Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Classical and Biblical Inheritance

1 DGB, Prologus 2.9–10: “... quendam Britannici sermonis librum uestustissimum ...” Translations of the DGB are normally Wright’s unless it was felt necessary to vary it; for other texts, translations are my own unless otherwise indicated. To a large extent the following discussion focuses in the DGB, which provides many more complex examples to consider, but some cases where Geoffrey draws on classical sources in the VM are also discussed. His debt to biblical sources in the latter is less easy to pin down; for a discussion of some of the theological aspects of the VM, see Barry Lewis’s chapter in this volume (pp. 420–23). I am grateful to Ben Guy for reading a draft of this chapter and for the comments of the anonymous referees, and also to the editors for their careful guidance and help. 2 DGB, Prologus 2.12–15: “... Rogatu itaque illius ductus, tametsi infra alienos ortulos falerata uerba non collegerim, agresti tamen stilo propriisque calamis contentus codicem illum in Latinum sermonem transferre curaui ...” Wright, and others (Geoffrey of Monmouth, De gestis Britonum, trans. L. Thorpe, Geoffrey of Monmouth: The History of the Kings of Britain, London, 1966, p. 51; Geoffrey of Monmouth, De gestis Britonum, trans. M.A. Faletra, The History of the Kings of Britain, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Peterborough, Ontario, 2007, p. 41), render stilo as “style” but it may be intended more precisely as stilus, “pen, stylus”.