Brutus of Troy and the Quest for the Ancestry of the British

by Anthony Adolph

Just who did the British think they were? For much of the last 1,500 years, when the British looked back to their origins they saw the looming mythological figure of Brutus of Troy. A great-great-grandson of the love goddess Aphrodite through her Trojan son Aeneas (the hero of Virgil's Aeneid), Brutus accidentally killed his father and was exiled to Greece. He liberated the descendants of the Trojans who lived there in slavery and led them on an epic voyage to Britain. Landing at Totnes in Devon, Brutus overthrew the giants who lived in Britain, laid the foundations of Oxford University and London and sired a long line of kings, including King Arthur and the ancestors of the present Royal Family.Invented to give Britain a place in the overarching mythologies of the Classical world and the Bible, Brutus's story long underpinned the British identity and played a crucial role in royal propaganda and foreign policy. His story inspired generations of poets and playwrights, including Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Wordsworth, Dickens and Blake, whose hymn 'Jerusalem' was a direct response to the story of Brutus founding London as the New Troy in the west. Leading genealogist Anthony Adolph traces Brutus's story from Roman times onwards, charting his immense popularity and subsequent fall from grace, along with his lasting legacy in fiction, pseudo-history and the arcane mythology surrounding some of London's best-known landmarks, in this groundbreaking biography of the mythological founder of BritainREVIEWS On his last book, In Search of Our Ancient Ancestors, Anthony Adolph gave us a long view of genealogy, exploring the pedigree of the human race, and the British in particular, since primeval times. This book is a sequel in a sense, but now moves away from what science and history have told us into more mythological territory, to explore what might be described as the psychological ancestry of the British. Here the story begins with the legendary figure of Brutus, whom the 9th century chronicler Nennius claimed gave his name to our islands. His account, as with so much of our earliest history, was then much embellished by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century. The result is a fascinating account of how the British people have mythologised themselves as New Trojans although Brutus (whom nobody today claims as a historical figure) is himself generally forgotten today, his legacy is certainly with us, every time we sing Jerusalem or visit a place claimed to be linked to King Arthur. READ IT FOR: A unique exploration of the ancient foundations of being British.Your Family History magazine UK March 2016"

Genres: Nonfiction, History

Hardcover

Published January 1, 2015

About the author

I went to St George’s College, Weybridge; Durham University (studying Medieval history) and The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies, Canterbury, where I became a professional genealogist. I have been a freelance genealogist since 2003. I try to bring all my practical skills in historical and genealogical research to my writing, which I hope gives it an edge over many professional writers, who are not also day-to-day researchers. Besides research and writing I am also an occasional broadcaster. My most recent T.V. appearance was on the Australian version of Who Do You Think You Are? with Barry Humphries, the genius behind Dame Edna Everage. Although our interview appears in the middle of the program, it was actually the last bit of filming he ever did before his death. We shared a love of gardening, we discovered, and landscape painting. All of which is simply to show that good writers (like good entertainers) are not one-dimensional.

Reviews

[Simon Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across this book randomly and did not expect much but I have to say it was very enjoyable indeed. I was very impressed with how thoroughly the historical and cultural circumstances of the origins of the myths were explored, and all described concisely and with a little bit of dry humour too. Really helped me to link a lot of historical elements together in my head. Seeing the development of so many different versions of the story could have been baffling but I came away with a very clear appreciation of it all - I've never read anything quite like it.

[Jerry Owens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written and interesting but conclusion is wrong.

[Jon Mackley · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a lot of interesting elements in this book. However, all too often the author posits ideas with the precursor "perhaps" or "it is possible", when there is clearly no evidence other than speculation. This means it's very hard to sift out what is the author's own hypothesis, and ideas established by other scholars (althou the author points out in Brutus's case, the fact that an author is citing an earlier authoriuty doesn't necessarily give it credence!) It would have been helpful if the author had cited his sources throughout, so that the reader could follow up those references and draw their own conclusions.

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, interesting history of a myth that was once at the heart of British identity, but has been largely forgotten now. The author tracks the story through the ages, from medieval historians to Victorian romantics and shows how it expresses efforts to link British genealogy back to classical and biblical sources.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hard read but a fascinating and worthwhile read of the pseudo history of Britain. A story told over and over again where fact and fiction meet. Mr. Adolph did a good job of informing on what was believed and what we now believe happened with the backing of more hard facts. This book is a lot of information but if you take your time it gives an insight to how people see and interpret a story and how that something based in myth can become "History"