Editing Gildas (section)

==''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae''==
{{Main article|De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae}}
Gildas is best known for his [[polemic]] {{Lang|la|[[De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae]]}}, which recounts the sub-Roman history of Britain, and which is the only substantial source for history of this period written by a near-contemporary, although it is not intended to be an objective chronicle.<ref name="Lambdin" />

The work is a sermon in three parts condemning the acts of his contemporaries, both secular and religious.<ref name=butler>[http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/GILDAS.HTM Butler, Rev. Alban, "The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints", Vol. I, D. & J. Sadlier, & Company, 1864]</ref> The first part consists of Gildas' explanation for his work and a brief narrative of [[Roman Britain]] from its conquest under the [[Roman Empire|Principate]] to Gildas' time. He describes the doings of the Romans and the [[Groans of the Britons]], in which the Britons make one last request for military aid from the departed Roman military. He excoriates his fellow Britons for their sins, while at the same time lauding heroes such as [[Ambrosius Aurelianus]], whom he is the first to describe as a leader of the resistance to the [[Saxons#Saxons in Britain|Saxons]]. He mentions the victory at the [[Battle of Mons Badonicus]], a feat attributed to [[King Arthur]] in later texts, though Gildas does not mention who led the battle.

Part two consists of a condemnation of five British kings, [[Constantine (Briton)|Constantine]], [[Aurelius Conanus]], [[Vortiporius]], [[Cuneglasus]], and [[Maelgwn Gwynedd|Maelgwn]]. As it is the only contemporary information about them, it is of particular interest to scholars of British history. Part three is a similar attack on the clergy of the time.

The works of Gildas, including the ''Excidio'', can be found in volume 69 of the ''[[Patrologia Latina]].''

''De Excidio'' was usually dated to the 540s, but the historian [[Guy Halsall]] inclines to an "early Gildas" c. 490.<ref>{{cite book|first=Guy|last=Halsall|author-link=Guy Halsall|title=Worlds of Arthur: Facts & Fictions of the Dark Ages|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, UK|year=2013|page=54|isbn=978-0-19-870084-5}}</ref> Cambridge historian Karen George offered a date range of c. 510–530 AD.<ref>George, Karen, Gildas's De excidio Britonum and the early British church, Studies in Celtic History 26, Boydell Press, 2009, p. 125.</ref> Gildas states that he was 44 when he wrote the work.<ref>Dark, p. 36</ref>