The opening of theRoman de Brut inDurham Cathedral MS C. iv. 27. This is the earliest manuscript of the poem, and dates from the late 12th century.
TheBrut orRoman de Brut (completed 1155) by the poetWace is a loose and expanded translation in almost 15,000 lines ofNorman-French verse ofGeoffrey of Monmouth's LatinHistory of the Kings of Britain.[1] It was formerly known as theBrut d'Engleterre orRoman des Rois d'Angleterre, though Wace's own name for it was theGeste des Bretons, orDeeds of the Britons.[2][3] Its genre is equivocal, being more than achronicle but not quite a fully-fledgedromance.[4]
It narrates a largely fictional version of Britain's story from its settlement byBrutus, a refugee fromTroy, who gives the poem its name, through a thousand years of pseudohistory, including the story of kingLeir, up to theRoman conquest, the introduction of Christianity, and the legends ofsub-Roman Britain, ending with the reign of the 7th-century kingCadwallader. Especially prominent is its account of the life ofKing Arthur, the first in any vernacular language,[5] which instigated and influenced a whole school of FrenchArthurian romances dealing with theRound Table – here making its first appearance in literature – and with the adventures of its various knights.
The Norman poetWace was born on the island ofJersey around the beginning of the 12th century, and was educated first atCaen on the mainland and later in Paris, or perhapsChartres. He returned to Caen and there began writing narrative poems.[6] At some point in this stage of his life he visited southern England, perhaps on business, perhaps to conduct research, perhaps even wanting to visitGeoffrey of Monmouth,[7][8] whose LatinHistoria Regum Britanniae he translated as theRoman de Brut. TheBrut's subject, the history of Britain from its mythicalTrojan beginnings, was calculated to appeal to a secular Norman readership at a time whenNormandy and England formed part of the same realm. Working under the patronage ofHenry II, he completed his poem in 1155, and presented a copy of it toEleanor of Aquitaine, Henry's wife.[9] Its success is evidenced by the large number of surviving manuscripts, and by its extensive influence on later writers.[10]
The primary source of theRoman de Brut is Geoffrey of Monmouth'sHistoria Regum Britanniae, a pseudo-history of Britain from its settlement by the eponymousBrutus and his band of Trojans down to the eclipse of native British power in the 7th century. It magnifies the prestige of British rulers at the expense of their Roman contemporaries, and includes an account ofKing Arthur's reign. Wace knew this work in two versions: the Vulgate, written by Geoffrey himself, and the Variant, a rewriting of Geoffrey's text by person or persons unknown.[11]
Wace made two significant additions to the story on the authority, as he tells us, ofBreton tales he had heard. One is King Arthur'sRound Table, which here makes its appearance in world literature for the first time, and the other is the Breton belief thatArthur still remains inAvalon.[12][13] There may, however, be quite a different reason for giving Arthur a Round Table, since there is good iconographic evidence to suppose that round or semi-circular tables were commonly used before Wace's time for ostentatious feasts.[14] Other minor sources of theBrut include the Bible,Goscelin's life of St.Augustine of Canterbury, theHistoria Brittonum,William of Malmesbury'sGesta Regum Anglorum,Geoffrey Gaimar's earlier translation of theHistoria Regum Britanniae, and suchchansons de geste as the anonymousGormond et Isembart. Certain changes he made in geographical details suggest that Wace also drew on his personal knowledge of Normandy, Brittany and southern England.[15][16][17]
Wace makes some omissions of controversial or politically charged passages from his source text, notably the whole of Book 7 of theHistoria Regum Britanniae,Merlin's prophecies, which he tells us he will not translate because he does not understand them. He also shortens or cuts out some passages of church history, expressions of exaggerated sentiment, and descriptions of barbarous or brutal behaviour, and in battle scenes he omits some of the tactical details in favour of observations bringing out the pathos of war.[18][19][20][21] In the material he keeps he makes many changes and additions. He presents the action of Geoffrey's story with greater vividness, the characters have clearer motivation and more individuality, a certain amount of humour is added and the role of the supernatural is downplayed.[22][23][24] He adds a good deal of dialogue and commentary to Geoffrey's narrative, and adapts it to the royal listeners it was intended for, adding details drawn from 12th-century military and court life. The overall effect is to reconcile his story to the new chivalric and romantic ethos of his own day.[25] He is especially assiduous in highlighting the splendour of the court of king Arthur, the beauty of its ladies and gallantry of its knights, the relationship betweenGuinevere andMordred, the depth of Arthur's love for Guinevere and grief over the deaths of his knights, and the knightly prowess ofGawain,Kay andBedivere.[26][27][28] He expands with descriptive passages of his own episodes such as Arthur's setting sail for Europe, the twelve years of peace in the middle of his reign, and his splendid conquests in Scandinavia and France.[19][29][30] By such means he expands Arthur's share of the whole story from one fifth of theHistoria to one third of theBrut.[31]
