January 18, 2014

Historia Brittonum by Nennius (Review)

Title: Historia Brittonum
Author: Nennius
First published Written: 833
Add it: Goodreads, The Book Depository
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Nennius's opus, thought rather short, is epic. He documents the history of Britain from Adam (every decent history should start there, right?) until 9th century. He traces the lineages of the peoples of Europe, talks about migrations and conquests... well, collects everything known to him, I guess :) But his focus is on Britain, first on its conquest by the Romans, and then on the Saxon invasion.

It was very interesting to read about numerous Roman undertakings in Britain and remember the facts I heard at British history lessons in the university. Then I was reminded of the fact that the Britons actually invited Saxons to live on their shores as a buffer from invasions. Who knew they would get OUT OF CONTROL? :) King Vortigern who invited them is an awesome character: he's portrayed as a coward, a tyrant and the one who would sleep with his own daughter and give the resulting (grand)son away. After becoming a hated figure for allowing Saxons take over he seeks refuge in Wales. Nice guy, eh?

As was usual at that time, Historia Brittonum contains not only more or less dependable facts, but also legends and rumors. Some of them are Christian, as for example the miracle of St. Germanus, and some of them are inherited from Welch mythology, as the story of Arthur's boar hunting with his legendary dog. The chronicle ends with the descriptions of the curiosities found in Britain beginning with hot springs in Bath and ending with flying stones.

Historia Brittonum is largely regarded as the first written source to document the life of king Arthur. However, he takes very little place in it, as he is only mentioned as a guy who battled Saxons twelve times. Not that is was something unusual at that time, but he was surprisingly successful in all of them. That's basically all that we get to know about him from this chronicle. He doesn't even fit in the story very well, because for every other known ruler Nennius gives his lineage from a god, or a Roman emperor, or some such famous character, and Arthur gets no such background.

In my book:
A nice example of an early history, although not very informative. Reads more or less as a legend collection, with the addition of some long tiring lineages.



13 comments:

  1. That last sentence = priceless. :)

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    1. Well, it pretty much sums up my impressions of the book :)

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  2. I've been wanting to read this for sometime; the blending of history and legend seems interesting!

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    1. In this, Geoffrey of Monmouth is much better. I'm reading him now, and although his style is of course similar to Nennius, he's so much better and more coherent!

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  3. I'd never heard of this one, but it's especially intriguing because my daughter is really into Latin -- I'll have to ask her if she knows about it. Thanks so much for being part of the Back to the Classics Challenge -- this is definitely a classic!

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    1. I'm not sure it's easy to read in the original even for the one who knows Latin. It's Latin as it was understood by an English monk of the 9th century, so it may be a bit different from the classic version :)

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  4. I really should read more very early texts like this -- it sounds fascinating! And also frustrating? But still, very cool. Kudos for reading it!

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    1. It is probably a bit frustrating to look into the commentary section for every fifth word, but it's rewarding, as you get some really unique experience :)

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  5. This looks really interesting. I haven't read enough early history books. This is definitely going on my list. Great review; and yes, lineages can be really tiresome.

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    1. Early history has a special charm about it. It can be difficult to read, but it's very interesting and educative!

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    2. I agree. As much as I appreciate secondary sources as they distill information down, nothing beats primary sources.

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  6. What a perfect book to start your journey to the past... :)
    And all that in 48 pages only? Wew... no wonder you found it less informative.

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    1. Yes, I was also surprised that it's so short! However, I learned that even 48 pages of Nennius is ENOUGH! :)

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