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Histories of the Kings of Britain, by Geoffrey of Monmouth

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Paphos Publishers offers a wide catalog of rare classic titles, published for a new generation.
Histories of the Kings of Britain was written in the 12th century and tells the tale of the history of Britain.
- Sales Rank: #696793 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-08-20
- Released on: 2015-08-20
- Format: Kindle eBook
Most helpful customer reviews
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Needs some editing!
By Joseph M. Reninger
Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote this fictionalized version of English history that starts with the Trojan War. Aeneas flees from Troy and founds Rome. His great grandson Brutus leaves Italy and eventually founds Britain. The book covers a vast range of time, from the fall of Troy in the 1100s B.C. to circa A.D. 700. He covers a lot of ground, much of it mythical or at best historically dubious. The highlights for me were his passages about King Lear (as in the character from Shakespeare's excellent play) and about King Arthur. Arthur and Merlin take up a big portion of the middle of the book, with Merlin getting as much space as Arthur. The most fascinating bit was how they took what we now call Stonehenge from Ireland and set it up in Britain as a burial ground for royalty. Arthur's military conquests are also chronicled but not the various quests of his knights (which comes in later literature maybe inspired by Geoffrey). The last third of the book tells of the Saxons coming to the island and how often they betrayed the local kings and dukes. After a while, it seemed like a lot of anti-Saxon propaganda!
The book was written in Latin and translated by Sebastian Evans in 1903 with a very Elizabethan-styled text. The style gives the book a sense of archaicness that can be off-putting for readers, with liberal use of words like "natheless" and "howbeit so" and other constructions that were surely antiquated even in the early 1900s. I eventually got used to the style; others may adapt more or less quickly. The style does give the book an ancient feel.
The other challenge in reading the book is the sometimes quite massive liberties that are taken with the history. At this point, scholars consider it ahistorical, which is pretty obvious especially when reading about the Roman invasions of Britain that don't match up with any other history. Many portions just describe a few battles by the noble British kings against invaders and betrayers, or when they invade or reconquer Brittany (the part of France across the English Channel). The accounts all start to blend together. Even though it's fiction, it's still fairly dry reading for many parts.
What this book really needs is a "highlights" version compiling all the good bits in a shorter volume. The book is only 270 pages long but a hundred page "best of" version would be more readable and leave out the less interesting parts.
This book was on our shelf of "read and keep or get rid of" and unfortunately, it has landed on the "get rid of" side. If you want some ancient British history, read Bede's History.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Ian Myles Slater on: Not a First Choice, But an Interesting Effort
By Ian M. Slater
Just in case Amazon software again jumbles up reviews of similarly-titled books: this is a review of Sebastian Evans’ translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “Histories of the Kings of Britain,” which has been re-issued in paperback by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 21, 2014), and in Kindle and hardcover formats by other publishers (so check which you are ordering, if you decide you want to). This is an out-of-copyright late-nineteenth century rendering (Dent's "Temple Classics," 1896), which was available in Dent's Everyman's Library series from 1912, and in the US from Dutton, ultimately in paperback (from 1963 through well into the late twentieth century; in this case titled "History of the Kings...," instead of the plural).
I am reviewing Evans’ translation (so far as I consider it below) from my experience with the somewhat revised Dutton edition from 1963, and from the original, Temple Classics, edition, which is available on-line (as is the Everyman's re-issue); it is the translation which gets the stars.
It is worth mentioning that CreateSpace has had a rather dubious reputation when it comes to producing clean and reliable texts. A previous reviewer was not happy with the lay-out and paper quality of the (unspecified) edition he received. (From the “Look Inside” glimpse, the CreateSpace version appears to be in rather small print; and the product information indicates it is about 160 pages shorter than the well-designed Temple Classics edition.)
CreateSpace has also used for cover art a panel from the Bayeux Tapestry from the 1070s. This is not *too* far out-of-date for representing Geoffrey's writings from the 1130s, but the panel used specifically portrays William the Conqueror, who has nothing to do with the narrative: CreateSpace's assertion to the contrary indicates that someone didn't bother to open the book before writing the description.
