Geoffrey of Monmouth

“ About the year 1150, five years before the death of Geoffrey, an Anglo-Norman, Geoffrey Gaimar, wrote the first French metrical chronicle. It consisted of two parts, the Estorie des Bretons and the Estorie des Engles, of which only the latter is extant, but the former is known to have been a rhymed translation of the Historia of Geoffrey of Monmouth. ”

“ That the minstrels in many respects bore a strong resemblance both to the British bards [Pg 386] and to the Danish scalds, appears from this, that the old monkish writers express them all without distinction by the same names in Latin. Thus Geoffrey of Monmouth, himself a Welshman, speaking of an old pagan British King, who excelled in singing and music so far as to be esteemed by his countrymen the patron deity of the bards, uses the phrase Deus Joculatorum; which is the peculiar name given to the English and French minstrels. ”

“ A long preface is prefixed to that translation, wherein the aithor endeavoured to prove Geoffrey of Monmouth to be a more faithful historian than he is generally considered to be. His words are as follow:—"I am not unsensible that I expose myself to the censures of some persons, by publishing this translation of a book, which they think had better been suppressed and buried in oblivion, as being at present generally exploded for a groundless and fabulous story, such as our modern historians think not worth relating, or at least mention with contempt. ”

“ In favour of the former, we have Geoffrey of Monmouth, Carte the English historian, and modern Welsh authors; for the latter, Gibbon and his authorities. The object of the present Query is threefold: 1. Will some one having access to Geoffrey be kind enough to favour me (in the original or a translation) with the exact statement of the chronicler to which Gibbon refers? 2. Are writers of intelligence and credit quite agreed that the tradition which assigns to the wife of Constantius a royal British parentage was "invented in the darkness of monasteries?" 3. ”

“ He occurs in the Welsh accounts of the saints, but never as a hero, always as a despot and tyrant. His immediate predecessor, Geraint, in like manner is met with, mainly in Cornwall, but also in Wales, where he had a church, and in Herefordshire. He had to keep the frontier against the Saxons.
What played the mischief with Arthur was that Geoffrey of Monmouth, who became bishop of S. Asaph in 1152, published, about 1140, his fabulous History of the Britons, which elevated Arthur into a hero. Geoffrey had an object in view when he wrote this wonderful romance. ”

“ Albion is the old name for England or Britain in the histories which follow Geoffrey of Monmouth and profess to give the ancient history of Britain before the coming of the Romans. See Layamon's Brut, l. 1243; Higden's Polychronicon, bk. i. c. 39; Fabyan's Chronicle, ed. Ellis, pp. 1, 2, 7. According to the same accounts, Albion was first reigned over by Brutus, in English spelling Brute, a descendant of Æneas of Troy, who arrived in Albion (says Fabyan) in the eighteenth year of Eli, judge of Israel. Layamon's poem is a translation from a poem by Wace, entitled Brut ”

“ Gwenogvryn Evans seeks (pref. to Lib. Land. p. xxi) to identify with Geoffrey of Monmouth. An abridged version found, according to Hardy (Descriptive Catalogue, i. 132) , in Cottonian MS. Tib. E. i. fol. ”

“ Arthur's office was doubtless a relic of Roman military organisation, and there is no reason to doubt his historical existence, however impenetrable may be the veil which now obscures his valiant and often triumphant battlings for order and civilisation in that disastrous age.
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Next we have Geoffrey of Monmouth, Bishop of St. Asaph, who wrote his “Historia Regum Britaniæ” in South Wales in the early part of the twelfth century. ”

“ The law of the Lombards ordains, that whoever goes attended with servants to beat a man by surprize, in order to load him thereby with shame, and to render him ridiculous, should pay half the compensation, which he would owe if he had killed him; and if through the same motive he tied or bound him, he should pay three fourths of the same compensation.
GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. Geoffrey of Monmouth was the first person, after the conquest, who attempted to write any thing concerning the ancient history of Britain. ”

“ In the scene of misery which this mode of intellectual labour sets before our eyes, it is hard to determine whether the daughters or the father are most to be lamented. A language not understood can never be so read as to give pleasure, and, very seldom, so as to convey meaning. If few men would have had resolution to write books with such embarrassments, few, likewise, would have wanted ability to find some better expedient.
Three years after his Paradise Lost, 1667, he published his History of England, comprising the whole fable of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and continued to the Norman invasion. ”

