105-597: [REDACTED] Look up brut in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Brut may refer to: Literature [ edit ] Roman de Brut , a verse chronicle in Kirchheimer by Wace Layamon's Brut , an English chronicle by Layamon based on Wace Brut y Tywysogion (Chronicle of the Princes), a Welsh mediaeval chronicle Brut y Brenhinedd (Chronicle of
210-489: A Life of St Cuthbert . Archaeology provides further evidence for this period, in some cases suggesting that the depopulation of Roman towns and the development of villa and estate organization was already occurring in the 4th century. The 5th and 6th centuries in Britain are marked by a sharp discontinuity in town life, with the exception of a few sites such as Londinium , Eboracum , Canterbury and Wroxeter , but
315-458: A Romano-British king might have wielded considerable power during the sub-Roman period, as demonstrated by the creation of sites such as Tintagel and earthworks such as the Wansdyke . Such interpretations continue to attract the popular imagination and the scepticism of academics. While pushed back politically and linguistically, British scholars and ecclesiastics had a significant impact on
420-561: A "council" was convened by Vortigern to find ways of countering the barbarian threat. The council opted to hire Saxon mercenaries, following Roman practice. After a while these turned against the British and plundered the towns. A British leader, Ambrosius Aurelianus , fought against them in a number of battles apparently over a long period. Towards the end of this period was the Battle of Mons Badonicus , around 490, which later sources claimed
525-789: A British population. Names based on the Anglo-Saxon word for the British, wealh , are also taken as indicating British survival. An example is Walton, meaning settlement of the British and this name is found in many parts of England, though it sometimes means Wall-town . Surviving inscriptions on stones provide another source of information on the settlements of Britons and the Anglo-Saxons. Celtic inscribed stones from this period occur in western England, Wales and southern Scotland. Inscriptions in parts of Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall, are in ogham , some containing forms which scholars have not been able to understand. Two contrasting models of
630-867: A bishop who ministered to the spiritual needs of the British immigrants to northwestern Spain: in 572 the bishop, Mailoc, had a Celtic name. The settlers had brought their Celtic Christianity with them but finally accepted the Latin Church 's jurisdiction at the Fourth Council of Toledo in 633. The diocese stretched from Ferrol to the Eo River . In Spain, the area has sometimes been dubbed "the third Britain" or "the last Britain". Non-Anglo-Saxon kingdoms began appearing in western Britain, and are first referred to in Gildas' De Excidio . To an extent these kingdoms may have derived from Roman structures. But it
735-601: A different reason for giving Arthur a Round Table, since there is good iconographic evidence to suppose that round or semi-circular tables were commonly used before Wace's time for ostentatious feasts. Other minor sources of the Brut include the Bible, Goscelin 's life of St. Augustine of Canterbury , the Historia Brittonum , William of Malmesbury 's Gesta Regum Anglorum , Geoffrey Gaimar 's earlier translation of
840-406: A few other documents of the period do exist, such as Gildas' letters on monasticism, they are not directly relevant to British history. Gildas' De Excidio is a jeremiad : it is written as a polemic to warn contemporary rulers against sin, demonstrating through historical and biblical examples that bad rulers are always punished by God – in the case of Britain, through the destructive wrath of
945-490: A fully-fledged romance . It narrates a largely fictional version of Britain's story from its settlement by Brutus , a refugee from Troy , who gives the poem its name, through a thousand years of pseudohistory, including the story of king Leir , up to the Roman conquest , the introduction of Christianity, and the legends of sub-Roman Britain , ending with the reign of the 7th-century king Cadwallader . Especially prominent
1050-731: A long period. The proximate cause of the end of Roman rule in Britannia appears to have been a power-struggle between aristocrats and Stilicho , a Roman general and strongman of the Roman Empire . In order to protect Italy from invasions by the Visigoths , Stilicho had seriously depleted the Roman forces defending the Limes Germanicus . In the summer of 406 there was a rebellion of legionarii in Britain that resulted in
1155-507: A monastery, but later as a princely stronghold and trading post. Another important excavation was at Dinas Powys (Alcock 1963) which showed evidence of metalworking. Alcock also led the excavations at South Cadbury (Alcock 1995). Many other sites have now been shown to have been occupied during the sub-Roman period, including Birdoswald and Saxon Shore forts. Work on field systems and environmental archaeology has also highlighted how much agricultural practice continued and changed over
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#17327662233071260-477: A more or less complete text of the poem, of which the two oldest are Durham Cathedral MS C. iv. 27 (late 12th century) and Lincoln Cathedral MS 104 (early 13th century). Both of these manuscripts also include Geoffrey Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis and the chronicle of Jordan Fantosme , the three works forming in combination an almost continuous narrative of Britain's story from Brutus the Trojan's invasion up to
1365-536: A romance loosely associated with the Vulgate Cycle. Much later, the mid-15th century Recueil des croniques et anchiennes istories de la Grant Bretaigne by Jean de Wavrin , a compilation of earlier chronicles, takes its British history up to the beginning of the Arthurian period from an anonymous French adaptation of Wace's Brut dating from c. 1400 , though with substantial additions taken from