The Evans translation is, in my opinion, superior to the early-eighteenth (Thompson) and mid-nineteenth century (Giles) translations which are also available on Amazon in Kindle and hardcopy re-issues; however, it is markedly less reliable or readable than two other more recent in-print translations (and perhaps a third, which is apparently out of print at this writing). I discuss the various options below.
Geoffrey of Monmouth’s book is one of the main sources of the Arthurian Legend, as it was accepted in the Middle Ages, and of a great deal of other British “history” — Brutus the Trojan (who gave his name to the island), Cymbeline, and King Lear, for example — which, despite various critics, was widely accepted into the sixteenth and even seventeenth centuries. Written in the 1130s, it is *the* source for the “historical” Arthur as understood in the Middle Ages, a mighty conqueror of much of northern and western Europe. This view existed alongside the Romances of the Round Table and the Quest of the Holy Grail, although sometimes integrated with them (notably by Malory, with some considerable violence to the usual scheme of Arthur’s rise and fall). It presented an engaging picture of the warlike and noble Britons — the ancestors of the marginalized Welsh, Cornish, and Bretons, and not of the English, or the Picts, or the Scots and Irish.
Geoffrey’s “History” presents itself in its opening as a companion to the Venerable Bede’s “Ecclesiastical History of the English People,” covering material about the ancient Britons which Bede, a *mere* Englishman, could not have been expected to know. It is, however, a resolutely secular work through almost all of its length — one is a little surprised to learn that Geoffrey ended his life as a bishop. (Particularly since his treatments of supposedly ancient ecclesiastical arrangements are partisan and nationalistic, and became the source of considerable confusion for those who took him seriously on such points.)
It is also packed with stories that would have little or no place in Bede’s world-view, like a king who wanted to fly, and exciting single combats with giants. It is easy to see how it became a sort of medieval best-seller, in the original Latin, and in early translations into a variety of languages, including, for example, Old Norse.
The most recent version, and in some ways the best ever available, is the Boydell & Brewer edition of “Geoffrey of Monmouth: The History of the Kings of Britain” (“Arthurian Studies” Volume LXIX, 2007; paperback 2009), with a critical Latin text edited by Michael D. Reeve, and an English translation by Neil Wright.
Reeve’s Latin text is obviously for committed Medievalists (and curious Latinists looking beyond the Classical period). Wright’s accompanying translation is for serious enthusiasts for Arthurian literature, and perhaps not very welcoming for casual readers. (I like it, but, as an enthusiast myself, I’m probably not the best judge….)
The Latin is a genuinely critical edition, based on an analysis of the oldest of the medieval manuscripts (all 219[!] now identified are briefly catalogued, and some are evaluated), and includes an apparatus (footnotes) showing significant variant readings from representative versions. Three previous modern editions were based on one “good” or “typical” manuscript, or at best on a comparison of a few, selected on somewhat dubious grounds (the presence or absence of certain dedications to twelfth-century notables, which Reeve shows is an unreliable guide to dates and provenances of sources of extant manuscripts).
The earliest English translations from Geoffrey’s Latin, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, were based on one or another non-critical printed edition, which ultimately derived from four manuscripts available in Paris in 1508, with emendations from manuscripts with no special claim to authority, together with various editorial guesses at what Geoffrey “really” meant to say.
The title page of the Reeve and Wright volume further describes it as “An Edition and Translation of the *De gestis Britonum* [*Historia Regum Britanniae*],” giving both the traditional title (*Historia…*) and that for which Reeve finds there is internal evidence (*De gestis…*), “Of the Deeds of the Britons.” The fact that no one had picked up on Geoffrey’s own preference for a title (and Reeve notes that he originally missed it) itself demonstrates the need for such a new edition.