“ Mordred is slain fighting with the king, and Arthur receives his death-wound. The queen then retires to a convent at Almesbury, is visited by Sir Launcelot, declines to marry him, and dies.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur iii. 143-174 (1470) .
*** The wife of Lot is called “Anne” by Geoffrey, of Monmouth (British History, viii. 20, 21) ; and “Bellicent” by Tennyson, in Gareth and Lynette.
This tale is so very different from those of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and Tennyson, that all three are given. (See Modred.)
Mor ́dure (2 syl.) , son of the emperor of Germany. ”

“ One of the marvelous facts about Geoffrey is that when he looked out of that golden window he could see so much farther than just Monmouth. He could see all the way to the sea, and on its shores that beautiful city Tintagel, where Queen Igraine, the mother of Arthur, lived. But in Geoffrey's chronicle she was called Igerna. A name is sometimes like a long, long journey, not only in its romance, but also because it takes you to other lands and other people, and passes, even [Pg 79] as the road upon a long journey, through many changes. ”

“ The Plymouth Fathers of old time evidently accepted it as having some foundation in fact, as they caused a representation of the giant to be cut in the turf of the Hoe, which remained to remind the townsfolk and seafarers alike of the combat until about the time of the Restoration.
Of the doings and history of the town of Plymouth, known in the Domesday Book as Sutton or South Town, then having about half a score of inhabitants, prior to the Norman Conquest (if any town existed, which one may doubt, notwithstanding Geoffrey of Monmouth) there are practically no records or traces of any kind. ”

“ The poem itself has all the smoothness of the Tudor period [34] ; it excels the style of Hawes, and would do credit to Sackville. One reference is too interesting to be passed over. In the second stanza, the poet regrets that he has neither the eloquence of Tully, the power of Virgil, nor the 'craft of Galfride.' Tyrwhitt explains Galfride as 'Geoffrey of Monmouth,' though it is difficult to understand on what ground he could have been here thought of. Bell's 'Chaucer' explains Galfride as 'Geoffrey of Vinsauf,' which is still more curious ”

“ Gaufred, Geoffrey de Vinsauf, Anglo-Norman trouvère, B 4537.
Gaufride, Geoffrey of Monmouth, HF. 1470.
Gaule, Gaul, F 1411.
Gaunt, Ghent, in E. Flanders, R. 574; A 448.
Gawain, Gawain, F 95.
Gazan, Gaza, B 3237. From Lat. acc. Gazam.
Geffrey, Geoffrey, the poet's name, HF. 729.
Geminis, Gemini, A. ii. 3. 24; A. ii. 28. 16; E 2222; Gemini, A. i. 8. 2; A. ii. 6. 11. ”

“ Being full of deceit and wickedness, it shall make use of the fountain Galabes. Hence shall arise factions provoking the Venedotians to war. The oaks of the forest shall meet together, and encounter the rocks of the Gewisseans. A raven shall attend with the kites, and devour the carcasses of the slain. An owl shall build her nest upon the walls of Gloucester, and in her nest shall be brought forth an ass. The serpent of Malvernia shall bring him up, and put him upon many fraudulent practices. ”

“ Warner is eminently practical, and, in his reproduction of Geoffrey’s Arthurian narrative, leaves out its more romantic incidents. Arthur’s
“Scottish, Irish, Almaine, French and Saxone battelles got
Yeeld fame sufficient: these seeme true, the reste I credite not.”
Drayton is inclined to trust Geoffrey more implicitly, and even takes up the cudgels on his behalf against the critics who were then seeking to disparage him. The “adversary says,” writes Drayton, that “Geoffrey Monmouth first our Brutus did devise,” whereas the fact is that ”

“ Four centuries after Geoffry had written, when Henry the Seventh appointed a commission to draw up his pedigree, they traced the royal descent from the imaginary Brutus, and reckoning all Geoffry’s British kings in the line—the fairies of history—made the English monarch a descendant in the hundredth degree. We now often hear of “the fabulous” History of Geoffry of Monmouth; but neither his learned translator in 1718, nor the most eminent Welsh antiquaries, attach any such notion to a history crowded with domestic events, and with names famous yet unknown. ”

