The historia regum britanniae of geoffrey of monmouth: Parody and its purpose. a suggestion

Speculum

Volumn 54, Issue 3, 1979, Pages 447-468

  Flint, Valerie I J ^a  

^a AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

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EID: 84971730835     PISSN: 00387134     EISSN: 20408072     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/2855771     Document Type: Article

References (89)

1. A. Griscom, Acton, The Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth, 1929, 551-582, New York References in this paper are to the book and chapter divisions of this edition. This paper was completed with the help of a Visiting Fellowship at the Humanities Research Centre, ANU, Canberra, for which I am most grateful.
2. J. Hammer, Some Additional Manuscripts of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, 1942, 235-242, Modem Language Quarterly 3 Hammer cites an additional four manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in his edition of the variant version
3. J. Hammer, Jacob, Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae: A Variant Version, 1951, 5-8, Cambridge, Mass
4. W. Levison, “A Combined Manuscript of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Henry of Huntingdon,” English Historical Review, 1943, 58, 41-51, See also
5. H.D. Emanuel, “Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae: A Second Variant Version,” Medium Aevu3, 1966, 35, 103-110
6. D. Huws, B.F. Roberts, “Another Manuscript of the Variant Version of the ‘Historia Regum Britanniae’,” Bibliographical Bulletin of the International Arthurian Society, 1973, 25, 147-153
7. W.G. East, “Manuscripts of Geoffrey of Monmouth,” Notes and Queries, 1975, 220, 483-484
8. K. Chambers, Arthur of Britain, 1927, 251-252, Cambridge The relevant passages from their works are conveniently collected in Edmund 260, 268, 274–5
9. N. Partner, Serious Entertainments, 1977, 62-68, “Quidam nostris temporibus, pro expiandis his Britonum maculis, scriptor emersit, ridicula de eisdam figmenta contexens, eosque longe supra virtutem Macedonum et Romanorum lm-pudenti vanitate attollens. Gaufridus hie dictus est, agnomen habens Arturi, pro eo quod fabulas de Arturo, ex priscis Britonum figmentis sumptas et ex proprio auctas, per superduc-tum Latini sermonis colorem honesto historiae nomine palliavit: qui etiam maiori ausu cuius-dam Merlini divinationes fallacissimas, quibus utique de proprio plurimum adiecit, dum eas in Latinum transfunderet, tanquam authenticas et immobili veritate subnixas prophetias, vulgavit. (Chambers, Arthur, pp. 274–5). William of Newburgh's attitude to Geoffrey is discussed by Chicago and London
10. H. Griscom, Historia, Geoffrey's manipulation of his material, where its nature is apparent to us, makes it impossible to believe that he was a completely veracious chronicler, even where due allowance is made for what he might reasonably consider as legitimate rhetorical embroidery, 109-110, Chambers, Arthur p. 56
11. R.W. Hanning, Robert W. The Vision of History in Early Britain, 1966, 122, New York See also and notes
12. J.S.P. Tatlock, John S. P. The Legendary History of Britain: Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and Its Early Vernacular Versions, 1950, Berkeley
13. H. Pahler, Heinrich, Strukturuntersuchungen zur Historia Regum Britanniae des Geoffrey of Monmouth, 1958, 58-60, especially Bonn and 92–134, and Walter F. Schirmer, Die frühen Darstellungen des Arthurstoffes (Cologne, 1958)
14. Hanning, Vision, 121-172, especially 126–130, 135–136, 142, 171
15. R.F. Treharne, Reginald F. The Glastonbury Legends, 1967, 66, London Treharne also draws attention to the lack, in the Historia, of Christian spirit and feeling
16. C. Brooke, Christopher, Geoffrey of Monmouth as a Historian, 1976, 77-91, in Church and Government in the Middle Ages, ed. Christopher Brooke, D. Luscombe, G. Martin, D. Owen (Cambridge Professor Brooke supplies in his first footnote further directions on Arthurian bibliography
17. Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon, 1858, 2, 22-34, RS, London At Abingdon between 1100 and 1117 Abbot Faridus had six scriptores copy manuscripts of the Fathers 289. Many of the surviving manuscripts from this period are named and discussed by Neil R. Ker, English Manuscripts in the Century after the Conquest (Oxford, 1960)
