Brutus of Troy: And the Quest for the Ancestry of the British

by Anthony Adolph

The book covers the story of Britain's search for its identity before and after the arrival of Christianity, leading up to the invention of the seeds of the Brutus myth in the 600s AD. It charts the development of his myth into a fully blown adventure story under the pen of Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 1100s. It then explores Brutuss story through the Middle Ages, as the centerpiece of Britain's national consciousness and an important tool in royal and national propaganda and foreign policy (i.e. his myth was used as an excuse for invading Wales and Scotland). The book then charts the way his myth dropped out of mainstream politics and history after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and lived on in a new afterlife in literature. Though no longer part of the way Britain sees itself now (though maybe this book will change that!), the Brutus myth has been used in many alternative theories about Britain's origins and is still believed in by a small but hard core of Christians who see him as the divine instrument by which the ancestors of the Americans reached Britain in the first place

Genres: Nonfiction, History

224 pages, Hardcover

Published January 20, 2016

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"