Editing Geoffrey of Monmouth

{{Short description|Historian and Bishop of St Asaph, Wales (c. 1095–1155)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   = 
| name               = Geoffrey of Monmouth
| honorific_suffix   = 
| image              = Geoffrey of Monmouth at Tintern Station (geograph 6023609).jpg
| alt                = Wooden statue of a man holding a book
| caption            = Statue of Geoffrey at the [[Old Station Tintern]] in Monmouthshire
| birth_name         = Galfridus Arturus
| birth_date         = {{circa|1095}}
| birth_place        = Possibly [[Monmouth]], Wales
| death_date         = {{circa|{{death year and age|1155|1095}}}}
| death_place        = 
| death_cause        = 
| resting_place      = 
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline}} -->
| monuments          = 
| nationality        = 
| other_names        = {{Plainlist|
* {{lang|la|Galfridus Monemutensis}}
* {{lang|la|Galfridus Arturus}}
* {{lang|la|Galfridus Artur}}
* {{lang|cy|Gruffudd ap Arthur}}
* {{lang|cy|Sieffre o Fynwy}}
}}
| occupation         = [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] cleric
| known_for          = {{Lang|la|[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]}}{{-}}{{Lang|la|[[Prophetiae Merlini]]}}{{-}}{{Lang|la|[[Vita Merlini]]}}
| website            = <!-- {{URL|www.example.com}} -->
}}

'''Geoffrey of Monmouth''' ({{langx|la|Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus}}; {{langx|cy|Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy}}; {{circa|1095|1155}}) was a <!--Do not add "Welsh", "British", "Brythonic" or any similar label. Per the article, "there is no evidence that he was of either Welsh or Cambro-Norman descent".--> [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] cleric from [[Monmouth]], [[Wales]], and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of [[King Arthur]]. He is best known for his chronicle ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae|The History of the Kings of Britain]]'' ({{langx|la|De gestis Britonum}} or ''{{lang|la|Historia Regum Britanniae}}'')<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Boydell Press| isbn = 978-1-84383-206-5| others = Michael D. Reeve (ed.), Neil Wright (trans.)| title = Geoffrey of Monmouth. The history of the kings of Britain: an edition and translation of ''De gestis Britonum'' (''Historia regum Britanniae'')| location = Woodbridge, Suffolk| series = Arthurian studies| volume = 69 | date = 2007| page = lix}}</ref> which was widely popular in its day, being translated into other languages from its original Latin. It was given historical credence well into the 16th century,<ref>[[Polydore Vergil]]'s sceptical reading of Geoffrey of Monmouth provoked a reaction of denial in England, "yet the seeds of doubt once sown" eventually replaced Geoffrey's romances with a new Renaissance historical approach, according to Hans Baron, "Fifteenth-century civilisation and the Renaissance", in ''The New Cambridge Modern history'', vol. 1 1957:56.</ref> but is now considered historically unreliable.

==Life and career ==
Geoffrey was born between about 1090 and 1100,<ref>Crick 2004: "it seems likely that he was born within ten years of 1100".</ref><ref>Foster 1959: "Geoffrey was b. between 1090 and 1100".</ref><ref>''Arthurian Figures of history and legend: A biographical dictionary'': "Geoffrey of Monmouth (floruit 1112–1139/ lifespan circa 1095–1155)".</ref><ref>''A Concise History of Wales'': "The key historical text was Historia Regum Brittanae (c. 1139) by Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1090–1155)".</ref> in [[Wales]] or the [[Welsh Marches]]. He had reached the [[age of majority]] by 1129 when he is recorded as witnessing a charter.

Geoffrey refers to himself in his {{lang|la|Historia}} as {{lang|la|Galfridus Monemutensis}} (Geoffrey of Monmouth), which indicates a significant connection to [[Monmouth]], Wales, and may refer to his birthplace.<ref name="Roberts98"/> His works attest to some acquaintance with the place-names of the region.<ref name="Roberts98"/> Geoffrey was known to his contemporaries as {{lang|la|Galfridus Arturus}} or variants thereof.<ref name="Roberts98"/><ref name="DNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=10530|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/10530|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-10530|title=Monmouth, Geoffrey of [Galfridus Arturus] (d. 1154/5), bishop of St Asaph and historian}}</ref> The "Arthur" in these versions of his name may indicate the name of his father or a nickname based on his scholarly interests.<ref name="DNB"/>