1470-415: A sweetness designation of a dry sparkling wine Brut (cologne) , a scent first made in 1964 Art Brut , an English and German rock band Outsider art ( art brut ), art produced by non-professionals working outside aesthetic norms See also [ edit ] Brute (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
1575-676: Is also clear that they drew on a strong influence from Hibernia , which was never part of the Roman Empire. Archaeology has helped further the study of these kingdoms, notably at sites like Tintagel or the hillfort at South Cadbury . In the north there developed the British kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd , the "Old North", comprising Ebrauc (probable name), Bryneich , Rheged , Strathclyde , Elmet and Gododdin . 5th- and 6th-century repairs along Hadrian's Wall have been uncovered, and at Whithorn in south western Scotland (possibly
1680-587: Is finding more use in the academic community, especially when transformations of classical culture common throughout the post-Roman West are examined. The period may also be considered as part of the early Middle Ages , if continuity with the following periods is stressed. Popular (and some academic) works use a range of more dramatic names for the period: the Dark Ages , the Brythonic Age, the Age of Tyrants, or
1785-488: Is its account of the life of King Arthur , the first in any vernacular language, which instigated and influenced a whole school of French Arthurian romances dealing with the Round Table – here making its first appearance in literature – and with the adventures of its various knights. The Norman poet Wace was born on the island of Jersey around the beginning of the 12th century, and was educated first at Caen on
1890-451: Is more evidence in the grammar than in the lexicon , though this is challenged by many. Latin continued to be used for writing but the extent of its use for speech has been much disputed. Similarly, studies of place names give clues about the linguistic history of an area. England (except Cornwall and Cumbria ) shows patchy evidence now of Celtic in its place names. There are scattered Celtic place names throughout, increasing towards
1995-626: Is traditionally seen as the significant Christianising event for the Saxons, a bishop had already arrived in Kent with the king's Merovingian wife. Other Saxons remained pagan after this time. In 429, a British Deacon, Palladius , had requested support from the Pope in Rome to combat Pelagianism . Bishops Germanus and Lupus of Troyes were sent. Germanus, a former military commander, is reported to have led
2100-560: The Breton lais written in imitation of Marie de France also show clear signs of indebtedness to the Brut . It gave to Robert Biket 's Lai du Cor certain elements of its style and several circumstantial details, and to the anonymous Melion a number of plot-points. The description of Tintagel in the Folie Tristan d'Oxford included details taken from the Roman de Brut . In the early 13th century Le Chevalier aux Deux Epees
2205-663: The Brut contribute to his account of the festivities at Arthur's court in Erec and Enide . There are likewise verbal reminiscences of the Brut in Philomela and Guillaume d'Angleterre , two poems sometimes attributed to Chrétien. It is certain that Marie de France had read Wace, but less certain how many passages in her Lais show its influence, only the raids by the Picts and Scots in Lanval being quite unambiguous. Two of
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#17327662233072310-786: The Historia Regum Britanniae , and such chansons de geste as the anonymous Gormond et Isembart . Certain changes he made in geographical details suggest that Wace also drew on his personal knowledge of Normandy, Brittany and southern England. Wace makes some omissions of controversial or politically charged passages from his source text, notably the whole of Book 7 of the Historia Regum Britanniae , Merlin's prophecies , which he tells us he will not translate because he does not understand them. He also shortens or cuts out some passages of church history, expressions of exaggerated sentiment, and descriptions of barbarous or brutal behaviour, and in battle scenes he omits some of
2415-560: The Old English language and the Brythonic language and peoples migrated from south-western Britain to Armorica , which eventually became Brittany . This interpretation particularly appealed to earlier English historians, who wanted to further their view that England had developed differently from mainland Europe, with a limited monarchy and love of liberty. This, it was argued, came from the mass Anglo-Saxon invasions. While this view
2520-415: The Roman de Brut is Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae , a pseudo-history of Britain from its settlement by the eponymous Brutus and his band of Trojans down to the eclipse of native British power in the 7th century. It magnifies the prestige of British rulers at the expense of their Roman contemporaries, and includes an account of King Arthur 's reign. Wace knew this work in two versions:
2625-536: The Saxon invaders. The historical section of De Excidio is short, and the material in it is clearly selected with Gildas' purpose in mind. There are no absolute dates given, and some of the details, such as those regarding the Hadrian's and Antonine Walls are clearly wrong. Nevertheless, Gildas does provide us with an insight into some of the kingdoms that existed when he was writing, and how an educated monk perceived
2730-651: The Vandals , Burgundians , Alans and Sueves crossed the Rhine and overran the Limes Germanicus . Meanwhile, there were barbarian raids on Britain in 408, but these seem to have been defeated. After 410 Honorius apparently sent letters to the cities of Britain telling them to fend for themselves, though this is sometimes disputed. From the middle of the 5th century the Germanic raiders began to settle in
