Chapter One: Modred Makes a Great Slaughter of Arthur’s Men, but Is Beaten, and Flees to Winchester. #

¹ Of the matter now to be treated, most noble consul, Geoffrey of Monmouth shall remain silent; nevertheless, though in a humble style, he will briefly relate what he found in the British book mentioned above, and what he heard from that most learned historian, Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, concerning the wars which this renowned king, after returning to Britain following this victory, waged against his nephew. As soon, therefore, as the report of this flagrant wickedness reached him, he immediately abandoned his enterprise against Leo, king of the Romans; and, having sent Hoel, duke of the Armoricans, away with the army of Gaul to restore peace in those parts, he returned swiftly to Britain, attended only by the kings of the islands and their armies. But the wicked traitor, Modred, had sent Cheldric, the Saxon leader, into Germany to raise all the forces he could find there and return with all speed; and, in return for this service, had promised him all that part of the island which stretches from the Humber to Scotland, together with whatever Hengist and Horsus had possessed in Kent in the time of Vortegim. Accordingly, in obedience to his commands, Cheldric arrived with eight hundred ships filled with pagan soldiers and entered into a covenant to obey the traitor as his sovereign. Modred had also drawn to his aid the Scots, Picts, Irish, and all others whom he knew to be enemies of his uncle. His whole army, pagans and Christians together, amounted to eighty thousand men. With their help, he met Arthur just after his landing at the port of Rutupi and, joining battle with him, made a very great slaughter of his men. On that same day Augusel, king of Albania, and Walgan, the king’s nephew, fell, together with innumerable others. Augusel was succeeded in his kingdom by Eventus, his brother Urian’s son, who afterwards performed many famous exploits in those wars. After Arthur’s forces had at last, with much difficulty, reached the shore, they repaid the slaughter and put Modred and his army to flight. Through long experience in war, they had learned an excellent method of arranging their forces. It was managed in such a way that, while their foot soldiers were engaged either in an assault or in defence, the horsemen would charge obliquely at full speed, break through the enemy’s ranks, and so force them to flee. Nevertheless, this perjured usurper gathered his forces together again and entered Winchester the following night. As soon as Queen Guanhumara heard this, she immediately despaired of success and fled from York to the City of Legions, where she resolved to lead a chaste life among the nuns in the church of Julius the Martyr and to enter their order herself.

Chapter Two: Modred, After Being Twice Besieged and Routed, Is Killed. Arthur, Being Wounded, Gives Up the Kingdom to Constantine. #

¹ But Arthur, whose anger was now much more inflamed by the loss of so many hundreds of his fellow soldiers, buried his slain and, on the third day, advanced to the city, where he besieged the traitor. Modred, however, was unwilling to abandon his enterprise, but used every means to encourage his adherents and, marching out with his troops, prepared to fight his uncle. In the battle that followed, great numbers lost their lives on both sides; but at last Modred’s army suffered most, so that he was forced to leave the field in disgrace. From there he fled precipitately and, without taking any care to bury his slain, marched hastily towards Cornwall. Arthur, inwardly grieved that he had escaped so often, immediately pursued him into that country as far as the river Cambula, where Modred was awaiting his arrival. And Modred, being the boldest of men and always the quickest to attack, immediately drew up his troops, resolving either to conquer or die rather than continue his flight any longer. He still had sixty thousand men remaining with him, from whom he formed three divisions, each containing six thousand six hundred and sixty-six men; all the rest he joined into one body. Having assigned leaders to each of the other divisions, he took command of this one himself. After arranging his forces in this way, he endeavoured to inspire them and promised them the estates of their enemies if they emerged victorious. Arthur, on the other side, also marshalled his army, dividing it into nine square companies with a right and left wing. Having appointed commanders to each of them, he urged them to rout completely those robbers and perjured villains who, having been brought into the island from foreign countries at the instigation of the arch-traitor, were attempting to rob them of all their honours. He also told them that a mixed army composed of barbarous people from so many different countries, all of them raw soldiers inexperienced in war, would never be able to withstand such brave veteran troops as themselves, provided that they did their duty. After each general had given this encouragement to his fellow soldiers, the battle suddenly began with great fury. It would be both grievous and tedious to relate the slaughter, the cruel havoc and the extreme fury displayed on both sides. In this manner they spent a good part of the day, until Arthur at last launched an attack with his company of six thousand six hundred and sixty-six men against the division in which he knew Modred to be. Having opened a path with their swords, they pierced straight through it and inflicted a grievous slaughter. In this assault the wicked traitor himself fell, together with many thousands. Yet, despite his loss, the rest did not flee, but gathered together from every part of the field and held their ground with undaunted courage. The fighting now grew more furious than ever and proved fatal to almost all the commanders and their forces. On Modred’s side fell Cheldric, Elasius, Egbrict and Bunignus, Saxons; Gillapatric, Gillamor, Gistafel and Gillarius, Irish; as well as the Scots and Picts, with almost all their leaders. On Arthur’s side fell Olbrict, king of Norway; Aschillius, king of Dacia; Cador Limenic; Cassibellaun; and many thousands of others, both Britons and foreigners, whom he had brought with him. Even the renowned King Arthur himself was mortally wounded; and, being carried from there to the isle of Avallon to be cured of his wounds, he gave up the crown of Britain to his kinsman Constantine, the son of Cador, duke of Cornwall, in the five hundred and forty-second year of our Lord’s incarnation.