Earlier scholars assumed that Geoffrey was [[Welsh people|Welsh]] or at least spoke [[Welsh language|Welsh]].<ref name="DNB"/> His knowledge of this language appears to have been slight, however,<ref name="DNB"/> and there is no evidence that he was of either Welsh or [[Cambro-Norman]] descent.<ref name="Roberts98">Roberts, "Geoffrey of Monmouth, ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' and ''Brut y Brenhinedd''", p. 98.</ref> He may have come from the same French-speaking elite of the Welsh border country as [[Gerald of Wales]], [[Walter Map]], and [[Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester|Robert, Earl of Gloucester]], to whom Geoffrey dedicated versions of his ''History''.<ref name="DNB"/> [[Frank Stenton|Sir Frank Stenton]] and others have suggested that Geoffrey's parents may have been among the many [[Bretons]] who took part in [[William the Conqueror]]'s conquest and settled in the southeast of Wales.<ref name="Roberts98"/> Monmouth had been in the hands of Breton lords since 1075<ref name="Roberts98"/> or 1086,<ref name="DNB"/> and the names {{lang|la|Galfridus}} and Arthur were more common among the Bretons than the Welsh.<ref name="Roberts98"/>

His ethnicity has been heavily debated by scholars. Some of the possibilities include Welsh, Breton, Norman, or even Cornish descent.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gillingham |first=John |author-link=John Gillingham |title=The English in the Twelfth Century: Imperialism, National Identity and Political Values |publisher=[[Boydell & Brewer]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-85115-732-0 |location=Woodbridge |pages=20 |language=en |quote=Geoffrey was a Welshman whose object was to secure cultural respectability for his own nation.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lloyd |first=John Edward |author-link=John Edward Lloyd |date=1942 |title=Geoffrey of Monmouth |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/554371 |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=57 |issue=228 |pages=466–468 |issn=0013-8266 |quote=In 1911, the present writer ventured to suggest that he came, not of Welsh, but of Breton stock. |jstor=554371}}</ref><ref name="DNB" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Padel |first=Oliver |author-link=Oliver Padel |date=1984 |title=Geoffrey of Monmouth and Cornwall |journal=[[Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies]] |issue=8 |pages=1–28}}</ref>

He may have served for a while in the Benedictine [[Monmouth Priory]],<ref name="dunn">{{cite book |author=Dunn, Charles W. |title=Bibliographical Note to ''History of the Kings of Britain'' |publisher=E.P Dutton & Co. |year=1958 }}</ref> but most of his adult life appears to have been spent outside Wales. Between 1129 and 1151, his name appears on six charters in the [[Oxford]] area, sometimes styled {{lang|la|magister}} (teacher).<ref name="DNB"/> He was probably a secular canon of [[Oxford Castle#Construction|St. George's college]]. All the charters signed by Geoffrey are also signed by [[Walter of Oxford|Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford]], a canon at that church. Another frequent co-signatory is Ralph of Monmouth, a canon of [[Lincoln, Lincolnshire|Lincoln]].<ref name="DNB"/>

Archbishop [[Theobald of Bec]] consecrated Geoffrey as [[Bishop of St Asaph]] at [[Lambeth]] on 24 February 1152,<ref>{{cite CE1913 |wstitle= Geoffrey of Monmouth |volume=6 |last=Burton |first=  Edwin Hubert |short=1}}</ref> having ordained him a priest at Westminster 10 days before. According to [[Lewis Thorpe]], "There is no evidence that he ever visited his see, and indeed the wars of [[Owain Gwynedd]] make this most unlikely."<ref>From the introduction to his translation of ''The History of the Kings of Britain'' (London: Penguin Books, 1966), p. 12.</ref> He appears to have died between 25 December 1154 and 24 December 1155 according to Welsh chronicles, when his successor took office.<ref name="DNB"/>

==Works==
Geoffrey's structuring and shaping of the [[Merlin]] and [[King Arthur|Arthur]] myths engendered their vast popularity which continues today, and he is generally viewed by scholars as the major establisher of the Arthurian canon.<ref>Thorpe, ''Kings of Britain'', p. 20ff., particularly pp. 20–22 & 28–31.</ref> The ''History'''s effect on the legend of King Arthur was so vast that Arthurian works have been categorised as "pre-Galfridian" and "post-Galfridian", depending on whether or not they were influenced by him.

=== ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' ===
Geoffrey wrote several works in Latin, the language of learning and literature in Europe during the medieval period. His major work was the {{Lang|la|[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]}} (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), the work best known to modern readers. It relates the purported history of Britain, from its first settlement by [[Brutus of Troy]], a descendant of Trojan hero [[Aeneas]], to the death of [[Cadwaladr]] in the 7th century, covering [[Julius Caesar]]'s [[Caesar's invasions of Britain|invasions of Britain]], Kings [[Leir of Britain|Leir]] and [[Cunobelinus|Cymbeline]], and one of the earliest developed narratives of [[King Arthur]].

Geoffrey claims in his dedication that the book is a translation of an "ancient book in the British language that told in orderly fashion the deeds of all the kings of Britain", given to him by [[Walter of Oxford|Walter]], Archdeacon of Oxford, but modern historians have dismissed this claim.<ref>Richard M. Loomis, ''The Romance of Arthur'' New York & London, Garland Publishing, Inc. 1994, p. 59</ref> It is likely, however, that the Archdeacon did furnish Geoffrey with some materials in the Welsh language which helped inspire his work, as Geoffrey's position and acquaintance with him would not have permitted him to fabricate such a claim outright.<ref>Michael Curley, ''Geoffrey of Monmouth'', p. 12</ref> Much of it is based on the ''[[Historia Britonum]]'', a 9th-century Welsh-Latin historical compilation, [[Bede]]'s ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]'', and [[Gildas]]'s 6th-century polemic {{Lang|la|[[De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae]]}}, expanded with material from [[bard]]ic oral tradition and genealogical tracts, and embellished by Geoffrey's own imagination.<ref>Thorpe, ''Kings of Britain'' pp. 14–19.</ref> In an exchange of manuscript material for their own histories, [[Robert of Torigny]] gave [[Henry of Huntingdon]] a copy of ''History'', which both Robert and Henry used uncritically as authentic history and subsequently used in their own works,<ref>[[C. Warren Hollister]], ''Henry I'' (Yale English Monarchs), 2001:11 note 44.</ref> by which means Geoffrey's fictions became embedded in popular history.

''The History of the Kings of Britain'' is now usually considered a literary forgery containing little reliable history. This has since led many modern scholars to agree with [[William of Newburgh]], who wrote around 1190 that "it is quite clear that everything this man wrote about Arthur and his successors, or indeed about his predecessors from [[Vortigern]] onwards, was made up, partly by himself and partly by others."<ref>Quoted by Thorpe, ''Kings of Britain'', p. 17.</ref>

Other contemporaries were similarly unconvinced by Geoffrey's ''History''. For example, [[Gerald of Wales]] recounts the experience of a man possessed by demons: "If the evil spirits oppressed him too much, the [[Gospel of John|Gospel of St John]] was placed on his bosom, when, like birds, they immediately vanished; but when the book was removed, and the ''History of the Britons'' by 'Geoffrey Arthur' [as Geoffrey named himself] was substituted in its place, they instantly reappeared in greater numbers, and remained a longer time than usual on his body and on the book."<ref>Gerald of Wales, ''[[Itinerarium Cambriae|The Journey through Wales]]/[[Descriptio Cambriae|The Description of Wales]]'' (Lewis Thorpe ed.), Penguin, 1978, Chapter 5, p. 116.</ref>

Geoffrey's major work was nevertheless widely disseminated throughout medieval Western Europe; Acton Griscom listed 186 extant manuscripts in 1929, and others have been identified since.<ref>Thorpe, ''Kings of Britain'' p. 28</ref> It enjoyed a significant afterlife in a variety of forms, including translations and adaptations such as [[Wace]]'s Old Norman-French ''[[Roman de Brut]]'', [[Layamon]]'s Middle English ''[[Brut (Layamon)|Brut]]'', and several anonymous [[Middle Welsh]] versions known as ''{{lang|cy|[[Brut y Brenhinedd]]}}'' ("''Brut of the Kings''").<ref>Thorpe, ''Kings of Britain'' p. 29</ref> where it was generally accepted as a true account.