2835-481: The history of the parts of Britain that had been under Roman rule from the end of Roman imperial rule , traditionally dated to be in 410, to the arrival of Saint Augustine in 597. The date taken for the end of this period is arbitrary in that the sub-Roman culture continued in northern England until the merger of Rheged (the kingdom of the Brigantes ) with Northumbria by dynastic marriage in 633, and longer in
2940-530: The 14th century, but from the 15th century onward his readership faded away. More than thirty manuscripts of Wace's Brut , either complete or fragmentary, are known to exist, though more fragments continue to be discovered from time to time. They were produced in roughly equal numbers in England and in France, demonstrating that it was a highly popular work in both countries. Nineteen of these manuscripts give
3045-662: The 1990s, with a reduction in the numbers of Anglo-Saxons believed to have arrived in Britain. A lower figure is sometimes accepted, which would mean that it is highly unlikely that the existing British population was substantially displaced by the Anglo-Saxons. If fewer Anglo-Saxons arrived, it is proposed that they formed a ruling elite, with acculturation of the local population. Thus some "Saxon" graves may be of Britons, though many scholars disagree. Two genetic studies published in 2016, using data from ancient burials found in Cambridgeshire, Yorkshire and Durham, found that
3150-405: The 5th century. In the sub-Roman period, building in stone gradually came to an end; buildings were constructed of less durable materials than during the Roman period. However, brooches , pottery , and weapons from this period have survived. The study of burials and cremations , and the grave goods associated with these, has done much to expand the understanding of cultural identities in
3255-630: The 6th century. After the Norman Conquest there were many books written that purport to give the history of the Sub-Roman period. These have been influenced by the fictionalised account in Geoffrey of Monmouth 's Historia Regum Britanniae ( History of the Kings of Britain ). Therefore, they can only be regarded as showing how the legends grew. Not until modern times have serious studies of
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3360-550: The Age of Arthur . Little extant written material is available from this period, though a considerable amount from later periods may be relevant. A lot of what is available deals with the first few decades of the 5th century only. The sources can usefully be classified into British and continental, and into contemporary and non-contemporary. Two primary contemporary British sources exist: the Confessio of Saint Patrick and Gildas ' De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae ( On
3465-540: The Anglo-Saxon newcomers through literacy, ecclesiastical social constructs and historical memory of the Roman period in Britain, particularly after the Christianizing of the Anglo-Saxons. Coming from a fully oral cultural background, the Anglo-Saxons were heavily influenced by the more developed Christianized and literate culture of the Britons. British scholars were often employed at Anglo-Saxon courts to assist in
3570-409: The British areas, such as that at Glastonbury , though mostly not until the 6th century; but the "Saxons" were pagan. This reinforced a great antipathy between the peoples. Many Roman cemeteries continued into much later times, such as that at Cannington, Somerset . In the east, there was a gradual transition among the pagan Saxons from cremation to inhumation . Although the arrival of Saint Augustine
3675-529: The British people to rebel against Rome. These arguments are open to criticism, and the question is still open. It was a violent period, and there was probably widespread tension, alluded to in all the written sources. This may have led to the deaths of many Britons. There are also references to plagues. Laycock ( Britannia the Failed State , 2008) suggests tribal conflict, possibly even starting before 410, may have sliced up much of Britain and helped destroy
3780-616: The British to the "Hallelujah" victory, possibly in Wales or Herefordshire. Germanus is said to have made a second visit to England later. Participation by a British bishop at a synod in Gaul demonstrates that at least some British churches were in full administrative and doctrinal touch with Gaul as late as 455. In the north, Whithorn is said to be the earliest church in Scotland, being founded in 397 by Saint Ninian . Coroticus (or Ceretic)
3885-532: The Britons of South West England (known later as the West Welsh) from those of Wales. (Just after the period being discussed, the Battle of Chester in 611 might have separated the latter from those of the north of England.) Until the 570s, Britons were still in control of about half of England and Wales. Various British kingdoms existed at some point in the period. Some changed their names and some were absorbed by others. Not all of their names, especially in
3990-460: The Emperor and provided military support, whilst retaining their independence. If the theory is correct, Germanic peoples may have been resident in Britain before and after these reforms. One thing led to another to create a spiral. The policy of substituting mercenaries who were paid in gold which should have gone to support the professional standing army and accommodation to their presence spelled
4095-527: The Failed State , 2008) sees Britain violently fragmenting into kingdoms based on British tribal identities; 'violently' is disputable, but clearly most of the civitates gradually transformed into kingdoms. Life seems to have continued much as before in the countryside, and on a reduced scale in the towns as evidenced by the descriptions of Germanus ' visits. It appears that while Roman cities and towns have decreased in size, they retained administrative and symbolic importance for new polities. Gildas says that
