A fresh look at the text which introduced for the first time some of the key figures in British myth and legend.

Written in the 1130s, Geoffrey's imaginative history of the Britons from Brutus to Cadwallader, and the first to recount the woes of Lear and the glittering career of Arthur, rapidly became a bestseller. An ideal text for scholars, this is a reprint of the Latin text with a facing English translation.

Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain--the earliest book to detail the legendary foundation of Britain and life of King Arthur--was widely read during the Middle Ages. This volume presents the first English translation of what may have been his source, the anonymous First Variant Version, attested in just a handful of manuscripts.

This book provides a boldly original account of Middle English literature from the Norman Conquest to the beginning of the sixteenth century. It argues that these centuries are, in fundamental ways, the momentous period in our literary history, for they are the long moment in which the category of literature itself emerged as English writing began to insist, for the first time, that it floated free of any social reality or function. This book also charts the complex mechanisms by which English writing acquired this power in a series of linked close readings of both canonical and more obscure texts. It encloses those readings in five compelling accounts of much broader cultural areas, describing, in particular, the productive relationship of Middle English writing to medieval technology, insurgency, statecraft and cultural place, concluding with an in depth account of the particular arguments, emphases and techniques English writers used to claim a wholly new jurisdiction for their work. Both this history and its readings are everywhere informed by the most exciting developments in recent Middle English scholarship as well as literary and cultural theory. It serves as an introduction to all these areas as well as a contribution, in its own right, to each of them.

The History of the Kings of Britain was originally published under the Latin title, Historia Regum Britanniae, by Anglo-Saxon monk, Geoffrey of Monmouth. The chronicle is famous as the original source of the legend of Sir Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, as well as the Prophecies of Merlin. The chronicle is also the original source of “King Leir,” from which Shakespeare adapted his famous play by the same name. The chronicle recounts the origins of Britain from the time of Brutus and the Roman conquest of the British Isles. It is a semi-fantastical account of the origin of the British Kings and contains a storehouse of British history, fantasy and legend. An indispensible piece to any student, or admirer, of the history of the British Isles.

Featuring tales of murder, adultery, beheadings, civil war, usurpation and madness, Divorced, Beheaded, Died.takes you on a gallop through the history of all of England's kings and queens, plus some of the less well-known Scots and Welsh rulers.

Who was the first king of England? Did Henry I assassinate his brother? How did 'Bloody Mary' reinstate Roman Catholicism? For more than 1,000 years the British monarchy has dramatically shaped national and international history. Kings and queens have conquered territory, imposed religious change and extracted taxation, each with their own motivations and ambitions. In this beautifully illustrated book, Cath Senker delves into the extraordinary history of the British monarchy and its host of kings, queens and pretenders. There have been benevolent rulers, violent ones, religious fanatics, brilliant economists, masters of diplomacy and the power hungry. But whether they have abused their power or used it for good, each monarch has played a part in the rich tapestry of British history, coping with both international and civil wars, rebellions and criticism. The Kings & Queens of Britain introduces this fascinating thousand-year history, providing rich biographical detail of Britain's remarkable monarchs.