18. C. Johnson, Dialogus de Scaccario, 1950, 129, ed., Nelson, London
19. D.H. Farmer, “Two Biographies by William of Malmesbury,” in Latin Biography, 1967, 166, ed. T. A. Dorey (London
20. W. Stubbs, Memorials of St. Dunstan, 1874, 324, ed. This is suggested by the epilogue in which William speaks as though the better part of his own life is over RS, London
21. K. Hughes, “British Museum Ms. Cotton Vespasian A.xiv (‘Vitae Sanctorum Wallensium’): Its Purpose and Provenance,” in Studies in the Early British Church ed. Nora K. Chadwick, 1958, 193, Cambridge
22. G.H. Doble, Gilbert H. St. Teilo, 1942, 10, Lampeter
23. F. Liebermann, Felix, Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, 3, 340, Halle
24. R.W. Southern, “The Canterbury Forgeries,” English Historical Review, 1958, 73, 224, For different views on the date and purpose of these documents, however
25. M. Gibson, Margaret, Lanfranc of Bec, 1978, 231-237, Oxford (Appendix C)
26. E.O. Blake, Liber Eliensis, 1962, xlviii, ed., London
27. W. Davies, “Liber Landavensis: Its Construction and Credibility,” English Historical Review, 1973, 350
28. Johnson, Dialogus, 1
29. R.R. Darlington, Reginald R. Anglo-Norman Historians, 1947, 14, London
30. C. Johnson, Hugh the Chanter: the History of the Church of York 1066–1127, 1961, x, ed. Nelson, London
31. Gransden, Historical Writing, 168, 181–183
32. Existing books suggest that in many of the great Benedictine abbeys the scriptorium was at its best in the second quarter of the twelfth century, 8, Ker, English Manuscripts
33. that region of the West of England centering on Gloucester which was, we can still dimly realize, one of the great regions of book production in the twelfth century, 7, Ker speaks of
34. N.E.S.A. Hamilton, Willelmi Malmesbiriensis Monachi De Gestis Pontijicum Anglorum, 1870, 4, William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontijicum, ed. RS, London
35. T. Arnold, Henrici Archidiaconi Huntendunensis Historia Anglorum, 1879, 1-3, Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, ed. RS, London
36. William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum, 208-209
37. “Eilmer of Malmesbury, An Eleventh Century Aviator,” Technology and Culture 2, 1961, It is difficult not to see behind Bladud the shadow of another Malmesbury figure, aviator Eilmer, who made a similar attempt though happily without the same fatal result. L. White, 97111
38. Examples of Geoffrey's fanciful use of monuments, apart from those I have mentioned, may be found in 1.16, 6.17, 8, 10-12, 10.3
39. William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum, 412-415
40. W. Stubbs, Willelmi Malmesbiriensis Monachi de Gestis Regum Anglorum Libri Quinque, 1, 23, ed. William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum RS, London
41. Tadock, Legendary History, 233
42. The Archbishops, 207, See the remarks on it, and the appendix of texts given, in Christopher Brooke 240–242. The Abingdon Chronicler, writing early the reign of Henry II, still accepted the story of Faganus and Duvianus
43. William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, 11
44. Christopher Brooke, “The Archbishops,”, 232
45. William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, 25-26
46. William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, 26
47. William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, 33
48. Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, 4, 15-16, 5.7
49. B. Colgrave, R.A.B. Mynors, 1969, 381-385, Oxford ed. 469–473
50. F. Lot, Ferdinand, Nennius et l'Historia Brittonum, 1934, 151, Paris 153–155, 228
51. T. Arnold, Henrici Archidiaconi Huntendunensis Historia Anglorum, 1879, liii, ed. RS, London
52. A chapter is devoted to Henry's attitude to history in Partner, Serious Entertainments, 11-48
53. Tatlock, Legendary History, l, 31, doubts whether Geoffrey borrowed King Lud from Henry. This doubt cannot be resolved until we know more about the text of the Historia Anglorum, but if Geoffrey did borrow, then there is distortion here too, for Geoffrey fathers the “Kairlundene” of Henry and Nennius onto Lud, and declares, indeed, as they do not, that Kaerlunden is a corruption of Kaerlud.