4200-651: The Kings), a Welsh mediaeval chronicle The Prose Brut , or Brut Chronicle , a chronicle of England in Anglo-Norman, Latin, and English, whose earliest versions date from the late 13th century People [ edit ] Brutus of Troy , also known as Brut, in legends said to be the first king of Britain Walter Brut , a 14th-century writer from the Welsh borders Other [ edit ] Brut (wine) ,
4305-500: The Round Table and that each of its members is equally renowned. There are general resemblances between the Brut and the poems of Chrétien de Troyes , in that both are Arthurian narratives in octosyllabic couplets, as well as stylistic similarities, but there are also specific signs of Chrétien's debt. He adapts Geoffrey's narrative of Mordred's last campaign against Arthur in his romance of Cligès , and various passages in
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4410-479: The Ruin and Conquest of Britain ). Patrick's Confessio and his Letter to Coroticus reveal aspects of life in Britain, from where he was abducted to Ireland. It is particularly useful in highlighting the state of Christianity at the time . Gildas is the nearest to a source of Sub-Roman history but there are many problems in using it. The document represents British history as he and his audience understood it. Though
4515-700: The Scots ( Gaelic ), the Picts and the Latins " ( HE 1.1). A review of the changes in the Brythonic language during this period is given by Kenneth H. Jackson . Studies of Old English , P- and Q-Celtic , and Latin have provided evidence for contact among the Britons, the Gaels, and the Anglo-Saxons . The consensus is that Old English has little evidence of linguistic contact. Some scholars have suggested that there
4620-551: The Treaty of 382, were allowed to remain with the Empire intact, which reversed the centuries-old Roman policy of destroying barbarian enemies by killing them all, selling them or incorporating them into the Roman army by scattering them across units. The hospitalitas system granted a third of the land (or fees) of a region to barbarians who had invaded and occupied those lands assigned to them. In return, these people declared loyalty to
4725-669: The Vulgate, written by Geoffrey himself, and the Variant, a rewriting of Geoffrey's text by person or persons unknown. Wace made two significant additions to the story on the authority, as he tells us, of Breton tales he had heard. One is King Arthur's Round Table , which here makes its appearance in world literature for the first time, and the other is the Breton belief that Arthur still remains in Avalon . There may, however, be quite
4830-573: The acclamation of several usurpers in quick succession as imperator , a declaration of rebellion against the ruling emperor . The last of these, Constantine III , crossed the Channel at Bononia and took with him all of the mobile troops left in Britain, thus denuding the province of any first line military protection. The Roman forces in Gaul (modern France) declared for him, followed by most of those in Hispania (modern Spain). On 31 December 406
4935-403: The accuracy of these is uncertain. Numerous later written sources claim to provide accurate accounts of the period. The first to attempt this was the monk Bede , writing in the early 8th century. He based his account of the Sub-Roman period in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (written around 731) heavily on Gildas, though he tried to provide dates for the events Gildas describes. It
5040-476: The ancestry of the modern-day English population contained substantial contributions from the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic peoples. Various dates have been proposed to mark the end of Roman Britain , including the end of Roman currency coinage importation in 402, Constantine III 's rebellion in 407, the rebellion mentioned by Zosimus in 409, and the Rescript of Honorius in 410. Unlike modern decolonisation ,
5145-709: The area between Hadrian's Wall and the Forth–Clyde line is similar to that of Wales (see Rheged , Bernicia , Gododdin and Strathclyde ). North of the line lay a thinly populated area including the kingdoms of the Maeatae (in Angus ), Dalriada (in Argyll ), and the kingdom whose kaer (castle) near Inverness was visited by Saint Columba . The Romans referred to these peoples collectively as Picti , meaning 'Painted Ones'. The term " late antiquity ", implying wider horizons,
5250-483: The costs of occupation. Nevertheless, the Romans were forced to keep three or four legions, 30,000 to 40,000 men with auxiliary units in place to defend it. They managed fairly well until the collapse of Roman authority after the garrison was reduced in size by Magnus Maximus in 388 and Stilicho in 401. It seems that after 350 the Roman government was having more difficulty in recruiting soldiers. In an effort to remedy
5355-469: The dating of the end of Roman Britain is complex, and the exact process is unknown. There is some controversy as to why Roman rule ended in Britain. The view first advocated by Theodor Mommsen was that Rome left Britain. This argument was substantiated over time, most recently by A.S. Esmonde-Cleary. According to this argument, internal turmoil in the Roman Empire and the need to withdraw troops to fight off barbarian armies led Rome to abandon Britain. It
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#17327662233075460-460: The depth of Arthur's love for Guinevere and grief over the deaths of his knights, and the knightly prowess of Gawain , Kay and Bedivere . He expands with descriptive passages of his own episodes such as Arthur's setting sail for Europe, the twelve years of peace in the middle of his reign, and his splendid conquests in Scandinavia and France. By such means he expands Arthur's share of
