Geoffrey Of Monmouth
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [1]
A celebrated chronicler and ecclesiastic of the 12th century, born in Monmouth, where he was educated in a Benedictine monastery; in 1152 he was made bishop of St. Asaph; his Latin "Chronicon sive Historia Britonum" contains a circumstantial account of British history compiled from Gildas, Nennius, and other early chroniclers, interwoven with current legends and pieced together with additions from his own fertile imagination, the whole professing to be a translation of a chronicle found in Brittany; this remarkable history is the source of the stories of King Lear, Cymbeline, Merlin, and of Arthur and his knights as they have since taken shape in English literature; d . about 1154.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]
(Gualfridus, Galfridus, Gaufridus) was first archdeacon of Monmouth, afterwards (1152) bishop of St. Assaph. He died in 1154. He wrote a Chronicon Sive Historia Britonum in 12 books, supposed by some to be a translation from the Welsli. It is one of the sources for the legendary history of Britain. The first edition is that of Paris, 1568, 4to; the latest, that of J.A. Giles (London, 1844, 8vo). Translated, The British History, from the Latin by A. Thompson, Esq. (Lond. 1718, 8vo; new ed. revised bay J.A. Giles, Lond. 1842, 8vo); also in Bohn's Antiquarian Library. See Wright, Biog. Britann. Lit., Anglo-Norman Period, pages 143-149.
