Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

289NenniusThe earliest extant mention of Arthur is to be found in thework of the British historian Nennius, who wrote his “HistoriaBritonum” about the year 800. He derives his authority fromvarious sources—ancient monuments and writings of Britain andof Ireland (in connexion with the latter country he records thelegend of Partholan), Roman annals, and chronicles of saints,especially St. Germanus. He presents a fantastically Romanisedand Christianised view of British history, deriving the Britonsfrom a Trojan and Roman ancestry. His account of Arthur,however, is both sober and brief. Arthur, who, according toNennius, lived in the sixth century, was not a king; his ancestrywas less noble than that of many other British chiefs, who,nevertheless, for his great talents as a military Imperator, or dux [337]bellorum, chose him for their leader against the Saxons, whom hedefeated in twelve battles, the last being at Mount Badon. Arthur'soffice was doubtless a relic of Roman military organisation, andthere is no reason to doubt his historical existence, howeverimpenetrable may be the veil which now obscures his valiantand often triumphant battlings for order and civilisation in thatdisastrous age.Geoffrey of MonmouthNext we have Geoffrey of Monmouth, Bishop of St. Asaph,who wrote his “Historia Regum Britaniæ” in South Wales inthe early part of the twelfth century. This work is an audaciousattempt to make sober history out of a mass of mythical orlegendary matter mainly derived, if we are to believe the author,from an ancient book brought by his uncle Walter, Archdeacon ofOxford, from Brittany. The mention of Brittany in this connexionis, as we shall see, very significant. Geoffrey wrote expresslyto commemorate the exploits of Arthur, who now appears as aking, son of Uther Pendragon and of Igerna, wife of Gorlois,Duke of Cornwall, to whom Uther gained access in the shapeof her husband through the magic arts of Merlin. He places the