Layamon 's Brut - wikipedia Layamon 's Brut Layamon 's Brut ( ca. 1190 - 1215 ), also known as The Chronicle of Britain, is a Middle English poem compiled and recast by the English priest Layamon. The Brut is 16,095 lines long and narrates the history of Britain : it is the first historiography written in English since the Anglo - Saxon Chronicle. Named for Britain 's mythical founder, Brutus of Troy, the poem is largely based on the Anglo - Norman Roman de Brut by Wace, which is in turn a version of Geoffrey of Monmouth 's Latin Historia Regum Britanniae. Layamon 's poem, however, is longer than both and includes an enlarged section on the life and exploits of King Arthur. It is written in the alliterative verse style commonly used in Middle English poetry by rhyming chroniclers, the two halves of the alliterative lines being often linked by rhyme as well as by alliteration. Language and style The versification of the Brut has proven extremely difficult to characterise. Written in a loose alliterative style, sporadically deploying rhyme as well as a caesural pause between the hemistichs of a line, it is perhaps closer to the rhythmical prose of Ælfric of Eynsham than to verse, especially in comparison with later alliterative writings such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Piers Plowman. Layamon 's alliterating verse is difficult to analyse, seemingly avoiding the more formalised styles of the later poets. Layamon 's Middle English at times includes modern Anglo - Norman language : the scholar Roger Loomis counted 150 words derived from Anglo - Norman in its 16,000 long - lines. It is remarkable for its abundant Anglo - Saxon vocabulary ; deliberately archaic Saxon forms that were quaint even by Anglo - Saxon standards. Imitations in the Brut of certain stylistic and prosodic features of Old English alliterative verse show a knowledge and interest in preserving its conventions. Layamon 's Brut remains one of the best extant examples of early Middle English. During an era in English history when most prose and poetry were composed in French, Layamon wrote to his illiterate, impoverished religious audience in Worcestershire. In 1216, around the time Layamon wrote, King Henry III of England came to the throne. Henry regarded himself as an Englishman above any other nationality, unlike many of his recent predecessors, and moved his kingdom away from the Old French dialects that had ruled the country 's cultural endeavors. Several original passages in the poem -- at least in accordance with the present knowledge of extant texts from the Middle Ages -- suggest Layamon was interested in carving out the history of the Britons as the people ' who first possessed the land of the English '. Manuscripts, editions, and translations Two copies of the manuscript are known ; one in the MS. Cotton Caligula A ix, dating from the third quarter of the 13th century, and in the Cotton Otho C xiii, copied about fifty years later ( though the extant, damaged, text is shorter ). Both manuscripts are in the British Library. Brook, G.L. and R.F. Leslie ( ed. ), Laȝamon : Brut, Edited from British Museum MS. Cotton Caligula A. ix and British Museum MS. Cotton Otho C. xiii, Early English Text Society, 250, 277, 2 vols ( London : Oxford University Press, 1963 -- 78 ), http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=cme;idno=LayCal. The standard edition. W.R.J. Barron and S.C. Weinberg ( ed. and trans. ), Laȝamon 's Arthur : The Arthurian Section of Laȝamon 's ' Brut ' ( Lines 9229 - 14297 ) ( Harlow : Longman, 1989 ). Facing text and translation, based on the Caligula MS. Allen, Rosamund ( trans. ), Laȝamon : Brut ( London, 1992 ) Wace and Layamon, Arthurian chronicles, trans. by Eugene Mason ( London : Dent, 1962 ) Layamon ( 1847 ) ( c. 1215 ), Madden, Frederic, ed., Layamons Brut, or Chronicle of Britain ; A Poetical Semi-Saxon Paraphrase of The Brut of Wace, I, translated by Madden, London : The Society of Antiquaries of London Layamon ( 1847 ) ( c. 1215 ), Madden, Frederic, ed., Layamons Brut, or Chronicle of Britain ; A Poetical Semi-Saxon Paraphrase of The Brut of Wace, II, translated by Madden, London : The Society of Antiquaries of London Layamon ( 1847 ) ( c. 1215 ), Madden, Frederic, ed., Layamons Brut, or Chronicle of Britain ; A Poetical Semi-Saxon Paraphrase of The Brut of Wace, III, translated by Madden, London : The Society of Antiquaries of London References ^ Jump up to : Ackerman, Robert W. ( 1966 ) Backgrounds to Medieval English Literature. 1st. New York : Random House, Inc. Jump up ^ Solopova, Elizabeth, and Stuart D. Lee. Key Concepts in Medieval Literature. 