This translation, by Neil Wright, which faces the Latin text, should not be confused with the contemporary Broadview Press translation (only) by Michael A. Faletra, as “The History of the Kings of Britain,” (2008). That translation apparently is no longer available new (although the Amazon page for it is confusing). It suffers from a less critical, although recent, Latin base text. Ironically enough, that 1985 “provisional” text, from a single manuscript, was edited by Neil Wright — yes, the translator of Reeve’s edition.
Neither the Reeve-Wright nor the Faletra translations should be confused with the somewhat older, but in-print, Penguin Classics translation (1966), by the late Lewis Thorpe (d.1977). I have reviewed Thorpe’s version separately (and see below for some comparisons to Reeve and Wright).
None of these three modern renderings should be confused with Kindle (or hard-copy) editions of a 1718 translation by Aaron Thompson, apparently in the 1842 revision by J.A. Giles — although the current Amazon page for Faletra’s translation does exactly that. (And the pages for the other translations are likely to do so, given enough time! Hence this effort to identify them.)
Nor should they be confused with Sebastian Evans’ 1896 Dent “Temple Classics” translation as “Histories of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth,” reprinted in 1912 in the same publisher’s “Everyman’s Library” series, which had a slightly revised edition in 1958 (or, according to some, 1963), and in the US (at least) was reprinted by Dutton well into the later twentieth century, as “History…”. This version is offered on Amazon used, in a new paperback re-issue (from CreateSpace, as noted above), and in a Kindle edition (or two — I expect that these use the out-of-copyright 1896/1912 text, as well as the “Histories…” version of the title for one of the editions), and in at least one hardcover format.
Besides having to use a rather unreliable Latin text, Evans chose, for some reason, to translate Geoffrey into a pseudo-Elizabethan English, which at its best is interesting, but more often is just an obstacle to the casual reader. And it does not have the excuse of reflecting Geoffrey’s Latin style, which was professedly plain and straightforward (and is generally admitted to be so). It is worth noting that Thorpe considered Thompson's eighteenth-century version to be better than its two successors, and specifically criticizes Evans' "pseudo-Spenserian" English.
Evans also translated another important work of Arthurian literature, “Perlesvaus,” into an archaizing English, as “The High History of the Holy Grail.” The quasi-Malory language was somewhat more appropriate there -- it would be familiar to anyone with a serious interest in the Arthurian literature -- but has probably been a hindrance to many readers. (There is currently available a new translation, by Nigel Bryant, of the “Perlesvaus,” as “The High *Book* of the Grail,” following the French title.)
An edition of Evans’ translation of Geoffrey is available in pdf (and other formats) from archive.org, the Library of Congress-hosted Internet Archive, where the interested can at least check out the style, and see if it is appealing. (“The High History of the Holy Grail” is also available there; there is a Project Gutenberg transcription, and a free Kindle edition from it, as well.)
Of the two in-print translations which I consider entirely worth the reader’s time, Thorpe’s Penguin Classics translation is much less expensive than the Reeve and Wright version, and much more accessible to the ordinary reader. (It is also available as a Kindle Book, although presently for only about a dollar less than the paperback hardcopy.) It is in the same price range as the CreateSpace paperback.
Thorpe’s introduction is truly introductory (Reeve assumes a lot of prior general and specific knowledge on the part of a scholarly reader). For those curious as to when all these events are supposed to be taking place, Thorpe offers a useful “Time Chart” presenting the implied chronology, running from the Trojan War (c.1200 BC) all the way to 689 AD. Thorpe also provides a superb analytical index, which amounts to a handbook of the characters and events: Reeve, in his very comprehensive index, concentrates on variant spellings of personal and place names, and provides no information on who did what, and where.
On the whole, given issues of price and accessibility, I have to recommend Thorpe to novices in medieval literature in general, and medieval Arthuriana in particular. Thorpe’s fluid modern English is also a great improvement on the older English translations. I find it more readable than Wright’s new translation — but that may be due to decades of familiarity with a book I first read in the late 1960s.
Thorpe’s translation, however, was based on a single “good” manuscript, as edited by Acton Griscom in 1929, with some consultation of the two other modern editions of the Latin text then available, by E. Faral (also 1929; an attempt at a critical text based on several manuscripts), and by Jacob Hammer (a “Variant Version,” published by the Medieval Academy of America as Publication No. 57, in 1951, and available, free, on-line as a pdf).
