The History of the Britons

By Nennius and J. A. Giles

Delve into the rich tapestry of Britain's early history with The History of the Britons, a seminal work traditionally attributed to Nennius. Written shortly after AD 833, this critical text offers a comprehensive account of the Brythonic people, charting their journey from

• Language: English
• Publisher: Left of Brain Books
• Release date: May 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9781396326639

Book preview

History Of The Britons

(Historia Brittonum)

by

Nennius

Translated by

J. A. Giles

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Published by Left of Brain Books

Copyright © 2023 Left of Brain Books

ISBN 978-1-396-32663-9

eBook Edition

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PUBLISHER’S PREFACE

About the Book

"The Historia Brittonum, or The History of the Britons, is a historical work that was first written sometime shortly after AD

833, and exists in several recensions of varying difference. (A recension is a critical revision of a text, i.e. different editors have worked upon the text to produce various versions). It purports to relate the history of the Brythonic inhabitants of Britain from earliest times, and this text has been used to write a history of both Wales and England, for want of more reliable sources. Nennius is traditionally named as the author of the text, though this interpretation is questioned."

(Quote from wikipedia.org)

About the Author

Nennius (768 - 809)

"Nennius, or Nemnivus, is either of two shadowy personages traditionally associated with the history of Wales. The better known of the two is Nennius, the student of Elvodugus.

Elvodugus is commonly identified with the bishop Elfoddw of Gwynedd, who convinced the rest of the Welsh portion of Celtic Christianity to celebrate Easter on the same date as the other Catholics in Britain in 768, and is later stated by the Annales Cambriae to have died in 809. This Nennius is traditionally stated as having lived in the early 9th century, and is identified in one group of manuscripts of the Historia Britonum as the author of that work. The careful scholarship of professor David

N. Dumville on this text has instead shown that the manuscripts that make this claim come from an exemplar dating to the later eleventh century, far later than the exemplars of other versions of this manuscript - as well as over two hundred years after this Nennius is supposed to have lived. However, a number of historians still refer to the author of either the original text of the Historia Brittonum, or this specific recension, as Nennius, or pseudo-Nennius.

The other Nemnivus, or Nennius, is mentioned in a Welsh manuscript of the 9th century. In response to the snide accusation of a Saxon scholar that the Britons had no alphabet of their own, this Nemnivus is said to have invented an alphabet on the fly in order to refute this insult. The alphabet Nemnivus is said to have invented is preserved in this manuscript, and according to Nora Chadwick it is derived from the Old English futhark. Indeed the names given to some of his letters seem to show evidence of an actual knowledge of their Saxon names, Chadwick concludes.

Some conclude that these two figures are the same individual.

Others argue that drawing such a conclusion is not warranted, since Nennius, the student of Elvodugus, is arguably fictional, and since the histories of both Wales and Britain over the period in question are quite incomplete."

(Quote from wikipedia.org)

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THE PROLOGUE

1. Nennius, the lowly minister and servant of the servants of God, by the grace of God, disciple of St. Elbotus, 1 to all the followers of truth sendeth health.

1 Or Elvod, bishop of Bangor, A.D. 755, who first adopted in the Cambrian church the new cycle for regulating Easter.

Be it known to your charity, that being dull in intellect and rude of speech, I have presumed to deliver these things in the Latin tongue, not trusting to my own learning, which is little or none at all, but partly from traditions of our ancestors, partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly