-

in The Red Book of Hergest, vol. ii.: The Text of the Bruts from the Red Book, 1-256. Oxford, 1890. Translated into English by J. A. Giles, 1842, 1848: No. 574.

Geoffrey, archdeacon of Monmouth, was consecrated bishop of St. Asaph in 1152. His Historia Britonum, or Historia Regum Britanniæ, completed in 1147, consists largely of fabulous matter; it is an elaborate tissue of Celtic myths, legends, and traditions, scraps of classical and Scriptural learning, and fantastic inventions of the author's own fertile brain, all dexterously thrown into a pseudohistorical shape:' Kate Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings, ii. 445. It is the fountain-head of medieval romance, the principal source of the legends of Merlin and Arthur, which were accepted as real history by many chroniclers from the 12th century onward. San-Marte believes that Geoffrey's Historia Regum is based on a Welsh brut, or chronicle, of Tysilio, a Welsh saint (fl. circa A. D. 600), but the Brut Tysilio seems to be a late translation or adaptation of Geoffrey's work. The Brut Tysilio is printed in the Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales (London, 1801), ii. 81-390; translated into English by Peter Roberts, The Chronicle of the Kings of Britain, London, 1811; translated into German by SanMarte in his edition of the Historia Regum. Geoffrey's work is the basis of Wace's Roman de Brut and of Layamon's Brut (Nos. 1809, 1859), both of which were compiled within fifty years after Geoffrey's death. For the literature relating to Geoffrey and for the older editions of the Historia Britonum, see Dictionary of National Biography, 1890, xxi. 133-5; Potthast, Bibliotheca, i. 487-8; Hardy, Catalogue of Materials, i. 341-59.

1375. NENNIUS. The Historia Brittonum commonly attributed to Nennius, with an English version, ed. William Gunn. London, 1819. Nennii Historia Britonum, ed. Joseph Stevenson. English Hist. Soc. London, 1838. Also in Petrie's Monumenta (No. 537), 47-82. London, 1848. - Historia Brittonum cum additamentis Nennii, ed. Theodor Mommsen, in Monumenta Germ. Hist., Auctores Antiq. (No. 594), xiii. 111-98. Berlin, 1898 [1894]. This is the best edition. There are also editions by Gale, 1691 (No. 581); Bertram, 1757 and 1758; San-Marte, 1844. — Translated from the Latin by J. A. Giles, 1841, 1848: Nos. 574, 582. The Irish version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius [compiled by Gilla Coemgin about 1071]. Edited, with a translation, by J. H. Todd. Irish Archæol. Soc. Dublin, 1848.

There is much dispute regarding this work. It has been ascribed to Gildas and to an Irish bishop, Mark the Hermit, but most authorities now believe that it was compiled by an anonymous writer. Zimmer vindicates' Nennius as the real author, and contends that the Historia was completed in 796 in south-east Wales. Duchesne, Mommsen, and Thurneysen believe that the oldest text was compiled before the time of Nennius, and that he simply made additions to it. The work contains a description of Britain, and deals briefly with the period of the Roman occupation, the incursions of the Picts and Scots, the arrival of the

Saxons, their conflict with the Britons, and genealogies of English kings to 796. As an historical source it has little value, but it is of some importance for the study of early British mythology, especially for the study of the legend of Arthur. Of the books and essays mentioned below, those of Thurneysen and Zimmer are the best.

Literature:

DUCHESNE, L. Nennius retractatus. Revue Celtique, xv. 174-97. Paris, 1894. (Prints the text of the oldest MS., that of Chartres. Believes that the author of the original Historia, written in south Wales, is unknown, and that Nennius extended it in north Wales about 810.) LA BORDERIE, ARTHUR DE.

Britonum attribuée à Nennius.
Schoell.)

Etudes historiques bretonnes : l'Historia
Paris, 1883. (Agrees in the main with

LOT, FERDINAND. Nennius et Gildas. Le Moyen Age, viii. 177–84, ix. 25-36. Paris, 1895-96. (A review of Mommsen's edition of Nennius.) MOMMSEN, THEODOR. Die Historia Brittonum und König Lucius. Gesellsch. für ältere Deutsche Gesch., Neues Archiv, xix. 283-93. Hanover, 1894. POSTE, BEALE. Britannia antiqua, chs. i.-ii. London, 1857. SCHOELL, C. W. De ecclesiasticæ Britonum Scotorumque historiæ fontibus, 29-37. Berlin, 1851. (Contends that the Historia Britonum was written in 822 by an unknown author.)