Of course, this is not as satisfactory as Reeve’s critical text, but it is a better basis than the older competition.
Thorpe also re-divided Geoffrey’s narrative into eight parts, with topical headings such as “Before the Romans Came,” with increased intelligibility compared to the traditional (but not universal) twelve-book format, with chapters of varying lengths. Marginal references to these traditional divisions are included in the Penguin volume for ease of cross-reference.
To return to Reeve and Wright, the Latin text is printed with sequential line numbers (at 5-lines intervals) within each “book,” which makes for precise references. The whole work, as indicated on both the English and the Latin pages, is divided into 208 sequentially numbered sections, or chapters; these often, but not always, correspond to the now-traditional chapter divisions of the various “books” (as reported by Thorpe — I’ve made the comparison in detail).
Geoffrey’s “History” presents the British — that is, strictly speaking, the Welsh and their ancestors — as descendants of displaced Trojans, by way of Italy, presenting itself as a sort of sequel to Virgil’s “Aeneid,” as well as a “prequel” to Bede’s “Ecclesiastical History of the English People.” Geoffrey claims to be translating a “very old book in the British tongue” (*Britannici sermonis librum vetustissimum*), that is, in Welsh (or, possibly, Breton): a claim taken seriously by some into the early twentieth century, by which time it became reasonably clear that the supposed versions of the “old book” — one of which had been claimed to come from the seventh century! — were in fact post-Geoffrey; although some of these Welsh translations did contain genuine old stories interpolated into Geoffrey’s account.
In the Middle Ages, Geoffrey’s book was popular in England (where it was several times translated by way of a French translation), and, as one would expect, in Wales: J.J. Parry counted three Welsh translations (there may have been more), preserved in at least fifty manuscripts. (See Parry’s Introduction to “Brut Y Brenhinned,” or ‘chronicle of rulers,’ an edition and translation of one of the Welsh translations, published in 1937 as Medieval Academy of America Publications No. 27, and available free on-line, as a pdf.)
Indeed, little as the Welsh and the English agreed on other things, they both borrowed “Brut,” i.e. “Brutus,” originally a nickname for the “Historia,” as a generic term for a national chronicle.
Geoffrey also enjoyed enormous popularity in the the rest of Europe as well, as witnessed by the surviving copies. This must be attributed in great part to Geoffrey’s story-telling abilities, since the insular politics would have been of little interest to most continental readers.
There was also a “practical” side to some of the interest (beyond competing claims to the rule of Britain). Besides the “very old book,” Geoffrey claimed to be translating a separate “Prophecies of Merlin,” usually incorporated into the larger work. (Most editors have treated it as either book seven, or as an unnumbered “appendix” between books six and seven. In the latter case there are eleven numbered books; this is the format used by Reeve.) It appears that some people tried to figure out what Merlin had prophesied about, in extremely cryptic language filled with animal imagery, in the hope of using it as a guide to events in their own times and places.
Geoffrey also wrote a verse sequel, or companion, “The Life of Merlin,” which has been translated into English at least three times. Reviews of a Kindle edition of J.J. Parry’s translation — as “Vita Merlini” — complaining of format issues, are not encouraging. For some reason, no one (so far as I know) has issued it in combination with translations of the “History” and the “Prophecies.”
It is possible that a vague knowledge of the "Vita Merlini" accounts for the CreateSpace product description claiming that Geoffrey of Monmouth was a poet, when the "History" is in prose; but this might just be carelessness, like the association of the book with the Norman Conquest.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
bound backwards?
By Richard T. Okimoto
This review is for the version published by ClearSpace in 2014 (ISBN-10: 1499630263)
It appears that the book is bound backwards... it starts at the back of the book, and you would have to read it in reverse. There are are multiple page numbers on each page, which makes it very confusing to discuss the book. I would definitely recommend you choose a different publication of this book.
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