A Companion to Geoffrey of Monmouth

A Companion to Geoffrey of Monmouth brings together scholars from a range of disciplines to provide an updated scholarly introduction to all aspects of his work. Arguably the most influential secular writer of medieval Britain, Geoffrey (d. 1154) popularized Arthurian literature and left an indelible mark on European romance, history, and genealogy. Despite this outsized influence, Geoffrey’s own life, background, and motivations are little understood. The volume situates his life and works within their immediate historical context, and frames them within current critical discussion across the humanities. By necessity, this volume concentrates primarily on Geoffrey’s own life and times, with the reception of his works covered by a series of short encyclopaedic overviews, organized by language, that serve as guides to further reading. Contributors are Jean Blacker, Elizabeth Bryan, Thomas H. Crofts, Siân Echard, Fabrizio De Falco, Michael Faletra, Ben Guy, Santiago Gutiérrez Garci´a, Nahir I. Otaño Gracia, Paloma Gracia, Georgia Henley, David F. Johnson, Owain Wyn Jones, Maud Burnett McInerney, Françoise Le Saux, Barry Lewis, Coral Lumbley, Simon Meecham-Jones, Paul Russell, Victoria Shirley, Joshua Byron Smith, Jaakko Tahkokallio, Hélène Tétrel, Rebecca Thomas, Fiona Tolhurst.

Table of Contents:
Contents A Note on Translations List of Figures Abbreviations Contributors Introduction and Biography  Joshua Byron Smith Part 1: Sources 1 Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Welsh Sources  Ben Guy 2 Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Classical and Biblical Inheritance  Paul Russell 3 Geoffrey of Monmouth and the English Past  Rebecca Thomas 4 Riddling Words: the Prophetiae Merlini  Maud Burnett McInerney Part 2: Contemporary Contexts 5 Early Manuscript Dissemination  Jaakko Tahkokallio 6 Early Reactions to Geoffrey’s Work  Simon Meecham-Jones 7 The Latin Reception of the De gestis Britonum  Siân Echard 8 Geoffrey of Monmouth’s De gestis Britonum and Twelfth-Century Romance  Françoise Le Saux 9 The Most Excellent Princes: Geoffrey of Monmouth and Medieval Welsh Historical Writing  Owain Wyn Jones 10 Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Conventions of History Writing in Early 12th-Century England  Georgia Henley Part 3: Approaches 11 Colonial Preoccupations in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s De gestis Britonum  Michael Faletra 12 Geoffrey and Gender: the Works of Geoffrey of Monmouth as Medieval “Feminism”  Fiona Tolhurst 13 Geoffrey of Monmouth and Race  Coral Lumbley 14 Religion and the Church in Geoffrey of Monmouth  Barry Lewis Part 4: Reception 15 Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Byzantine Reception  Thomas H. Crofts 16 The De gestis Britonum in Castile  Paloma Gracia 17 The Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth in the Crown of Aragon  Nahir I. Otaño Gracia 18 The Middle Dutch Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth  David F. Johnson 19 The English Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth  Elizabeth Bryan 20 The Anglo-Norman and Continental French Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Corpus from the 12th to the 15th Centuries  Jean Blacker 21 The German Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth  Joshua Byron Smith 22 The Old Icelandic “Brut”  Hélène Tétrel 23 The Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth in Ireland  Joshua Byron Smith 24 The Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Work in Italy  Fabrizio De Falco 25 Geoffrey of Monmouth in Portugal and Galicia  Santiago Gutiérrez García 26 The Scottish Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth  Victoria Shirley 27 The Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth in Wales  Ben Guy Bibliography Index