Wace's chosen meter, theoctosyllabic couplet, was in the 12th century considered suitable for many purposes, but especially for translations from Latin. He had already used it in earlier works,[32] and in theBrut managed it with facility and smoothness. His language was a literary form ofOld French, the dialect beingNorman, but not markedly so. He was a master of the architecture of the phrase and theperiod, and also of rhythmic effects.[33][34] The rhetorical devices he most favoured were repetition (both in the forms ofanaphora andepizeuxis),parallelism,antithesis, and the use ofsententiae, or gnomic sayings.[35][36][37] He had a rich vocabulary, could employ an almost epigrammatic irony, and, while conforming to the conventions of poetic art, gave an appearance of spontaneity to his verse. His style was neat, lively, and essentially simple.[38][33] His poem is sometimes garrulous, but moderately so by medieval standards, and he avoids the other medieval vice of exaggeration.[36][39] As an authorial voice he distances himself from the narrative, adding his own comments on the action.[40][41] Often he confesses ignorance of precisely what happened, but only on very minor details, thereby buttressing his authority on the essentials of his story.[42] He conjures up his scenes with a remarkable vividness which his Latin original sometimes lacks,[43] and his descriptions of bustling everyday life, maritime scenes and episodes of high drama are especially accomplished.[44][45]
The emphasis Wace placed on the rivalries between his knights and on the role of love in their lives had a profound effect on writers of his own and later generations.[46] His influence can be seen in some of the very earliest romances, including theRoman d'Enéas and theRoman de Troie, and inRenaud de Beaujeu'sLe Bel Inconnu and the works ofGautier d'Arras.[47][48][49]Thomas of Britain's romanceTristan draws on theBrut for historical details, particularly the story of Gormon, and follows its example in matters of style.[50][51] His influence is especially evident in the field of Arthurian romance, later writers taking up his hint that many tales are told of the Round Table and that each of its members is equally renowned.[46] There are general resemblances between theBrut and the poems ofChrétien de Troyes, in that both are Arthurian narratives in octosyllabic couplets, as well as stylistic similarities,[52][44] but there are also specific signs of Chrétien's debt. He adapts Geoffrey's narrative of Mordred's last campaign against Arthur in his romance ofCligès,[53] and various passages in theBrut contribute to his account of the festivities at Arthur's court inErec and Enide.[54] There are likewise verbal reminiscences of theBrut inPhilomela andGuillaume d'Angleterre, two poems sometimes attributed to Chrétien.[47] It is certain thatMarie de France had read Wace, but less certain how many passages in herLais show its influence, only the raids by the Picts and Scots inLanval being quite unambiguous.[50][55] Two of theBreton lais written in imitation of Marie de France also show clear signs of indebtedness to theBrut. It gave toRobert Biket'sLai du Cor certain elements of its style and several circumstantial details, and to the anonymousMelion a number of plot-points.[56] The description ofTintagel in theFolie Tristan d'Oxford included details taken from theRoman de Brut.[57] In the early 13th centuryLe Chevalier aux Deux Epees was still demonstrating the influence theRoman de Brut could exert. In this case the author seems to have been impressed by Wace's account of Arthur's birth, character, battles, and tragic death.[58]Robert de Boron based his verse romanceMerlin, which only survives in fragmentary form, on theRoman de Brut, with some additions from theHistoria Regum Britanniae,[59] and also drew on theBrut for his prose romanceDidot Perceval.[44] The story of Robert'sMerlin was continued in the proseSuite Merlin, one of the romances in theLancelot-Grail or Vulgate Cycle, which likewise takes and adapts Wace's narrative, especially when describing Arthur's Roman war.[60] The final sections of theMort Artu, another Vulgate romance, take their narrative basis from Wace's account of the end of Arthur's reign, and his influence also appears in theLivre d'Artus, a romance loosely associated with the Vulgate Cycle.[44][61] Much later, the mid-15th centuryRecueil des croniques et anchiennes istories de la Grant Bretaigne byJean de Wavrin, a compilation of earlier chronicles, takes its British history up to the beginning of the Arthurian period from an anonymous French adaptation of Wace'sBrut dating fromc. 1400, though with substantial additions taken from the romances.[62][63]
