A Companion to Geoffrey of Monmouth brings together scholars from a range of disciplines to provide an updated scholarly introduction to all aspects of his work. Arguably the most influential secular writer of medieval Britain, Geoffrey (d. 1154) popularized Arthurian literature and left an indelible mark on European romance, history, and genealogy. Despite this outsized influence, Geoffrey’s own life, background, and motivations are little understood. The volume situates his life and works within their immediate historical context, and frames them within current critical discussion across the humanities. By necessity, this volume concentrates primarily on Geoffrey’s own life and times, with the reception of his works covered by a series of short encyclopaedic overviews, organized by language, that serve as guides to further reading.
Author(s): Georgia Henley, Joshua Byron Smith
Series: Brill’s Companions to European History, 22
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 497
City: Leiden
9789004410398
9789004410398_webready_content_text
Contents
Acknowledgements
A Note on Translations
Figures
Abbreviations
Notes on Contributors
Introduction and Biography
Part 1 Sources
Chapter 1 Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Welsh Sources
Chapter 2 Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Classical and Biblical Inheritance
Chapter 3 Geoffrey of Monmouth and the English Past
Chapter 4 Riddling Words: the Prophetiae Merlini
Part 2 Contemporary Contexts
Chapter 5 Early Manuscript Dissemination
Chapter 6 Early Reactions to Geoffrey’s Work
Chapter 7 The Latin Reception of the De gestis Britonum
Chapter 8 Geoffrey of Monmouth’s De gestis Britonum and Twelfth-Century Romance
Chapter 9 The Most Excellent Princes: Geoffrey of Monmouth and Medieval Welsh Historical Writing
Chapter 10 Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Conventions of History Writing in Early 12th-Century England
Part 3 Approaches
Chapter 11 Colonial Preoccupations in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s De gestis Britonum
Chapter 12 Geoffrey and Gender: the Works of Geoffrey of Monmouth as Medieval “Feminism”
Chapter 13 Geoffrey of Monmouth and Race
Chapter 14 Religion and the Church in Geoffrey of Monmouth
Part 4 Reception
Introduction to Part 4 The Medieval Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth
Chapter 15 Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Byzantine Reception
Chapter 16 The De gestis Britonum in Castile
Chapter 17 The Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth in the Crown of Aragon
Chapter 18 The Middle Dutch Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth
Chapter 19 The English Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth
Chapter 20 The Anglo-Norman and Continental French Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Corpus from the 12th to the 15th Centuries
Chapter 21 The German Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth
Chapter 22 The Old Icelandic “Brut”
Chapter 23 The Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth in Ireland
Chapter 24 The Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Work in Italy
Chapter 25 Geoffrey of Monmouth in Portugal and Galicia
Chapter 26 The Scottish Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth
Chapter 27 The Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth in Wales
Bibliography
Manuscripts
General Index
