, Earl of Gloucester -- an illegitimate son of Henry I.
24	* DeathByChildbirth: Brutus' mother dies in giving birth to him.
25	* DreamingOfThingsToCome: When Brutus sleeps in a temple of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Diana]], she reveals to him in a dream that he is destined to go to Britain and found a kingdom there.
26	* DrivenToSuicide: Cordelia kills herself after being overthown and imprisoned by Marganus and Cunedagius, her nephews.
27	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: There is no [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield Sword in the Stone]], no Round Table, and no Lancelot (Guinevere hooks up with ''Mordred'' instead), Merlin doesn't serve or mentor Arthur, and no Morgan Le Fay, but Arthur has one full sister named Anna. Morgan appears in Geoffrey's related work ''Vita Merlini'' where she lives in Avalon and uses her magic for healing instead of evil.
28	* TheEmperor: As King of Britain, Arthur conquers the whole British isles, gains the allegiance of rulers of various tribes and lands including Iceland and Norway, and invades continental Europe and comes close to conquering the UsefulNotes/RomanEmpire itself but is sidetracked by Mordred's rebellion.
29	* EvilDetectingDog: Merlin uses magic to disguise Uther as Gorlois and himself as a soldier so that Uther could trick Gorlois' wife into sleeping with him and thus conceive Arthur. Gorlois' dog can tell they're imposters, but Merlin uses a spell to calm it down
30	* EvilNephew: A lot of rulers -- notably Cordelia, Arthur and Constantine III -- have these; Cordelia has two, and they fight each other after overthrowing her.
31	* TheEvilPrince: Aurelius Conan kills his uncle Constantine, then imprisons an uncle who should have ruled after Constantine and kills their two sons.
32	* FounderOfTheKingdom: Brutus of Troy is explicitly identified as the spiritual founder of Britain and especially London.
33	* HuntingAccident: Brutus accidentally kills his father Sylvius when shooting an arrow at a deer.
34	* LeftStuckAfterAttack: In the battle following the Romans' first invasion of Britain, King Cassivelaunus' younger brother Nennius comes face to face with UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar. Caesar gives Nennius a head wound but with his second blow his sword gets stuck in Nennius' shield, forcing him to leave it there as they are separated. Nennius pulls out Caesar's sword which is superior to his own and is called the Yellow Death (Crocea Mors), and uses it to make a bloodbath of the Romans. The Britons win the battle, but since wounds by the Yellow Death never heal, Nennius dies fifteen days later from the wound Caesar gave him and is buried with Caesar's sword at his side.
35	* PresentDayPast: OlderThanPrint. British society was apparently always like the feudal society of Geoffrey even during Brutus' founding of Britain. This isn't just Britain either— Homeric Greece apparently had castles.
36	* ThePromisedLand: When Brutus finds Britain, as foretold by Diana, it is a paradisiacal land that abounds of natural resources.
37	* PublicDomainArtifact: According to Geoffrey, Stonehenge was built by giants from "mystical stones" brought "from the farthest coast of Africa". The stones were magical so that water poured over them acquired healing power, and the giants used to cure all kinds of sicknesses by bathing in such water. It was situated on a mountain top in UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}}, until it was brought to Britain by Uther Pendragon and Merlin and re-erected in the exact same shape, so it would keep its mystical powers. This narrative seems to suggest the stones still have the power to heal, only nobody can remember which stone cures which sickness.
38	* RememberTheNewGuy: Leir's grandsons by his elder daughters, Marganus and Cunedagius, are not mentioned during any of the chapters set during Leir's lifetime, making their first appearance in the chapter following his death, set during the reign of their aunt Cordelia. It can be quite surprising for readers, especially if they are familiar with [[Theatre/KingLear the Shakespeare play]], to find that Goneril and Regan had children, as there had been no mention of them earlier.
39	%%* TheUsurper: Vortigern is an archetypal example.
40	* WaifProphet: As a fatherless child, Merlin not only reveals the secret of why the walls of Vortigern's fortress of Dinas Emrys collapse every night, but also delivers a prophecy of Britain's future.

Context Literature / HistoriaRegumBritanniae