Chapter Three: Constantine Meets with Disturbances from the Saxons and Modred’s Sons. #

¹ When Constantine ascended the throne, the Saxons, together with the two sons of Modred, rose in insurrection against him, though without success; for after many battles they fled, one to London and the other to Winchester, and took possession of those places. Then Saint Daniel, the pious prelate of the church of Bangor, died; and Theon, bishop of Gloucester, was elected archbishop of London. At the same time David, the pious archbishop of Legions, also died at the city of Menevia, in his own abbey, which he loved above all the other monasteries of his diocese because Saint Patrick, who had prophetically foretold his birth, had founded it. While residing there among his friars, he was struck by a sudden illness, from which he died, and, at the command of Malgo, king of the Venedotians, was buried in that church. He was succeeded in the metropolitan see by Kinocus, bishop of the church of Lampatem, who was thus raised to a higher dignity.

Chapter Four: Constantine, After Having Murdered the Sons of Modred, Is Himself Killed by Conan. #

¹ But Constantine pursued the Saxons and brought them under his yoke. He also captured the two sons of Modred; and one of them, who had fled for sanctuary to the church of St. Amphibaius in Winchester, he murdered before the altar. The other had hidden himself in a convent of friars in London, but at last Constantine discovered him, brought him before the altar and put him to death there. Three years later, Constantine himself was killed by Conan, as the vengeance of God pursued him, and was buried close beside Uther Pendragon within the structure of stones that had been erected with wonderful skill not far from Salisbury and was called Stanheng in the English tongue.

Chapter Five: Aurelius Conan Reigns After Constantine. #

¹ After him came Aurelius Conan, his nephew, a young man of remarkable valour who, when he gained the monarchy of the whole island, would have been worthy of its crown had he not delighted in civil war. He raised disturbances against his uncle, who ought to have reigned after Constantine, and cast him into prison; then, after killing his two sons, he obtained the kingdom, but died in the second year of his reign.

Chapter Six: Wortiporius, Being Declared King, Conquers the Saxons. #

¹ After Conan came Wortiporius, against whom the Saxons rebelled and brought over their countrymen from Germany in a very large fleet. But he gave them battle and emerged victorious, so that he obtained the monarchy of the whole kingdom and governed the people carefully and peacefully for four years.

Chapter Seven: Malgo, King of Britain, and a Most Graceful Person, Addicts Himself to Sodomy. #

¹ After him came Malgo, one of the handsomest men in Britain, a great scourge of tyrants, and a man of great strength, extraordinary generosity and matchless valour, but very much addicted to the detestable vice of sodomy, by which he made himself abominable to God. He also possessed the whole island, to which, after a cruel war, he added the six provincial islands, namely Ireland, Iceland, Gothland, the Orkneys, Norway and Dacia.

Chapter Eight: Britain, in the Flame of a Civil War Under King Careticus, Is Miserably Wasted by the Saxons and Africans. #

¹ After Malgo came Careticus, a lover of civil war who was hateful to God and to the Britons. The Saxons, discovering his fickle disposition, went to Ireland to seek Gonnund, king of the Africans, who had arrived there with a very great fleet and had subdued that country. From there, at their treacherous instigation, he sailed over to Britain, which was being laid wholly waste by the perfidious Saxons in one part and by the Britons in another through their continual wars among themselves. Entering into an alliance with the Saxons, he made war upon King Careticus and, after fighting several battles, drove him from city to city until at last he forced him into Cirecester and besieged him there. Here Isembard, the nephew of Lewis, king of the Franks, came and made a league of friendship with him. Out of respect for him, Isembard renounced the Christian faith on condition that he would assist him in gaining the kingdom of Gaul from his uncle, by whom, he said, he had been forcibly and unjustly expelled from it. At last, after taking and burning the city, he fought another battle with Careticus and forced him to flee beyond the Severn into Wales. He then utterly devastated the country, set fire to the neighbouring cities and continued these outrages until he had almost burnt the whole surface of the island from one sea to the other. Thus, cultivation was everywhere destroyed, and the husbandmen and clergy were generally slaughtered with fire and sword. This terrible calamity caused those who remained to flee wherever they had any hope of safety.