In 2017, [[Miles Russell]] published the initial results of the Lost Voices of Celtic Britain Project established at [[Bournemouth University]].<ref>Russell, ''Arthur and the Kings of Britain: The Historical Truth Behind the Myths'' pp. 297–300</ref> The main conclusion of the study was that the ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' appears to contain significant demonstrable archaeological fact, despite being compiled many centuries after the period that it describes. Geoffrey seems to have brought together a disparate mass of source material, including folklore, chronicles, king-lists, dynastic tables, oral tales, and bardic praise poems, some of which was irrevocably garbled or corrupted. In doing so, Geoffrey exercised considerable editorial control, massaging the information and smoothing out apparent inconsistencies in order to create a single grand narrative which fed into the preferred narrative of the Norman rulers of Britain. Much of the information that he used can be shown to be derived from two discrete sources:

* the orally transmitted, heroic tales of the [[Catuvellauni]] and [[Trinovantes]], two essentially pre-Roman tribes inhabiting central south-eastern Britain at the very end of the [[Iron Age tribes in Britain|Iron Age]];
* the king-lists of important [[Sub-Roman Britain|post-Roman]] dynasties that ruled territories in western Britain.

Stretching this source material out, chopping, changing and re-editing it in the process, Geoffrey added not just his own fictions but also additional information culled from Roman and early medieval histories and early medieval writers such as Gildas and Bede.<ref>[https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/project/lost-voices-of-celtic-britain/ ''Lost Voices of Celtic Britain Project'' ]</ref>

===Other writings===
Geoffrey's earliest writing was probably the ''{{lang|la|[[Prophetiae Merlini]]}}'' (''Prophecies of Merlin'') which he wrote before 1135, and which appears both independently and incorporated into ''The History of the Kings of Britain''. It consists of a series of obscure prophetic utterances attributed to [[Merlin]] which he claimed to have translated from an unspecified language.

The third work attributed to Geoffrey is the hexameter poem {{Lang|la|[[Vita Merlini]]}} (''Life of Merlin''), based more closely on traditional material about Merlin than the other works. Here he is known as Merlin of the Woods (''Merlinus Sylvestris'') or Scottish Merlin (''Merlinus Caledonius'') and is portrayed as an old man living as a crazed and grief-stricken outcast in the forest. The story is set long after the timeframe of the ''History''{{'}}s Merlin, but the author tries to synchronise the works with references to the mad prophet's previous dealings with [[Vortigern]] and Arthur. The ''Vita'' did not circulate widely, and the attribution to Geoffrey appears in only one late 13th-century manuscript, but it contains recognisably Galfridian elements in its construction and content, and most critics recognise it as his.<ref name="DNB" />
==In Popular Culture==
In the 2008 BBC series ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' the character of Geoffrey of Monmouth was played by [[Michael Cronin (actor)|Michael Cronin]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tessier |first=Daniel |title=Merlin (2008) |url=https://televisionheaven.co.uk/reviews/merlin-2008 |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=Television Heaven |language=en}}</ref><ref>https://www.bbc.co.uk/writers/documents/merlin-s1-ep9.pdf</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Poetry}}
* [[Adam of Usk]]
* [[Ranulf Higdon]]
* [[William of Malmesbury]]
* [[Henry of Huntingdon]]

