William Raymond Johnston Barron

Layamon

S. C. Weinberg

Layamon's Brut is a landmark in English literature, the first major work in English after the Norman Conquest, and the precursor of a rich Arthurian literature, from Malory to Tennyson and on to our own time. This edition combines a fully-edited version of the original text with a close parallel prose translation, together with a lengthy Introduction, textual notes and a full and up-to-date bibliography. Written c.1200-1220, the Brut develops the themes of its principal source, RobertWace's Roman de Brut, itself a version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's bestseller, the Historia Regum Britanniae, in a metre and idiom reminiscent of Old English. It demonstrates the fundamental strength of a native culture which survived two centuries of French dominance to re-emerge as a fusion of a national tradition and continental influences.

The Arthurian Section of Layamon's Brut (lines 9229-14297)

Layamon's Arthur

At sixteen-thousand lines long, Layamon's Brut, written c.1200-1220, is the second longest poem in the English language. This national epic celebrates a myth, largely invented by Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his Historia (1138) and elaborated by the Jerseyman Wace (1155), of a Britain founded by Trojan refugees, repeatedly beset by foreign invasions and internal treachery across the centuries, triumphantly unified under such heroes as Uther Pendragon and Arthur. It marks the revival of English literature, breaking the virtual silence which followed the last entries in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, and the beginnings of an Arthurian tradition which was to lead to Malory, to Tennyson and on to our own age. Here, for the first time in eight centuries, the poem is published complete and fully edited with modern punctuation and paragraphing. The text is accompanied by textual notes and commentary which take account of the most recent scholarship, and is presented in parallel with a close, literal translation. Unique to this edition, textual divisions expose the thematic structure of the work.

S. C. Weinberg

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