Geoffrey of Monmouth Completes Historia Regum Britanniae

Timeline

1. c. 1136Monmouth–Oxford area · BritainGeoffrey claimed to base his Latin history of kings from the Trojan Brutus to the seventh century on ancient British books. Early manuscripts dedicate the work to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, while another branch dedicates it to Waleran of Meulan, within the patronage networks of the Anarchy between Stephen and Matilda.
2. c. 1136–1150Oxford · EnglandNumerous manuscripts appeared within a decade of completion. Arthur was portrayed as a great British king who conquered Gaul, and Merlin's prophecies and royal myth entered the Latin historiographical tradition, providing an authoritative source for later French Arthurian romances and English political origin narratives.