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{reflist}}

'''Bibliography '''
* Geoffrey of Monmouth. ''The History of the Kings of Britain''. Edited and translated by Michael Faletra. Broadview Books: Peterborough, Ontario, 2008. {{ISBN|1-55111-639-1}}
* Geoffrey of Monmouth. ''The History of the Kings of Britain.'' Translated, with introduction and index, by Lewis Thorpe. Penguin Books: London, 1966. {{ISBN|0-14-044170-0}}
* {{ODNBweb |first=J. C. |last=Crick |author-link=Julia Crick |title=Monmouth, Geoffrey of [Galfridus Arturus] (d. 1154/5) |year=2004 |edition=online |id=10530 }}
* {{cite book |last=Curley |first=Michael |title=Geoffrey of Monmouth |location=New York |publisher=Twayne Publishers |year=1994 }}
* {{cite book |last=Echard |first=Siân |title=Arthurian Narrative in the Latin Tradition |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0521021524 }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Echard |editor-first=Siân |title=The Arthur of Medieval Latin Literature: The Development and Dissemination of the Arthurian Legend in Medieval Latin |location=Cardiff |publisher=University of Wales Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0708322017 }}
* {{cite book |first=Idris Llewelyn |last=Foster |chapter=Geoffrey of Monmouth (1090?–1155), or Galfridus (Gaufridus) Artur, or Galfridus (Gaufridus) Monemutensis, bishop of St Asaph and chronicler |title=The Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940 |publisher=The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion |location=London |year=1959 |pages=274–75 |url=https://biography.wales/article/s-SIEF-OFY-1090}}
* {{cite book |first=N.J. |last=Higham |title=King Arthur: Myth-making and History |location=London and New York |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=0-415-21305-3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Morris |first=John |author-link=John Morris (historian) |title=The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles from 350 to 650 |publisher=Barnes & Noble |location=New York |year=1996 |orig-year=1973 |isbn=1-84212-477-3 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Parry |first1=John Jay |first2=Robert |last2=Caldwell |chapter=Geoffrey of Monmouth |title=Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages |editor-first=Roger S. |editor-last=Loomis |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford University |year=1959 |isbn=0-19-811588-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/arthurianliterat00roge }}
* {{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Brynley F. |author-link=Brynley F. Roberts |chapter=Geoffrey of Monmouth, ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' and ''Brut y Brenhinedd'' |title=The Arthur of the Welsh: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature |location=Cardiff |publisher=University of Wales Press |year=1991 |isbn=0-7083-1307-8 }}
* {{cite book |last=Russell |first=Miles |author-link=Miles Russell |title=Arthur and the Kings of Britain: the Historical Truth Behind the Myths |location=Stroud |publisher=Amberley |year=2017 |isbn=978-1445662749 }}
* {{cite book |first=J.S.P. |last=Tatlock |author-link=John Strong Perry Tatlock |title=The Legendary History of Britain: Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and its early vernacular versions |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |year=1950 }}

==External links==
{{Wikisource author}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{EB1911 poster|Geoffrey of Monmouth}}
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.bartleby.com/211/0909.html Latin Chroniclers from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Centuries: Geoffrey of Monmouth] from ''[[The Cambridge History of English and American Literature]]'', Vol. I, 1907–21.
*{{Librivox author|id=10446}}

===Editions of the Latin text===
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Geoffrey of Monmouth}}
* Hammer, Jacob/ Geoffrey of Monmouth, ''Historia regum Britanniae'', a variant version. Edited by Jacob Hammer. Medieval Academy Books, No. 57 (1951).  [http://www.medievalacademy.org/resource/resmgr/maa_books_online/hammer_0057_bkmrkdpdf.pdf Medieval Academy Electronic Editions]. Geoffrey of Monmouth, Second Variant version of the "Historia Regum Britannie" from Library of [[Matthew Parker]].
* [http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-FF-00001-00025-00005 Historia regum Britanniae, MS CUL Ff.1.25, Cambridge Digital Library].
* [http://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0023/html/lewis_e_247.html Lewis E 247 Gesta regum Anglorum (Deeds of the English Kings); Historia regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) at OPenn]

===English translations available on the internet===
*''Historia Regum Britanniae'':
** [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/gem/index.htm Histories of the Kings of Britain], tr. by [[Sebastian Evans]], at Sacred Texts
** By [[Aaron Thompson (translator)|Aaron Thompson]] with revisions by [[J. A. Giles]] at http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/geoffrey_thompson.pdf. (PDF)
** (Arthurian passages only) edited and translated by J. A. Giles at http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/geofhkb.htm.
*''Vita Merlini'', Basil Clarke's English translation from ''Life of Merlin: Vita Merlini'' (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1973).
** At [http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/merlini.html Jones the Celtic Encyclopedia]
** At [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/vm/index.htm Sacred-texts.com]
{{Geoffrey of Monmouth}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geoffrey of Monmouth}}
[[Category:Geoffrey of Monmouth| ]]
[[Category:1090s births]]
[[Category:1155 deaths]]
[[Category:12th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:12th-century English Roman Catholic bishops]]
[[Category:12th-century Welsh poets]]
[[Category:12th-century Welsh historians]]
[[Category:Anglo-Normans in Wales]]
[[Category:Augustinian canons]]
[[Category:Bishops of St Asaph]]
[[Category:Medieval Latin-language poets]]
[[Category:People from Monmouth, Wales]]
[[Category:People from Oxford]]
[[Category:Pseudohistorians]]
[[Category:Welsh mythology]]
[[Category:Welsh-speaking clergy]]
[[Category:Writers of Arthurian literature]]
[[Category:British anthropologists]]