The influence of Wace'sBrut also exerted itself in England. Around the year 1200Layamon, aWorcestershire priest, produceda Middle English poem on British history, largely based on Wace though with some omissions and additions. Though this was the first version of Wace in English it was not particularly influential, further Bruts, as they became generically known, taking more of their material directly from Wace.[64][65] In the second half of the 13th century the widely-readAnglo-Norman verse chronicle ofPeter Langtoft, divided into three books, presented in its first book an adaptation of Wace'sBrut in over 3000 lines.[66] Around the end of the 13th century there appeared theProseBrut, written in Anglo-Norman prose and taking its material, at any rate in the earlier sections, mostly from Wace'sBrut and Geoffrey Gaimar'sEstoire des Engleis. It re-appeared many times in the succeeding years in revised and expanded versions, some of them in Middle English translation. In all, at least 240 manuscripts of its various recensions are known, demonstrating its immense popularity.[67][68] In 1338Robert Mannyng, already known for his devotional workHandlyng Synne, produced a long verseChronicle orStory of England which, for its first 13,400 lines, sticks close to Wace'sBrut before starting to introduce elements from other sources, notably Langtoft's chronicle.[69][70][71] Other Middle English Bruts deriving from Langtoft include that published in 1480 by William Caxton under the title ofThe Brut of England.[72] The chronicle that passes under the name of Thomas of Castleford, though he may not have been the author, relies on Geoffrey of Monmouth for its early history, but takes its account of King Arthur's Round Table from Wace.[73] Yet another translation of Wace'sBrut, this time into Middle English prose, was produced in the late 14th century and is preserved in College of Arms MS. Arundel XXII.[74][75] Mannyng'sChronicle and Wace's and Layamon'sBruts are among the sources that have been suggested for the late 14th centuryAlliterativeMorte Arthure.[76][77]Arthur, a late 14th or early 15th century romance preserved in a manuscript called the Liber Rubeus Bathoniae, seems to have been based on a version of Wace'sBrut expanded with some elements from Layamon'sBrut and the AlliterativeMorte Arthure.[78] The dates of Wace manuscripts show that he remained relatively popular in England into the 14th century, but from the 15th century onward his readership faded away.[79]
The construction ofStonehenge byMerlin, fromBritish Library MSEgerton 3028, an early 14th century manuscript of Wace'sBrut. This is the earliest known image of Stonehenge.[80]
More than thirty manuscripts of Wace'sBrut, either complete or fragmentary, are known to exist, though more fragments continue to be discovered from time to time. They were produced in roughly equal numbers in England and in France, demonstrating that it was a highly popular work in both countries.[81][82] Nineteen of these manuscripts give a more or less complete text of the poem, of which the two oldest areDurham Cathedral MS C. iv. 27 (late 12th century) andLincoln Cathedral MS 104 (early 13th century).[83] Both of these manuscripts also include Geoffrey Gaimar'sEstoire des Engleis and the chronicle ofJordan Fantosme, the three works forming in combination an almost continuous narrative of Britain's story from Brutus the Trojan's invasion up to the reign of Henry II.[84] This indicates that early readers of theBrut read it as history; however, later manuscripts tend to include Arthurian romances rather than chronicles, showing that theBrut was by then treated as fictional.[85]
Arnold, Ivor, ed. (1938–1940).Le roman de Brut de Wace. Paris: Société des anciens textes français. Retrieved30 April 2020.
Arnold, I. D. O.; Pelan, M. M., eds. (1962).La partie arthurienne du Roman de Brut. Bibliothèque française et romane. Série B: Textes et documents, 1. Paris: C. Klincksieck.ISBN2252001305. Retrieved1 May 2020.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) Covers those parts of theBrut that detail the life of King Arthur.
^Labory, Gillette (2004)."Les debuts de la chronique en français (XIIe et XIIIe siècles)". In Kooper, Erik (ed.).The Medieval Chronicle III: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on the Medieval Chronicle Doorn/Utrecht 12–17 July 2002 (in French). Amsterdam: Rodopi. p. 5.ISBN9042018348. Retrieved5 May 2020.
^Lawman (1992).Brut. Translated by Allen, Rosamund. London: J. M. Dent. p. xvi.ISBN0460860720. Retrieved6 May 2020.
^Saunders, Corinne (2009)."Religion and magic". In Archibald, Elizabeth; Putter, Ad (eds.).The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 204.ISBN9780521860598. Retrieved6 May 2020.
^Putter, Ad (2009)."The twelfth-century Arthur". In Archibald, Elizabeth; Putter, Ad (eds.).The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 43.ISBN9780521860598. Retrieved6 May 2020.
^Shepherd, G. T. (1970). "Early Middle English literature". In Bolton, W. F. (ed.).The Middle Ages. History of Literature in the English Language, Volume I. London: Barrie & Jenkins. pp. 80–81.ISBN9780214650802.
^Burrow, J. A. (2009)."The fourteenth-century Arthur". In Archibald, Elizabeth; Putter, Ad (eds.).The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 69.ISBN9780521860598. Retrieved7 May 2020.
Arnold, Ivor, ed. (1938).Le roman de Brut de Wace. Tome 1 (in French). Paris: Société des anciens textes français. Retrieved4 May 2020.
Arnold, I. D. O.; Pelan, M. M., eds. (1962).La partie arthurienne du Roman de Brut. Bibliothèque française et romane. Série B: Textes et documents, 1 (in French). Paris: C. Klincksieck.ISBN2252001305. Retrieved4 May 2020.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Jones, Gwyn (1996) [1962]."Introduction".Wace and Layamon: Arthurian Chronicles. Translated by Mason, Eugene. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.ISBN0802071767. Retrieved6 May 2020.
Wace (2005).Le Roman de Brut: The French Book of Brutus. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 279. Translated by Glowka, Arthur Wayne. Tempe, Arizona: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.ISBN0866983228. Retrieved5 May 2020.
Weiss, Judith (1997). "Introduction to Wace".Wace and Lawman: The Life of King Arthur. Translated by Weiss, Judith; Allen, Rosamund. London: Dent.ISBN0460875701.