54. Liebermann, Gesetze, 1, 637-638, A similar passage is found, too, in the Leis Willelme
55. L.J. Downer, Leges Henrici Primi, 1972, 45, ed. The author of the Leges Henrici Primi and Quadripartitus also was greatly interested in West Saxon law Oxford
56. The references are in, 1, 17, 2.17, 3.5, 4.20, 6.13, 12.6.
57. And on the free play Geoffrey makes with Gildas when he does use him see Schirmer, Darstellungen, 25-27, and 38–39
58. J.S.P. Tatlock, “Caradoc of Llancarfan, Speculum, 1938, 13, 139-152, On Caradoc see
59. P. Grosjean, Vie de S. Cadoc par Caradoc de Llancarfan, 1942, 60, 35-45, expanded and corrected by Analecta Bollandiana
60. Brooke, “The Archbishops,”, 228-236
61. Le Père Grosjean edits the Life of St. Cadoc, “Vie,”, 1898, 45-67, Caradoc's Life of St. Gildas is edited by Th. Mommsen, MGH AA 13 (Berlin 107–110
62. Grosjean, Vie, 48
63. K. Hughes, British Museum Ms. Cotton Vespasian A.xiv, 197, The Vespasian manuscript itself, interestingly enough, was possibly compiled at Monmouth Priory
64. The extracts are conveniently set out in Chambers, Arthur, 243-249
65. H.E. Salter, “Geoffrey of Monmouth and Oxford,” English Historical Review, 1919, 34, 382-385
66. The Medieval University of Oxford, 1929, 14, 57-58, History
67. Henry of Huntingdon, Epistola de Contemptu Mundi, 302
68. Griscom, Historia, 149-150, There is testimony to Walter's involvement in the process of translation in the late-fourteenth-century Red Book of Hergest and the late-fifteenth-century manuscript of Welsh materials, Jesus College, Oxford, MS LXI. would have it that the latter reference was taken from an earlier version, but there is no earlier record and a muddled memory of Geoffrey's words could also be its source.
69. Hammer's index of authors cited demonstrates this beyond doubt for the variant version: Variant Version, 267-269
70. Legendary History, 379-380, Other examples of Geoffrey's learned associations are to be found in Tatlock
71. E. Faral, Edmond, La Légende Arthurienne, 1929, 2, 79-81, Paris M. Faral's commentary on the Historia is particularly rich in information about Geoffrey's classical sources.
72. “Tityre, tu patulae recubans,” Eclogue, I, 1; “… recipias ut sub tegmine tam patulae arboris recubans,” Griscom, Historia, 220, In that same preface, of course, Geoffrey, in pointed contrast to Henry, had declared he would not gather flowers from other men's gardens
73. D. Nicholl, Donald, Thurstan, Archbishop of York (1114–1140), 1964, 99-103, York
74. The canons of St. David's claimed metropolitan status for the see in the pontificate of Honorius, 2, 1124-1130
75. J. Conway Davies, Episcopal Acts and Cognate Documents relating to Welsh Diocesses, 1946, 1-80, Historical Society of the Church in Wales For further information on the metropolitan claims of the
76. M. Richter, The Life of St. David by Giraldus Cambrensis, 4, 381-386, see Welsh History Review
77. Professions of Obedience and the Metropolitan Claim of St. David's, 15, 197-214, National Library of Wales Journal
78. Urban of Glamorgan's ambitions for Llandaff had only died with him in 1134: Martin Brett, The English Church under Henry, 1975, 1, 52-53, Oxford
79. Christopher Brooke, “Geoffrey of Monmouth,”, 80-82
80. Christopher Brooke, “The Archbishops,”, 203-210
81. N.K. Chadwick, Intellectual Life in West Wales in the Last Days of the Celtic Church, 1958, 136-142, especially in Studies in the Early British Church, ed. Nora K. Chadwick (Cambridge For a careful discussion of the literary aspects of these conflicts see 145–146
82. William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, 26-27
83. Brooke, The Archbishops, 229-231
84. De Antujuitate, PL 179:1964. Gransden, Historical Writing, 207-208, notes Geoffrey's use of the legend of St. Ursula and his attitude to monasticism, but suggests that his object was principally to amuse.
85. Nicholl, Thurstan, 188
86. Foreville, Leclercq, Un débat, 21, 10-11, PI 163:767–70
87. F.M. Powicke, A.B. Emden, Hastings Rashdall, The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, 1936, 3, 17, Oxford eds. notes 1 and 2. Archdeacon Walter passed on one of his prebends to his son. H. E. Salter, ed., Cartulary of Osney Abbey (Oxford, 1934), no. 20, p. 31.
88. On Geoffrey's probable support of Mathilda see Tatlock, Legendary History, 286-288, 426–427
89. Hanning, Vision, 150-152