5565-452: The discontinuity in the episcopate also suggests a decline in town life. The Roman villa system, represented by some five hundred archaeological sites, did not survive either; unlike Gaul, in Britain not a single villa name survived into the Germanic period. However, at Chedworth , building work continued: a mosaic within Room 28, discovered in 2020, was designed and created in the middle of
5670-447: The domination of Anglian or Saxon chieftains, later kingdoms: Officially the Roman Empire was Christian at the start of the 5th century, but there is evidence of rural pagan temples being refurbished at the start of this period in western England. However, most temples seem to have been replaced eventually by Christian churches on the same site or nearby. "Celtic" churches or monasteries seem to have flourished during this period in
5775-404: The eastern river valleys. Later civil wars seem to have broken out, which have been interpreted either as being between pro-Roman and independence groups or between "Established Church" and Pelagian parties (Myres 1965, Morris 1965), a class struggle between peasants and land owners (Thompson 1977, Wood 1984), or a coup by an urban elite (Snyder 1988). A recent view explored by Laycock ( Britannia
5880-514: The economy. The evidence from land use suggests a decline in production, which might be a sign of population decline. It is clear that some British people migrated to elsewhere in Europe, and Armorica in northwest Gaul became known as Brittany . There is also evidence of British migration to Gallaecia , in Hispania . The dates of these migrations are uncertain, but recent studies suggest that
5985-443: The end of sub-Roman Britain have been described by Richard Reece as "decline and immigration" and "invasion and displacement". It has long been held that the Anglo-Saxons migrated to Britain in large numbers in the 5th and 6th centuries, substantially displacing the British people. The Anglo-Saxon historian Frank Stenton in 1943, although making considerable allowance for British survival, essentially sums up this view, arguing "that
6090-458: The essentials of his story. He conjures up his scenes with a remarkable vividness which his Latin original sometimes lacks, and his descriptions of bustling everyday life, maritime scenes and episodes of high drama are especially accomplished. The emphasis Wace placed on the rivalries between his knights and on the role of love in their lives had a profound effect on writers of his own and later generations. His influence can be seen in some of
6195-535: The extent to which life in Britain continued unaltered in certain pockets into the early medieval period. Hilltops, the so-called " hillforts ", castra , and monasteries have been excavated. Work on towns has been particularly important. Work on the hill-forts has shown evidence of refurbishment, and also of overseas trade, in this period. One of the earliest major excavations was at Tintagel (Radford 1939). This uncovered rectangular structures and much Mediterranean pottery. The buildings were initially interpreted as
6300-479: The greater part of southern England was overrun in the first phase of the war". This interpretation was based on the written sources, particularly Gildas but also the later sources such as the Anglo-Saxon historian Bede , that cast the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons as a violent event. The toponymic and linguistic evidence was also considered to support this interpretation, as very few British place names survived in eastern Britain, very few British Celtic words entered
6405-451: The growing season and made uplands unsuited to growing grain . Dendrochronology reveals a particular climatic event in 540 . Michael Jones suggests that declining agricultural production from land that was already fully exploited had considerable demographic consequences. Slaves were important in the economy and the army in the Roman Empire. Estimates for the prevalence of slavery in the Roman Empire vary: some estimate that around 30% of
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#17327662233076510-585: The history of Britain, but the earlier part (for which other sources are available) is severely muddled. He castigates five rulers in western Britain – Constantine of Dumnonia , Aurelius Caninus, Vortipor of the Demetae , Cuneglasus and Maglocunus ( Mailcun or in later spelling Maelgwn of Gwynedd ) – for their sins. He also attacks the British clergy. He gives information on the British diet, dress and entertainment. He writes that Britons were killed, emigrated or enslaved but gives no idea of numbers. In
6615-559: The late 6th century there was another period of Saxon expansion, starting with the capture of Searoburh in 552 by the dynasty that later ruled Wessex , and including entry into the Cotswolds area after the Battle of Deorham (577), though the accuracy of the entries in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for this period has been questioned. These conquests are often said by modern writers, on no clear evidence, to have separated
6720-588: The mainland and later in Paris, or perhaps Chartres . He returned to Caen and there began writing narrative poems. At some point in this stage of his life he visited southern England, perhaps on business, perhaps to conduct research, perhaps even wanting to visit Geoffrey of Monmouth , whose Latin Historia Regum Britanniae he translated as the Roman de Brut . The Brut' s subject, the history of Britain from its mythical Trojan beginnings,
6825-424: The management of the kingdoms. This reintroduced British culture to those parts of Britain lost to the British politically. The epitome of this process is the adoption of the legendary British war leader, King Arthur , as the national hero of the English, due to the literary work of Welsh historians. There is evidence for climate change in the 5th century, with conditions turning cooler and wetter. This shortened
