It is a pleasure to put online The “Historia Brittonum”, Commonly Attributed to Nennius, translated by the Reverend William Gunn. He discovered the manuscript while visiting the Vatican Palace in Rome. It is attributed to Mark the Hermit, a shadowy historical figure as the translator tells us in his introduction.
Mark the Hermit lived during the Anglo-Saxon period of England, before the Norman Conquest. He wrote, or copied, the manuscript of Nennius, which is one of the earliest histories of Ancient Britain. It begins with what was then believed to be the earliest history of the native Britons. The history is carried down to the author’s own time: 945 A. D.
This translation was used, almost verbatim, by J. A. Giles, in his book of Six Old English Chronicles, published about 30 years later, as he tells the reader in his preface. Giles’ book is the only other English translation of Nennius that is in the public domain and easily available to most people today. Gunn’s notes are much more extensive than those in Giles’ text. Downright fascinating some of them are, too — especially those in the Preface.
Delightfully, Gunn has included The History of Taliesen in English translation. This work is a poem by an early Welsh bard who is little known to most of us, but a dear figure to all that are interested in the early history of Wales and the Celts.
There are other manuscripts of Nennius, which include a Preface, more genealogical charts and some early Annals of Briton. Large chunks of Gildas appear to be incorporated in some of them as well. A bit of this will be added on here, in the future. The Latin transcription of the text is yet to be put online as well. If you would like to see it, just ask.
The translation is straightforward, easy to read and spares us much of the florid prolixity of many an ecclesiastical author of that period. This helps a lot in making this text so appealing.
Nennius is the first to mention Arthur of legendary fame, but in Nennius, he is called a General. The only historical notice is amazingly brief: 3 paragraphs only. He wasn’t promoted to kingship until the romance writers latched onto him a few centuries later. Nennius is the only chronicler that mentions him so close to the period in which he lived. After the interval from this history to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Arthurian Cycle of legends bursts onto the scene in its full-fledged form. At least, that is what appeared to be the evidence at first, as long as the Welsh and continental writers were ignored by later historians.
Gunn provides a wealth of bibliographical material on the first Welsh historians who brought the rich horde of Celtic history and literature to the attention of the rest of England. The footnotes explain it all. Like I said, the comments by Gunn are a treasure-trove of good information.
Enough chat, get started [HERE] with the Preface, which is really excellent.
