Nennius – History of the Britons (Historia Brittonum)
Historia Brittonum, or a History of the Britons, was purportedly written in the 8th Century by a Welsh monk called Nennius. It is one of the earliest histories of the British Isles. Nennius’ work influenced later, better known, histories and remained influential for centuries. Many myths and legends about the origins of Britain first appeared in Historia Brittonum. It claimed that Britain was settled by Trojan. 12 battles are cited as having Arthur as a military commander, being the first text to do so. The actual authorship and precise meaning of Historia Brittonum have been subject of much scholarly debate over the last 150 years.
The book is quite lengthy, covering the history of Britain from its origins to the lifetime of Nennius. There are 76 chapters in total which have been divided into sections by historians over the years:
- The six ages of the world
- Origins of the Britons
- Origins of the Irish
- A computation – the present year
- Another origin tale – the origins of Europe
- Roman Britain
- The Saxons – part 1
- Saint Germanus part 1
- The Saxons – part 2
- Saint Germanus part 2
- The Saxons – part 3
- Saint Germanus part 3
- Genealogy of Builth
- The Life of St. Patrick
- Arthuria
- Saxon Genealogies
- A Computation
- Cities of Britain
- Wonders of Britain
- Wonders of Anglesey
A full translation of the Historia Brittonum can be found in html format here.
The Medieval Sourcebook hosts a copy of the full text. It also reminds us that Nennius had access to texts that have since been lost, so can not be entirely be dismissed in terms of reliability. There are however many errors and myths in the tex of Historia Brittonum. Their copy can be found here.
LibriVox hosts a public domain audio reading of Historia Brittonum. As copyright law varies from one country to the next please check that access is permitted in your own country. It is in the USA and UK.
A pdf version of Nennius’ work can be downloaded from this link. (Hosted by the Hero of Camelot Website)
The Wonders of Britain website is based on Nennius’ text and provides additional context.
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