6930-418: The migration from south western Britain to Brittany may have begun as early as 300 and had largely ended by 500. These settlers, unlikely to be refugees if the date was this early, made their presence felt in the naming of the westernmost, Atlantic -facing provinces of Armorica, Kerne/Cornouaille ("Kernow/ Cornwall ") and Domnonea (" Devon "). However, there is clear linguistic evidence for close contact between
7035-402: The period been undertaken. Later Lives of Celtic saints, although often unreliable, do provide some insights into life in Sub-Roman Britain. For example, there is a description of a dilapidated, but still occupied, Roman villa near Chepstow (probably at Portskewett ) included in an account of a visit by St Tatheus ; and the Roman ruins of Carlisle , as they were in 685, are described in
7140-462: The period. Archaeology has confirmed Germanic burials at Bowcombe and Gatcombe on the Isle of Wight that took place at least 50 years before the dates suggested by historical sources, concurrent with Honorius 's award of land in Gallia Aquitania to the Visigoths in 418. Although radiocarbon dating can provide a rough estimate, this is not accurate enough to associate archaeological finds with historical events. Dendrochronology depends on
7245-468: The period. Archaeology has shown some evidence of continuity with Roman education , trade with the Mediterranean , and with Celtic art . Archaeological excavations in South Wales in 2023 sought evidence of an early medieval monastery and school said to have been founded by St Illtud in the early 6th century, the forerunner of St Illtyd's Church, Llantwit Major (c.1100). Excavations of settlements have revealed possible changes in social structures, and
7350-418: The poet Wace is a loose and expanded translation in almost 15,000 lines of Norman-French verse of Geoffrey of Monmouth 's Latin History of the Kings of Britain . It was formerly known as the Brut d'Engleterre or Roman des Rois d'Angleterre , though Wace's own name for it was the Geste des Bretons , or Deeds of the Britons . Its genre is equivocal, being more than a chronicle but not quite
7455-460: The population of the Empire in the 1st century was enslaved. A more recent study suggests 10–15% even for the early empire "as any greater estimate would require implausible levels of transformation in a pre-modern context." The difference the lower percentage in the Later Roman Empire can be attributed to fewer slaves in sub-elite households and agricultural estates (replaced by a great expansion in various types of tenancy). The Germanic region
7560-408: The presence of suitable pieces of wood. Coins are often the most useful tool for dating, but no newly minted coins are believed to have entered circulation in Britain after the very early 5th century. There is archaeological evidence of Anglo-Saxons and Britons living on the same site. For example, in the cemetery at Wasperton , Warwickshire , one can see a family adopting Anglo-Saxon culture over
7665-539: The reference was instead to Bruttium , but Gildas describes Britain receiving just such a message. The Gallic chronicles, Chronica Gallica of 452 and Chronica Gallica of 511 , say prematurely that "Britain, abandoned by the Romans, passed into the power of the Saxons" and provide information about St Germanus and his visit or visits to Britain, though again this text has received considerable academic deconstruction. The work of Procopius , another 6th-century Byzantine writer, makes some references to Britain, though
7770-600: The reign of Henry II. This indicates that early readers of the Brut read it as history; however, later manuscripts tend to include Arthurian romances rather than chronicles, showing that the Brut was by then treated as fictional. Sub-Roman Britain Sub-Roman Britain is the period of late antiquity in Great Britain between the end of Roman rule and the Anglo-Saxon settlement . The term
7875-508: The romances. The influence of Wace's Brut also exerted itself in England. Around the year 1200 Layamon , a Worcestershire priest, produced a Middle English poem on British history, largely based on Wace though with some omissions and additions. Though this was the first version of Wace in English it was not particularly influential, further Bruts, as they became generically known, taking more of their material directly from Wace. In
7980-401: The royal listeners it was intended for, adding details drawn from 12th-century military and court life. The overall effect is to reconcile his story to the new chivalric and romantic ethos of his own day. He is especially assiduous in highlighting the splendour of the court of king Arthur, the beauty of its ladies and gallantry of its knights, the relationship between Guinevere and Mordred ,
8085-533: The second half of the 13th century the widely-read Anglo-Norman verse chronicle of Peter Langtoft , divided into three books, presented in its first book an adaptation of Wace's Brut in over 3000 lines. Around the end of the 13th century there appeared the Prose Brut , written in Anglo-Norman prose and taking its material, at any rate in the earlier sections, mostly from Wace's Brut and Geoffrey Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis . It re-appeared many times in
8190-454: The site of Ninian 's monastery). Chance discoveries have helped document the continuing urban occupation of some Roman towns such as Wroxeter and Caerwent . Continued urban use might be associated with an ecclesiastical structure. Western Britain has attracted those archaeologists who wish to place King Arthur as a historical figure. Though there is little contemporary written evidence for this, archaeological evidence does suggest that
