Nennius

(fl. 800)

   Nennius is the purported author of the Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons), an early ninthcentury compilation containing the first literary reference to Arthur (later called King ARTHUR) as hero of the British people.

   Of Nennius himself we know next to nothing. Clearly he was Welsh, said to be a monk from Bangor in north Wales, and wrote in the early ninth century. The Historia Brittonum seems to have been inspired by a resurgence of Welsh nationalism, and Arthur is described as a heroic warlord. The Historia itself is something of a mishmash, cobbled together from the earlier texts of GILDAS, BEDE, St. JEROME, and oral tradition.Nennius says that he “made one heap” of everything that he found. It begins with a section on the “Six Ages of the World,” beginning with the Creation and ending at Doomsday. A geographical description of Britain follows, with references to Scots, Picts, and Britons.Nennius mentions, for the first time in literature, the tradition that Britain is named for Brutus, descendent of the Trojan Aeneas. There is an account of the Roman occupation of Britain, a discussion of the British king Vortigern’s folly allowing the Saxon invasion, and mention of Vortigern’s dread of his rival and ultimate successor, Ambrosius. This section relies mainly on Gildas and Bede. It is interspersed with largely irrelevant lives of St. Germanus and of St. Patrick in Ireland, and is followed by the discussion of Arthur.

   Nennius makes Arthur dux bellorum, or “leader of battles,” and describes his defeating the Saxons in 12 battles, including the Battle of Mount Badon, at which Arthur is said to have killed 960 Saxons by his own hand. Many scholars believe that this list of battles is based on a lost Welsh poem. Following these accounts is a series of Anglo-Saxon genealogies, a section on northern British history, and a fascinating section on “Marvels of Britain and Ireland.”The marvels contain two specific accounts of Arthurian interest: a stone near Builth Wells said to display the paw print of Arthur’s dog, Cabal; and the tomb of Arthur’s son, named Amr. The tomb is said to change its length every time it is measured—a phenomenon Nennius claims to have witnessed himself. But of chief interest in this story is not the elastic tomb but the legend surrounding it: that Arthur killed his own son—a motif that forms the seed of the Arthur-Mordred rivalry that becomes a vital part of later versions of the Arthurian legend. The Historia Brittonum survives in some 35 manuscripts, to the earliest of which (Harley MS 3859) is appended the Welsh Annals (ANNALES CAMBRIAE).

   Bibliography

   ■ Alcock, Leslie. Arthur’s Britain. London: Penguin, 1971.

   ■ Bengle, Richard L. Arthur King of Britain: History, Chronicle, Romance and Criticism. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1964.

   ■ Morris, John, ed. and trans. Nennius: British History and The Welsh Annals. London: Phillimore, 1975.