SKENE, W. F. The four ancient books of Wales, i. 37-41. Edinburgh, 1868. (Believes that the original work was written in Welsh in the 7th or 8th century; that Mark the Hermit made a Latin version in 823, and Nennius another in 858.)

THURNEYSEN, RUDOLF. Nennius vindicatus.

Zeitschrift fur Deutsch e

Philologie, xxviii. 80-113. Halle, 1895. Supplemented by the same writer's review of Mommsen's edition of Nennius, in Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie, i. 157-68, Halle, 1897. (The first paper is a valuable critical review of Zimmer's book. Contends that the original nucleus of the Historia Britonum was compiled in 679 by an anonymous author, and that the work was extended by Nennius in 826 in south-east Wales.) ZIMMER, HEINRICH. Nennius vindicatus; über Entstehung, Geschichte, und Quellen der Historia Brittonum. Berlin, 1893. (Believes that in 679 a continuation of Gildas's history was written in north Wales, which contained among other things the genealogies of English kings; that with this as a basis Nennius in 796 compiled a new work, the Historia Britonum, in south-east Wales; that in 810 this was revised by an unknown hand in Anglesey, and this edition, which is not now extant, was the basis of the Irish version.)

1376. Northumbrian chronicle (The).

This work is not extant, but remains of it are embedded in the first portion of Simeon of Durham's Historia Regum Anglorum et Dacorum. The lost chronicle probably covered the years 732-802, in continuation of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica; and it seems to have been used by some of the compilers of the AngloSaxon Chronicle in dealing with northern affairs. Stubbs believes that it was written in Latin early in the 9th century, under the title Gesta Veterum Northan

hymbrorum, and that Alcuin may have been instrumental in its composition. The entries often coincide with those of the Continuatio Bedæ (No. 1361); both these sources supply valuable information, not found elsewhere, relating to the kingdom of Northumbria.

Literature:

HINDE, J. H. Symeonis Dunelmensis Opera, vol. i. pp. xiv.-xxv. Surtees Soc. London, etc., 1868.

For

PAULI, REINHOLD. Karl der Grosse in northumbrischen Annalen. schungen zur Deutschen Geschichte, xii. 137-66. Göttingen, 1872. STUBBS, WILLIAM. Chronica Rogeri de Houedene, vol. i. pp. x.-xi., xxviii.-xxx. Rolls Series. London, 1868.

THEOPOLD, LUDWIG. Kritische Untersuchungen über die Quellen zur angelsächsischen Geschichte, 70-90. Lemgo, 1872.

1377. TIGERNACH O'BRAEIN (d. 1088). The annals of Tigernach. Edited, with a translation of the Irish, by Whitley Stokes. Revue Celtique, xvi. 374-419; xvii. 6-33, 119-263, 337-420; xviii. 9-59, 150-97, 267-303, 374-91. Paris, 1895-97. The edition in O'Conor's Scriptores (No. 592), ii. 1-314, is very inaccurate. Extracts, A.D. 501-1099, are printed in W. F. Skene's Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, 66-78, 141. Edinburgh, 1867.

Tigernach was abbot of Clonmacnoise. The extant fragments of his Annals, written partly in Latin and partly in Irish, extend from the time of the prophets to 1088, with a continuation to 1178; but the years 767-974 are wanting, and there are other gaps. This valuable work seems to be the source from which most of the later annalists of Ireland borrowed their materials for Irish history down to 1088. It also throws some light on the affairs of Scotland and England. See E. O'Curry, Lectures on the MS. Materials of Irish History (Dublin, 1861), 57-70; Hardy, Catalogue of Materials, ii. 51.

Rolls

1378. Vita Edwardi regis qui apud Westmonasterium requiescit, ed. H. R. Luard, Lives of Edward the Confessor, 387-435Series. London, 1858.

The only contemporary life of Edward, and a valuable source for the study of his reign. It was compiled by an unknown writer between 1066 and 1074. Other biographies of Edward are :—

1. Vita et miracula S. Edwardi, by Osbert de Clare, prior of Westminster. Written in the reign of Stephen; it has never been printed.

2. Vita Edwardi regis, by Aelred of Rievaulx, ed. Twysden, Scriptores X. (No. 599), 369-414. Compiled about 1163 and derived almost entirely from Osbert.

3. La estoire de Seint Aedward le rei, edited, with a translation, by H. R. Luard, Lives of Edward the Confessor, 1-358: an Anglo-French poem, written about 1245 and based mainly upon Aelred of Rievaulx.

4. Vita Edwardi regis et confessoris, ed. Luard, ibid., 359-77: a Latin poem, composed probably between 1440 and 1450, and derived from Aelred of Rievaulx. See Luard's preface; and Hardy, Catalogue of Materials, i. 634–43.

