Geoffrey of Monmouth and the English Past
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Electronic versions
DOI
This chapter examines the presentation of the Anglo-Saxon past in De gestis Britonum, considering both Geoffrey’s use of Anglo-Saxon sources and his attitude towards the Anglo-Saxons themselves. Focusing in particular on Geoffrey’s use of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History for his account of the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries, it illustrates how he carefully drew upon and adapted this text to construct a different version of the Anglo-Saxon past in which the Britons occupied center stage and were treated sympathetically. In so doing he also radically departed from the histories of his Anglo-Norman contemporaries. This chapter examines the construction of this peculiarly British vision of Anglo-Saxon history.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | A Companion to Geoffrey of Monmouth |
| Editors | Joshua Byron Smith, Gerogia Henley |
| Publisher | Brill: Leiden |
| Chapter | 3 |
| Pages | 105-128 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| ISBN (electronic) | 978-90-04-41039-8 |
| ISBN (print) | 978-90-04-40528-8 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2020 |
Publication series
| Name | Brill's Companions to European History |
|---|---|
| Volume | 22 |