Editing Totnes (section)

===Totnes in myth and legend===
[[File:BrutusStoneTotnes.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|The Brutus Stone in Fore Street]]
According to the {{lang|la|[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]}} written by [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] in around 1136, "the coast of Totnes" was where [[Brutus of Troy]], the mythical founder of Britain, first came ashore on the island.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Brown |first=Theo |title=The Trojans in Devon |journal=Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association |year=1955 |volume=87 |page=63 }}</ref> Set into the pavement of Fore Street is the '''Brutus Stone''', a small granite boulder<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-426496-brutus-stone-to-front-of-nos-51-53-totne |title=Brutus Stone to Front of Nos 51/53, Totnes |publisher=British Listed Buildings |access-date=20 October 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304075004/http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-426496-brutus-stone-to-front-of-nos-51-53-totne |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Brutus Stone at the front of 51 Fore Street, Totnes |url=https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MDV9057&resourceID=104 |website=heritagegateway.org |publisher=Heritage Gateway |access-date=11 May 2023}}</ref> onto which, according to local legend, Brutus first stepped from his ship. As he did so, he was supposed to have declaimed:<ref name="TTID2">{{cite journal |last=Brown |first=Theo |title=The Trojans in Devon |journal=Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association |year=1955 |volume=87 |pages=68–69 }}</ref><blockquote>Here I stand and here I rest. And this town shall be called Totnes.</blockquote>

The stone is far above the highest tides and the tradition is not likely to be of great antiquity, being first mentioned in [[John Prince (Totnes)|John Prince]]'s ''Worthies of Devon'' in 1697.<ref name="TTID2"/> It is possible that the stone was originally the one from which the [[town crier]], or ''bruiter'' called out his news; or it may be ''le Brodestone'', a boundary stone mentioned in several 15th century disputes: its last-known position in 1471 was below the East Gate.<ref name="TTID2"/>

The [[Middle English]] prose ''[[Brut Chronicle|Brut]]'' ({{circa|1419}}) places the fight between Brutus' general [[Corineus]], and the British giant [[Gogmagog (giant)|Gogmagog]] "at Totttenes",<ref>{{citation|editor-last=Brie|editor-first=Friedrich W. D.|title=The Brut or the Chronicles of England, edited from Ms. Raw. B171, Bodleian Library, &c.|series=Early English Text Society |volume=131 |id=(part 1) |place=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner |date=1906–1908 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ULELAQAAIAAJ | chapter=Chapter 4 | pages=10–11 }}</ref> while [[Cornish people|Cornish]] [[antiquary]] [[Richard Carew (antiquary)|Richard Carew]] suggested that the fight may have begun near the town, but ended at [[Plymouth Hoe]].<ref name="Carew">{{cite book | first=Richard | last=Carew | author-link=Richard Carew (antiquary) | title=The Survey of Cornwall. And An Epistle concerning the Excellencies of the English Tongue | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/9878/pg9878.html | year=1769 | origyear=1602 | publisher=E. Law and J. Hewett }}</ref> The ''Historia'' has several other landings at the Totness coast: the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] general [[Vespasian]], [[Constantine III (Western Roman emperor)|Constantine]] of [[Brittany]] at the port of Totnes, [[Ambrosius Aurelianus|Aurelius Ambrosius]] and his brother [[Uther Pendragon]] attempting to win back the throne of Britain from the usurper [[Vortigern]], the [[Saxons]] at war with [[King Arthur]], and in one version [[Cadwallon ap Cadfan|Cadwallo]] fighting against the [[Mercia]]ns.<ref>{{cite journal | first=John | last=Clark | title=Trojans at Totnes and Giants on the Hoe: Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historical Fiction and Geographical Reality | journal=Reports and Transactions of the Devonshire Association | date=June 2016 | volume=148 | page=92 | url=https://devonassoc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Trojans-at-Totnes-Clark-TDA-2016.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://devonassoc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Trojans-at-Totnes-Clark-TDA-2016.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live }}</ref> The ''Historia'' also mentions the town in a prophecy of [[Merlin]]: "after [the dragon of Worcester] shall succeed the boar of Totness, and oppress the people with grievous tyranny. Gloucester shall send forth a lion, and shall disturb him in his cruelty, in several battles. He shall trample him under his feet, and terrify him with open jaws."<ref name="HRB 7">{{cite wikisource | author=[[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] | wslink=Six Old English Chronicles/Geoffrey's British History | chapter=Book 7 | plaintitle=[[Historia Regum Britanniae]] | at=Chapter 4 }}</ref>