Roman de Brut

by Wace, Layamon, Eugene Mason (Translator)

The Arthurian Chronicles Roman De Brut is a book that tells the story of King Arthur and his knights, as well as the history of Britain during the time of their reign. The book is a compilation of two medieval texts, the Roman de Brut by Wace and the Brut by Layamon. The Roman de Brut was written in the 12th century by Wace, a Norman poet, and tells the story of the legendary Brutus of Troy, who is said to have founded Britain. The book then goes on to recount the history of Britain up until the time of King Arthur, including the reign of the Roman Empire and the arrival of the Saxons. The Brut by Layamon, written in the 13th century, continues the story of King Arthur, detailing his battles and adventures, including his quest for the Holy Grail. The book also includes the stories of other famous knights such as Sir Gawain and Sir Lancelot. Together, the two texts provide a comprehensive account of the Arthurian legend, including the history, mythology, and romance that have made it one of the most enduring stories in Western literature. The Arthurian Chronicles Roman De Brut is a must-read for anyone interested in medieval literature, mythology, or the history of Britain.Translated By Eugene Mason.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Genres: Classics, Arthurian, Poetry, Fiction, Medieval, French Literature, Epic

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1155

About the author

Wace (c. 1115 – c. 1183) was a Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the Roman de Rou that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his career as Canon of Bayeux.

Wace, dit aussi Guace ou Wistace était un poète normand, né à Jersey. Ses deux œuvres majeures sont le Roman de Brut et le Roman de Rou.

Sometimes referred to as Robert Wace.

Reviews

[Rosa Ramôa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Usamos os animais dos camponeses,todos os dias,para trabalharem nas terras dos senhores e são tantas as queixas e conflitos,os impostos antigos e recentes,que nunca tem uma hora de paz." (adaptado)

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wace's Roman de Brut is basically a translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia, into a vernacular language, though only of the parts concerning Arthur and the bit immediately preceding it (setting the stage, as it were). He does make some key additions, though, being the first to include the Round Table, and I think he was also the first to name Excalibur. His account also influenced Layamon's, which I hope to read soon.

I'm not entirely sure who translated my edition, which is irritating. It was quite an old one, and full of archaic language, some of which I had to look up (which is unusual, for me). Pretty dry.

Like the Historia, it's pseudo-history, a chronicle, not yet a romance. Arthur is an active king, unlike in many of the romances. There's not much individual characterisation, though.

[Matthew Richey · Rating 3 out of 5]

An adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain. He (wisely) skips Merlin's prophecy, saying he has no idea what it means. Not very engaging. If you've read HKB, no real reason to read this unless you are weird like me and want to work your way through the Arthur tradition systematically.

[Aria]

Read TOG version

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

In between a three and a four I think. As good as it can be being what it is. It's just broad strokes epic style narrative. Fun though!

[Joseph F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book combines both versions of the Brut: one by the Norman poet Wace, and the other by the English Layamon. The translation is by Mason. I actually read these as two separate downloads for my kindle. But in print, they seem to have once been together.
The two stories are remarkably similar, the difference is more in the style of writing. The Layamon is far more archaic sounding with such words as hight, wight, huster and mickle (which means "much" from its context in the sentence!)
I think I like the Wace version a bit more. So if you finish that one first and had enough for now, the Layamon version can wait. But that's just my opinion.
The story begins with Constantine of Britain and the traitor Vortigern, who disenfranchises his fellow Britains by inviting the Saxons over. This is something one must not do, for the Germans are seen as untrustworthy and heathenish, and Vortigern himself has to flee their treachery when they start taking over Britain. Merlin enters the picture and foretells the death of Vortigern. He is eventually burned in his castle by the rightful king Aurelius, who is then poisoned at a young age. Uther then takes over. He begets Arthur (with the help of Merlin), by sleeping with another man's wife.
After a time of peace, Uther is poisoned and Arthur becomes king. He destroys the remaining German contingent in Britain and then successfully conquers most of Northern Europe. He then pisses off the Romans by conquering France and a great war ensues. He is successful at first, but (spoiler alert!), when he is on the verge of marching into Rome, his plans are foiled by his treacherous nephew Mordred.
This is a great addition for anyone interested in early Arthurian literature, the stuff before the more popular Le Morte D'Arthur by Mallory, Idylls of the King by Tennyson, and The Once and Future King by White. It tells a shorter story from beginning to end. Be that as it may, some may be disappointed at the lack of more familiar motifs that have not developed yet. Here you will not find Morgan Le Fay, the Lady of the Lake, Lancelot, Tristan and Isolde, or the grail story featuring Perceval, Bors and Galahad. But this story is also interesting in that it more closely resembles what really might have happened in history, that is, Arthur being a Britain who was trying to keep out the English speaking Saxons. The British are never called English. It is only in the later literature that Arthur and Britain is seen as England.
The story is epic in feel with tons of war and bloodshed. It feels a bit less like a romance, with a knight going on an enchanted quest, which also came later thanks to the efforts of Chretien de Troys.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wace's "Roman de Brut" is one of the oldest surviving histories of the time of King Arthur. Written around 1100 AD, the original author opens his tale by saying that the history of this time is already an ambiguous mix of fact and legend, and that he has intentionally left out parts that do not seem to conform to fact or are different in every account. For instance, much of Merlin's life is removed from Wace's account because he considered that information unreliable. Still, this is middle-ages history and not modern-style history; it is written in the manner of a story and not a list of facts and references.

This edition is a bare-bones copy of the text with a short introduction on Wace, but it is practically the only available copy of Wace's history.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whew… a hard read for many reasons. The first and foremost being that the format and language is of an antiquated style. There is also the lack of separation, no chapters, as this is once again an older style. The paragraphs are long and somewhat bloated.

Overall, despite the issues with the read, it doesn’t detract from the story. It gives it a feeling of the time period that the story takes place in. The form makes it seem more spoken, similar to the way a bard would tell a story. Not bad, but I can’t say it was great either. It is difficult to judge books that are this antiquated.

[Benji Cossa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wace's is the only book I could find that went back and told Arthur's lineage from the coming of Constantine to Britain.There is so much cool stuff in here. They say it's the first elaborate story of Arthur- Geoffrey of Monmouth being the first book to have him in his History of Britain which I haven't read. It's a very different telling than the usual Malory stuff with a lot of detail and a pretty friendly voice.

[James Madsen]

Layamon's long text is one of the earliest compilations of Arthurian stories and predates even Le Morte d'Arthur.

[Seamaiden · Rating 3 out of 5]

A full chronicle from long before Arthur's birth to his death. Too many names, too many battles. However, it was easy to read.