Arthurian Chronicles

Wace and Layamon

ISBN 10: 0460115782 / ISBN 13: 9780460115780

Published by Everymans Library, 1976

About this Item

Minor shelf wear. Otherwise a square, tight, unmarked book.

Seller Inventory # 17525

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Arthurian Chronicles
• Publisher: Everymans Library
• Publication Date: 1976
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0460115782
• ISBN 13: 9780460115780
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

(Robert John) Wace (c. 1100 - c. 1174) was an Anglo-Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy. Roman de Brut (c. 1155) was based on the Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Its popularity is explained by the new accessibility to a wider public of the Arthur legend in a vernacular language. Wace was the first to mention the legend of King Arthur's Round Table and ascribe the name Excalibur to Arthur's sword, although he on the whole adds only minor details to Geoffrey's text. The Roman de Brut became the basis, in turn, for Layamon's Brut, an alliterative Middle English poem, and Piers Langtoft's Chronicle. His extant works include: Roman de Rou (c. 1174) - a verse history of the Dukes of Normandy. Other works, also in verse, include lives of Saint Margaret and Saint Nicholas.

About the Author

Wace (c. 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, 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.

Layamon spelled Laȝamon or Laȝamonn in his time, occasionally written Lawman - was a poet of the late 12th/early 13th century and author of the Brut, a notable work that was the first to present the legends of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in English poetry.

Gwyn Jones was professor of English Language and Literature, University College of Wales.

Eugene Mason was a British academic, who was active during the early twentieth century.