1379. Vita Haroldi [II.]. Edited, with a translation, by W. de Gray Birch. London, 1885. — Imperfect editions: in F. Michel's Chroniques Anglo-Normandes (No. 590), ii. 143-221, and J. A. Giles's Vita Quorundam Anglo-Saxonum (Caxton Soc., 1854), 38–95.

An historical romance, of little value, probably written in 1216. See Hardy, Catalogue of Materials, i. 668-71; Cochrane's Foreign Quarterly, June, 1835, pp. 309-29.

1380. War (The) of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, or the invasions of Ireland by the Danes and other Norsemen. Irish text, with translations, ed. J. H. Todd. Rolls Series. London, 1867.

Extends from about 795 to 1014; compiled from contemporary sources by some one who witnessed the exploits of Brian Boru (d. 1014). It is conjectured that the author may have been Mac Lieg, who died in 1016. The first part gives an account of the arrival of the Norsemen in Ireland; the second part is devoted to the history of the Munster chieftains, especially to the deeds of Brian Boru. The story is told after the manner of the Scandinavian sagas. See Douglas Hyde, Literary History of Ireland, 1899, pp. 434-42.

$35. OLD NORSE SAGAS.

a. Collections, Nos. 1381-5.

b. Particular Sagas, Nos. 1386-90.

This literature is chiefly of Icelandic origin. A saga is a prose epic narrating the tale of a chieftain's adventures at home and abroad. The most important of these stories seem to have taken shape in the mouths of Icelanders in the eleventh century, and at first were orally recited. They were reduced to writing in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, most of them between 1140 and 1240. Those that are of interest to students of English history may be classified as follows:

1. Icelandic family sagas, each containing the life and exploits. of an Icelandic chieftain or family, mainly in the period A.D. 900-1030 (Nos. 1386, 1388).

2. Kings' sagas, memoirs of kings, chiefly of Norway (Nos. 1383-4, 1389).

3. Sagas referring to countries other than Iceland and Norway (Nos. 1387, 1390).

The sagas are valuable for the study of the Northmen in England

and Ireland, especially in the tenth and eleventh centuries, but they must be used cautiously. The kings' sagas throw most light upon the doings of the Northmen in England, being filled with stories like those concerning the relations of Harold Fair-Hair to Athelstan, the exploits of Eric Blood-Axe in Northumbria, the expeditions of the two Olafs, Cnut, and Harold Hardrede to England, the forays of jarls in the British Isles, and the account of the battle of Stamford Bridge.

An excellent survey of the saga literature is to be found in the prolegomena of G. Vigfusson's edition of Sturlunga Saga, 2 vols., Oxford, 1878. See also the preliminary matter in Richard Cleasby's Icelandic Dictionary, Oxford, 1874; the preliminary dissertation in Laing's Heimskringla (No. 1384); F. W. Horn, History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North, translated by R. B. Anderson, with a bibliography of books in English, Chicago, 1884; Eugen Mogk in Hermann Paul's Grundriss der Germanischen Philologie, 1893, ii. pt. i. 115-38; and F. York Powell, Saga-Growth, in FolkLore, 1894, v. 97-106. Two bibliographies by Theodor Möbius are of great value: Catalogus Librorum Islandicorum et Norvegicorum, Leipsic, 1856; and Verzeichniss der Altnordischen Sprache und Literatur von 1855 bis 1879, Leipsic, 1880. For the recent literature, see Arkiv for Nordisk Filologi, Christiania, 1883, etc.

For other sources relating to the Northmen, see Nos. 585, 1380, 1477; and for modern works on the relations of the Northmen to England, § 42.

a. COLLECTIONS.

Many of the kings' sagas in their more complete form are found in old vellums of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, such as Fagrskinna, ed. C. R. Unger, Christiania, 1847; Flateyjarbók, ed. Unger, 3 vols., 1860-68; Morinskinna, ed. Unger, 1867.

1381. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek, ed. G. Cederschiöld, H. Gering, and E. Mogk. Vols. i.-vii. Halle, 1892-98.

1382. Antiquitates Celto-Scandicæ sive series rerum gestarum inter nationes Britannicarum insularum et gentes septentrionales: ex Snorrone, Landnamaboc, Egilli Scallagrimi-saga, Niala-saga, O. Tryggvasonar-saga, Orkneyinga-saga, Knytlinga-saga, etc., ed. James Johnstone. Copenhagen, 1786.

A collection of extracts, with a Latin translation. Better texts of these sagas are now easily accessible.