page_title: The Description of Britain
section_title: "Discovery"
hierarchical_section_title: The Description of Britain / "Discovery"
caption_attribution_description: A "copy" of the first page of De Situ Britanniae, in the hand of Charles J. Bertram: Fac Simile of the MS. of Richard of Cirencester. ——— xxiii Sequit̃ Cōētariol˜ geographicū de situ Brittāie ⁊ statiōū q Rōani ipsi i ea iñsta edificauerut. Lib. I Ci. Finiſ erat orbiſ ora gallici littoriſ niſi Brittaīa īſlˀa n̄ q̄lib¯ amplitudis nō ē peẽ or biſ alterʋ mere / dicit˜ hic abeſt a Geſſoria co moriō♃ brittāice gē / tis portu traiectu mill iuī l´ ſiue ut qdē ſcʋipſere ſtadio♃ c̅c̅c̅c̅l illine ǫſpi / Sequitur Commentarioli Geographici de Situ Brittaniæ et Stationum quas Romani Ipsi in Ea Insula Ædificaverunt Liber I. Caput I. I. Finis erat orbis ora Gallici littoris, nisi Brittania insula, non qualibet amplitudine, nomen pene orbis alterius mere- [IV.] ...dicitur: hic abest à Gessoriaco Morinorum, Brittanicæ gentis portu, trajectu millium L. sive, ut quidam scripsere, stadiorum CCCCL. illinc conspici- [Here] follows a Geographical Commentary on the Situation of Britain and the Stations which the Romans Themselves Erected on This Island Book I. Chapter I. I. The boundary of the Gallic shore was the end of the world if the Brittanic isle from its extent didn't not merit the name almost of another world... [IV.] ... is called: this [Rutupiae] is distant from Gessoriacum of the Morini, the port of the British people, 50 miles or, as another writes, 450 stadia. From thence may be seen... Neele sc. Strand Printed for J. White &amp; Co. Horace's Head Fleet Street June 1.1809.
context_page_description: The Description of Britain, also known by its Latin name De Situ Britanniae, was a literary forgery perpetrated by Charles Bertram on the historians of England. It purported to be a 15th-century manuscript by the English monk Richard of Westminster, including information from a lost contemporary account of Britain by a Roman general, new details of the Roman roads in Britain in the style of the Antonine Itinerary, and "an antient map" as detailed as the works of Ptolemy. Bertram disclosed the existence of the work through his correspondence with the antiquarian William Stukeley by 1748, provided him "a copy" which was made available in London by 1749, and published it in Latin in 1757. By this point, his Richard had become conflated with the historical Richard of Cirencester. The text was treated as a legitimate and major source of information on Roman Britain from the 1750s through the 19th century, when it was progressively debunked by John Hodgson, Karl Wex, B. B. Woodward, and J. E. B. Mayor. Effects from the forgery can still be found in works on British history and it is generally credited with having named the Pennine Mountains.
context_section_description: Charles Bertram was an English expatriate living in Copenhagen who began a flattering correspondence with the antiquarian William Stukeley in 1747 and was vouched for by Hans Gram, the royal librarian to King Frederick V. After a few further letters, Bertram mentioned "a manuscript in a friend's hands of Richard of Westminster,... a history of Roman Brittain... and an antient map of the island annex'd." A "copy" of its script was shown to David Casley, the keeper of the Cotton Library, who "immediately" described it as around 400 years old. Stukeley thereafter always treated Bertram as reliable. He "press'd Mr Bertram to get the manuscript into his hands, if possible... as the greatest treasure we now can boast of in this kind of learning." Stukeley received the text piecemeal over a series of letters which he made available at the Royal Society's Arundel Library in London in 1749. He had received a drawing of Bertram's map by early 1750, which he also placed at the library.
caption: Bertram's facsimile of the first page of De Situ Britanniae, with the notes added for Hatcher's 1809 edition.
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