“ No offices of Janus shall hereafter return, but his gate being shut shall lie hid in the chinks of Ariadne. The seas shall rise up in the twinkling of an eye, and the dust of the ancients shall be restored. The winds shall fight together with a dreadful blast, and their sound shall reach the stars. ”

“ It was the time of the restless dissent of the Whigs from the succession of James; and in 1681 Dryden launched Absalom and Achitophel, one of the most brilliant satires in our language, against Shaftesbury and his adherents, who were inciting Monmouth to revolt. He found an admirable parallel in Absalom's revolt from his father David, and he sustained the comparison. The Scriptural names concealed living characters, and Shaftesbury masked as Achitophel, the evil counsellor, and Buckingham as Zimri. Feeling ran high. ”

“ The roots and branches will change their places, and the novelty of the thing shall pass for a miracle. The brightness of the sun shall fade at the amber of Mercury, and horror shall seize the beholders. ”

“ At that each laid a hand upon his sword and eyed me fiercely, while he with the light came forward in a threatening fashion.
"We are no thieves," he hissed, showing his yellow teeth. "We claim thy mare for the cause."
"And, prithee, what cause is that?" I asked.
"The cause of liberty and truth," whined he.
"The cause of Monmouth, eh?"
He nodded frowningly.
"Then," said I, "if liberty and truth go hand in hand with thieving, may God help the Duke! Let go that bridle," I added, striding up to the fellow who had laid a hand on it again. ”

“ After the Duke of Monmouth’s capture near the New Forest, on the 13th of July 1685, after his luckless attempt to wrest the Crown from James at Sedgemoor, he, with Lord Grey of Wark, was brought to London and imprisoned in the Tower, the warrant for his committal being thus worded: “James, Duke of Monmouth, 13 July, for High Treason in levying war against the King and assuming a title to the Crown.” Monmouth had married Lady Anne Scott, daughter of the Earl of Buccleuch, when he was only fourteen years of age, but the union does not appear to have been a happy one. ”

“ I begin to think, indeed, that Lilian Chetwoode is rather out of it, and that Mona is the first favorite at present. She has evidently taken the duchess by storm."
"Why not say the duke too?" says his mother, with a cold glance, to whom praise of Mona is anything but "cakes and ale." "Her flirtation with him is very apparent. It is disgraceful. Every one is noticing and talking about it. Geoffrey alone seems determined to see nothing! Like all under-bred people, she cannot know satisfaction unless perched upon the topmost rung of the ladder." ”

“ Mortality shall snatch away the people, and make a desolation over all countries. The remainder shall quit their native soil, and make foreign plantations. A blessed king shall prepare a fleet, and shall be reckoned the twelfth in the court among the saints. There shall be a miserable desolation of the kingdom, and the floors of the harvests shall return to the fruitful forests. The white dragon shall rise again, and invite over a daughter of Germany. ”

“ She is certainly to blame for her undignified behavior, but still more for the disrespect [357] she showed her father, who had always been most kind and indulgent to her. In one of his fault-finding letters he wrote his daughter to warn her husband against Monmouth, who, in the event of King Charles's death and his own, would, he assured her, give them a struggle before they could get possession of the throne of Great Britain. Thus we see that James knew Monmouth was not to be trusted, though suspicion with regard to his son-in-law had not yet entered his head. ”

“ The peasants and townsmen of the western counties flocked to join Monmouth, and he entered Taunton at the head of 5,000 men; but not a single country gentleman gave him his support. Parliament passed against him an Act of Attainder, condemning him to death without further trial, and the king marched in person against him at the head of a disciplined force. Monmouth declared himself to be the legitimate king, and, his name being James, he was popularly known amongst his followers as King Monmouth, in order to prevent confusion. ”

“ The majority would fight for the man who was in possession of the royal name, but for whom were they to fight who fought for Monmouth? Nobody could tell, and the result must be discouragement. Grey seconded Ferguson: Wade and the Republicans opposed the scheme. But probably Monmouth was only too willing to be persuaded, and, accordingly, on the 20th of June, he was proclaimed in the market-place of Taunton. As the names of both rivals were James, and James II. would continue to mean James who now had that title, Monmouth was styled King Monmouth. ”