1st ed. New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. ^ Jump up to : Everett, Dorothy. ( 1978 ) `` Layamon and the Earliest Middle English Alliterative Verse. '' Essays on Middle English Literature. Ed. Patricia Kean. Westport, CT : Greenwood Press,. Geoffrey of Monmouth Works Prophetiae Merlini ( c. 1135 ) Historia Regum Britanniae ( c. 1136 ) Vita Merlini ( c. 1150 ) Translations Roman de Brut Layamon 's Brut Brut y Brenhinedd Characters Aeneas Saint Alban Albanactus Alhfrith of Deira Allectus Ambrosius Aurelianus Amphibalus Andragius Archgallo Archmail King Arthur Arvirargus Ascanius Augustine of Canterbury Aurelius Conanus Bedivere Beldgabred Beli Mawr Belinus Bladud Bledric ap Custennin Bledudo Brennius Brutus Greenshield Brutus of Troy Budic II of Brittany Cadfan ap Iago Cadoc Cador Cadwaladr Cadwallon ap Cadfan Camber ( legendary king ) Cap of Britain Capetus Silvius Capoir Caracalla Caradocus Carausius Cassivellaunus Catellus Catigern Cherin Claudius Cledaucus Clotenus Coel Hen Coilus Conan Meriadoc Constans II ( usurper ) Constantine the Great Constantine III ( Western Roman Emperor ) Constantine ( Briton ) Constantius Chlorus Cordelia of Britain Corineus Cunedagius Cunobeline Danius Saint David Digueillus Diocletian Dionotus Dunvallo Molmutius Ebraucus Edadus Edern ap Nudd Edwin of Northumbria Eldol Eldol, Consul of Gloucester Elidurus Eliud Enniaunus Estrildis Eudaf Hen Ferrex Fulgenius Gawain Gerennus Goffar the Pict Gogmagog ( folklore ) Goneril Gorboduc Gorbonianus Gorlois Gracianus Municeps Guiderius Guinevere Guithelin Gurgintius Gurguit Barbtruc Gurgustius Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio Queen Gwendolen Helena ( empress ) Helenus Hengist and Horsa Hoel Humber the Hun Iago ap Beli Idvallo Igraine Ingenius of Britain Jago of Britain Julius and Aaron Julius Asclepiodotus Julius Caesar Sir Kay Keredic Kimarcus Kinarius Latinus Lavinia Leil Leir of Britain Locrinus King Lot Lucius of Britain Lucius Tiberius Lud son of Heli Maddan Maelgwn Gwynedd Magnus Maximus Mandubracius Queen Marcia Marganus Marganus II Marius of Britain Mempricius Merianus Merlin Millus Mordred Morgause Morvidus Myrddin Wyllt Nennius of Britain Octa of Kent Oenus Oswald of Northumbria Oswiu of Northumbria Owain mab Urien Penda of Mercia Peredur Peredurus Pir of the Britons Porrex I Porrex II Publius Septimius Geta Quintus Laberius Durus Redechius Redon of Britain Regan ( King Lear ) Rhydderch Hael Rience Rivallo Rud Hud Hudibras Runo Sawyl Penuchel Septimius Severus Silvius ( mythology ) Sisillius I Sisillius II Sisillius III Son of Gorbonianus Taliesin Tasciovanus Trahern Turnus Urianus Uther Pendragon Venissa Vespasian Vortigern Vortimer Vortiporius Wulfhere of Mercia Ywain Æthelberht of Kent Æthelfrith of Northumbria Œthelwald of Deira Topics Avalon Battle of Arfderydd Battle of Badon Battle of Camlann Battle of Guoloph Brut y Tywysogion Crocea Mors Excalibur Lailoken List of legendary kings of Britain List of legendary rulers of Cornwall Logres Matter of Britain Molmutine Laws Nennius Riothamus River Malvam Siege of Exeter ( c. 630 ) Locations associated with Arthurian legend Treachery of the Long Knives Trinovantum Trojan genealogy of Nennius Walter of Oxford Wikiquote Wikisource texts Works by C.S. Lewis Poetry Spirits in Bondage ( 1919 ) Dymer ( 1926 ) Fiction The Pilgrim 's Regress ( 1933 ) The Screwtape Letters ( 1942 ) The Great Divorce ( 1945 ) Till We Have Faces ( 1956 ) Screwtape Proposes a Toast ( 1959 ) Letters to Malcolm : Chiefly on Prayer ( 1964 ) Boxen ( 1985 ) The Space Trilogy Out of the Silent Planet ( 1938 ) Perelandra ( 1943 ) That Hideous Strength ( 1945 ) The Dark Tower ( manuscript ) ( 1977 ) The Chronicles of Narnia The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ( 1950 ) Prince Caspian ( 1951 ) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ( 1952 ) The Silver Chair ( 1953 ) The Horse and His Boy ( 1954 ) The Magician 's Nephew ( 1955 ) The Last Battle ( 1956 ) Non-fiction The Allegory of Love ( 1936 ) The Personal Heresy ( 1939 ) The Problem of Pain ( 1940 ) A Preface to Paradise Lost ( 1942 ) The Abolition of Man ( 1943 ) Miracles ( 1947 ) Mere Christianity ( 1952 ) Surprised by Joy ( 1955 ) The Four Loves ( 1960 ) Studies in Words ( 1960 ) The World 's Last Night and Other Essays ( 1960 ) An Experiment in Criticism ( 1961 ) A Grief Observed ( 1961 ) They Asked for a Paper : Papers and Addresses ( 1962 ) Selections from Layamon 's Brut ( 1963 ) The Discarded Image ( 1964 ) The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses ( 1965 ) Of Other Worlds ( 1966 ) God in the Dock ( 1970 - 1971 ) VIAF : 235647111 LCCN : n88102222 SUDOC : 029984912 BNF : cb12149447c ( data ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Layamon%27s_Brut&oldid=740905280 '' Categories : Arthurian literature in Middle English Middle English poems Translations of Geoffrey of Monmouth Epic poems in English 12th - century poems 13th - century poems Hidden categories : Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Talk About Wikipedia Español Français Norsk Polski Edit links This page was last edited on 24 September 2016, at 02 : 26. 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Question: who wrote brut and what is the poem about
Answer: English priest Layamon