8295-480: The situation it resorted to payment instead of provision of recruit, the aurum tironicum . Landowners could pay a set fee to prevent any of their tenants from being pressed into the army (slaves were rarely resorted to even at critical moments in exchange for their freedom). Not enough men wanted to enter military service. The gold from the tax led to a greater use of Germanic or other tribal groups who did not need to be expensively equipped, housed, and paid pensions, as
8400-510: The situation that had developed between the Anglo-Saxons and the Britons . More continental contemporary sources mention Britain, although their information is sparse and open to question. The Historia Nova of Byzantine scholar Zosimus notes in passing that western Emperor Honorius , in the throes of Alaric 's invasion in 410, sent a rescript to British cities that they must look to their own defence. Some historians have suggested that
8505-597: The sources that have been suggested for the late 14th century Alliterative Morte Arthure . Arthur , a late 14th or early 15th century romance preserved in a manuscript called the Liber Rubeus Bathoniae, seems to have been based on a version of Wace's Brut expanded with some elements from Layamon's Brut and the Alliterative Morte Arthure . The dates of Wace manuscripts show that he remained relatively popular in England into
8610-544: The south west of Britain and Brittany across the sub-Roman period. In Galicia , in the north west corner of the Iberian Peninsula , another region of traditional Celtic culture, the Suebian Parochiale , drawn up about 580, includes a list of the principal churches of each diocese in the metropolitanate of Braga : the ecclesia Britonensis , now Bretoña (north of Lugo ), which was the seat of
8715-404: The southeast, are known, nor are the details of their political development; some authority structures left from the Roman period may have continued in charge of some areas for some time. At times some of the kingdoms were united by a ruler who was an overlord, while wars occurred between others. During the period the boundaries are likely to have changed. The major ones were: Some areas fell under
8820-678: The succeeding years in revised and expanded versions, some of them in Middle English translation. In all, at least 240 manuscripts of its various recensions are known, demonstrating its immense popularity. In 1338 Robert Mannyng , already known for his devotional work Handlyng Synne , produced a long verse Chronicle or Story of England which, for its first 13,400 lines, sticks close to Wace's Brut before starting to introduce elements from other sources, notably Langtoft's chronicle. Other Middle English Bruts deriving from Langtoft include that published in 1480 by William Caxton under
8925-627: The supposed apostle to the Britons of the Clyde and alleged founder of Glasgow , is a shadowy figure. Linguistics is useful in the analysis of culture, and to an extent political associations. Bede in Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (completed in 731) wrote that "currently, [there are in Britain] the languages of five peoples, namely that of the Angles ( English ), the Britons ( Brittonic ),
9030-453: The tactical details in favour of observations bringing out the pathos of war. In the material he keeps he makes many changes and additions. He presents the action of Geoffrey's story with greater vividness, the characters have clearer motivation and more individuality, a certain amount of humour is added and the role of the supernatural is downplayed. He adds a good deal of dialogue and commentary to Geoffrey's narrative, and adapts it to
9135-452: The tax was used to recruit mercenaries as foederati , but it also drained the treasury. Previously foreigners were put into units, the auxilia , officered by Romans. Roman army units, the smaller Later Roman legions , continued to exist but gradually disappeared in the 5th century leaving defence of the Empire to hirelings. After the Battle of Adrianople , the Gothic foederati , by
9240-494: The title Brut . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brut&oldid=1189922736 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Roman de Brut The Brut or Roman de Brut (completed 1155) by
9345-555: The title of The Brut of England . The chronicle that passes under the name of Thomas of Castleford, though he may not have been the author, relies on Geoffrey of Monmouth for its early history, but takes its account of King Arthur's Round Table from Wace. Yet another translation of Wace's Brut , this time into Middle English prose, was produced in the late 14th century and is preserved in College of Arms MS. Arundel XXII. Mannyng's Chronicle and Wace's and Layamon's Bruts are among
9450-573: The very earliest romances, including the Roman d'Enéas and the Roman de Troie , and in Renaud de Beaujeu 's Le Bel Inconnu and the works of Gautier d'Arras . Thomas of Britain 's romance Tristan draws on the Brut for historical details, particularly the story of Gormon, and follows its example in matters of style. His influence is especially evident in the field of Arthurian romance, later writers taking up his hint that many tales are told of
9555-474: The west of Britain, and Cornwall , Cumbria and Wales especially. This period has attracted a great deal of academic and popular debate, in part because of the scarcity of the written source material. The term "post-Roman Britain" is also used for the period; "sub-Roman" and "post-Roman" are terms that apply to the old Roman province of Britannia , i.e. Britain south of the Forth – Clyde line. The history of
9660-442: The west. There are also Celtic river names and topographical names. An explanation of the toponymic and linguistic evidence is that Anglo-Saxon language and culture became dominant due to their political and social preeminence in the south and east of Britain. Names with a Latin element may suggest continuity of settlement, while some places are named for pagan Germanic deities. Names of British origin may or may not indicate survival of
9765-496: The whole story from one fifth of the Historia to one third of the Brut . Wace's chosen meter, the octosyllabic couplet, was in the 12th century considered suitable for many purposes, but especially for translations from Latin. He had already used it in earlier works, and in the Brut managed it with facility and smoothness. His language was a literary form of Old French , the dialect being Norman , but not markedly so. He
9870-471: Was a master of the architecture of the phrase and the period , and also of rhythmic effects. The rhetorical devices he most favoured were repetition (both in the forms of anaphora and epizeuxis ), parallelism , antithesis , and the use of sententiae , or gnomic sayings. He had a rich vocabulary, could employ an almost epigrammatic irony, and, while conforming to the conventions of poetic art, gave an appearance of spontaneity to his verse. His style
9975-515: Was an apostate Pict king who was the recipient of the letter from Saint Patrick . His base may have been Dumbarton Rock on the River Clyde, and his descendant Rhydderch Hael is named in the Life of Saint Columba . Rhydderch was a contemporary of Áedán mac Gabráin of Dal Riata and Urien of Rheged in the late 6th century, as well as of Æthelfrith of Bernicia . Unlike Columba, Kentigern ,
10080-414: Was calculated to appeal to a secular Norman readership at a time when Normandy and England formed part of the same realm. Working under the patronage of Henry II , he completed his poem in 1155, and presented a copy of it to Eleanor of Aquitaine , Henry's wife. Its success is evidenced by the large number of surviving manuscripts, and by its extensive influence on later writers. The primary source of
10185-569: Was continued in the prose Suite Merlin , one of the romances in the Lancelot-Grail or Vulgate Cycle, which likewise takes and adapts Wace's narrative, especially when describing Arthur's Roman war. The final sections of the Mort Artu , another Vulgate romance, take their narrative basis from Wace's account of the end of Arthur's reign, and his influence also appears in the Livre d'Artus ,
10290-407: Was neat, lively, and essentially simple. His poem is sometimes garrulous, but moderately so by medieval standards, and he avoids the other medieval vice of exaggeration. As an authorial voice he distances himself from the narrative, adding his own comments on the action. Often he confesses ignorance of precisely what happened, but only on very minor details, thereby buttressing his authority on
10395-536: Was never universal – Edward Gibbon believed that there had been a great deal of British survival – it was the dominant paradigm. Though many scholars would now employ this argument, the traditional view is still held by many other historians, Lawrence James writing in 2002 that England was "submerged by an Anglo-Saxon current which swept away the Romano-British." The traditional view has been partly deconstructed (considerably in some circles) since
10500-456: Was one of the main sources of slaves. It was mainly wholesale dealers, who followed the Roman armies, who sold slaves. After the Empire expanded, there were fewer places to obtain slaves. Around 210, piracy increased around the North Sea and boosted the supply, taken from villages in that area, along with those captured for ransom. Britain was not easily defensible. It did not pay completely
10605-435: Was originally used to describe archaeological remains found in 5th- and 6th-century AD sites that hinted at the decay of locally made wares from a previous higher standard under the Roman Empire . It is now used to describe the period that commenced with the recall of Roman troops to Gaul by Constantine III in 407 and to have concluded with the Battle of Deorham in 577. The period of sub-Roman Britain traditionally covers
10710-479: Was still demonstrating the influence the Roman de Brut could exert. In this case the author seems to have been impressed by Wace's account of Arthur's birth, character, battles, and tragic death. Robert de Boron based his verse romance Merlin , which only survives in fragmentary form, on the Roman de Brut , with some additions from the Historia Regum Britanniae , and also drew on the Brut for his prose romance Didot Perceval . The story of Robert's Merlin
10815-500: Was the collapse of the imperial system that led to the end of imperial rule in Britain. However, Michael Jones has advanced an alternative thesis that argues that Rome did not leave Britain, but that Britain left Rome. He highlights the numerous usurpers who came from Britain in the late 4th and early 5th centuries, and points out that the supply of coinage to Britain had dried up by the early 5th century, so that administrators and troops were not getting paid. All of this, he argues, led
10920-509: Was won by King Arthur , though Gildas does not identify him. After this there was a long period of peace. The British seem to have been in control of England and Wales roughly west of a line from York to Bournemouth . The Saxons had control of eastern areas in an arc from East Yorkshire through Lincolnshire and perhaps Nottinghamshire , to East Anglia and South East England . Writing in Latin, perhaps about 540, Gildas gives an account of
11025-639: Was written from an anti-Briton point of view. Later sources, such as the Historia Brittonum often attributed to Nennius , the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (again written from a non-Briton point of view, based on West Saxon sources) and the Annales Cambriae , are all heavily shrouded in myth and can only be used with caution as evidence for this period. There are also documents giving Welsh poetry (of Taliesin and Aneirin ) and land deeds ( Llandaff charters ) that appear to date back to
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