Historia Brittonum was written no earlier than the “fourth year of King Mermenus” (King Merfyn Frych ap Gwriad of Gwynedd). However, ‘pseudoNennius’ still clearly aimed to produce a synchronised account. Leslie Alcock was not the first to draw attention to the phrase though he may have started the recent surge of interest. Giles’ translation rendered this as “I put together”, concealing the fact that this is indeed a quote from the work and not from some commentator. Theodore Mommsen states that this is quoted from the Apologia version of the Preface.

Author/CompilerĪccording to Norris J Lacy, various introductory notes to the Historia invoke Nennius’ (or the compiler’s) words from the Preface that “I heaped together all I could find” from various sources, not only concrete works in writing but “our ancient traditions”. The error, Fletcher says, is caused by the similarity between the words in Welsh for ‘shoulder’ and ‘shield’. Therefore, the Annales Cambriae cannot be reliably used to corroborate any dating of events listed in the Historia.) According to Robert Huntington Fletcher, the reference in the Historia Brittonum to Arthur carrying the image of Saint Mary on his shoulders during a battle has been interpreted by later commentators as a mistake for Arthur bearing the image of Mary on his shield. An assumption is made for the date of year 1. (If one thinks that dates are assigned to events in the Annales Cambriae, one would be mistaken. It names the twelve battles that Arthur fought, yet none are assigned actual dates. The Historia was the first source to portray King Arthur, described as a “dux bellorum” (‘military leader’, ‘duke of battles’) or miles (‘warrior, soldier’), not as a king. Via the enormous popularity of the latter work, this version of early British history would become incorporated into subsequent chronicles of the history of Britain. The Historia was the “single most important source used by Geoffrey of Monmouth in creating his Historia Regum Britanniae”, according to John Thomas Koch. The Historia describes the settlement of Britain by Trojan exiles and states that Britain took its name after Brutus, a descendant of Aeneas. Theodore Mommsen, divided this work into seven parts: Preface I. The compromise is that the compiler be referenced as pseudoNennius.

Some experts have dismissed the Nennian preface as a late forgery, arguing that the work was actually an anonymous compilation. The Historia Brittonum is commonly attributed to Nennius, as some recensions have a preface written in his name. The text is reputed to have been written c AD 828/829, and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11 th Century AD. Historia Brittonum ( History of Britons) is a purported history of the indigenous Brittonic people. Introduction to Historia Brittonum and its sections

Nennius historia brittonum