Chapter Nine: The Author Upbraids the Britons. #

¹ “Why, foolish nation, oppressed by the weight of your abominable wickedness, why did you, in your insatiable thirst for civil wars, so weaken yourself through internal conflict that, whereas you formerly brought distant kingdoms under your yoke, you are now, like a good vineyard that has degenerated and turned bitter, unable to defend your country, your wives or your children against your enemies? Go on, go on with your civil dissensions, scarcely understanding the saying in the Gospel: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation, and a house divided against itself shall fall” [Luke 11:17]. Since, then, your kingdom was divided against itself; since the fury of civil discord and the fumes of envy have darkened your minds; and since your pride would not allow you to obey one king, you now see your country laid desolate by impious pagans and your houses falling one upon another. This shall cause lasting sorrow to your descendants. For the barbarous lionesses shall see their whelps enjoying the towns, cities and other possessions of your children, from which they shall be miserably expelled and shall hardly, if ever, recover their former flourishing state.”

Chapter Ten: Loegria Is Again Inhabited by the Saxons. The Britons, with Their Bishops, Retire into Cornwall and Wales. #

¹ But to return to the history: when the inhuman tyrant, with many thousands of his Africans, had devastated almost the whole island, he yielded up the greater part of it, called Loegria, to the Saxons, whose villany had caused his arrival. The remaining Britons therefore withdrew into the western parts of the kingdom, namely Cornwall and Wales, from where they continually made frequent and fierce attacks upon the enemy. When the three archbishops—namely the archbishop of Legions, Theon of London and Thadioceus of York—saw all the churches within their jurisdictions levelled to the ground, they fled, together with all the clergy who had survived so great a destruction, to the shelter of the woods in Wales. They carried with them the reliques of the saints, fearing that the sacred bones of so many holy men of old might be destroyed by the barbarians if they left them in such imminent danger, and that they themselves might immediately suffer martyrdom. Many others crossed over in a great fleet to Armorican Britain, so that the whole church of the two provinces, Loegria and Northumberland, had its convents destroyed. But I shall relate these things elsewhere, when I translate the book concerning their banishment.

Chapter Eleven: The Britons Lose Their Kingdom. #

¹ For a long time after this, the Britons were dispossessed of the crown of the kingdom and the monarchy of the island, and made no attempt to recover their ancient dignity. Even that part of the country which still remained to them, being subject not to one king but to three tyrants, was often devastated by civil wars. Nor had the Saxons yet obtained the crown, but they too were subject to three kings, who sometimes harassed one another and sometimes the Britons.

Chapter Twelve: Augustine, Being Sent by Pope Gregory into Britain, Preaches the Gospel to the Angles. #

¹ Meanwhile, Augustine was sent by Pope Saint Gregory into Britain to preach the word of God to the Angles, who, blinded by pagan superstition, had entirely extinguished Christianity in the part of the island they possessed. Among the Britons, however, the Christian faith still flourished and had never failed among them since the time of Pope Eleutherius, when it was first planted there. But when Augustine arrived, he found in their province seven bishoprics and an archbishopric, all occupied by most devout prelates, as well as a great number of abbeys, through which the flock of Christ was still kept in good order. Among these was a most noble church in the city of Bangor, in which, it is reported, there were so many monks that, when the monastery was divided into seven parts, each with its own prior, not one of them had fewer than three hundred monks, all of whom lived by the labour of their own hands [1 Corinthians 4:12]. Their abbot was named Dinoot, a man admirably skilled in the liberal arts. When Augustine demanded the submission of the British bishops and sought to persuade them to join him in the work of preaching the Gospel among the Angles, Dinoot answered him with several arguments that they owed him no submission and would not preach to their enemies, since they had their own archbishop and the Saxon nation persisted in depriving them of their country. For this reason, they regarded them as their mortal enemies, considered their faith and religion worthless, and would no more communicate with the Angles than with dogs.

Chapter Thirteen: Edelfrid Kills a Great Number of the British Monks, but Is at Last Routed by the Britons. #

¹ Therefore Hedelbert, king of Kent, seeing that the Britons rejected submission to Augustine and despised his preaching, was greatly provoked and stirred up Edelfrid, king of the Northumbrians, and the other petty kings of the Saxons to raise a great army and march to the city of Bangor to destroy the Abbot Dinoot and the rest of the clergy who held them in contempt. At his instigation, therefore, they assembled an immense army and, while marching towards the province of the Britons, came to Legecester, where Brocinail, consul of the city, was awaiting their arrival. Innumerable monks and hermits from several provinces of the Britons, but especially from the city of Bangor, had also come to that city to pray for the safety of their people. Then Edelfrid, king of the Northumbrians, gathered all his forces and joined battle with Brocinail, who, having a smaller army with which to withstand him, at last abandoned the city and fled, though not without inflicting great slaughter upon the enemy. But when Edelfrid had taken the city and learned why the monks had come there, he ordered his men to turn their weapons against them first; and so two hundred of them were honoured with the crown of martyrdom and admitted into the kingdom of heaven that same day. From there, this Saxon tyrant continued his march towards Bangor; but when news of his outrageous madness reached them, the leaders of the Britons, namely Blederic, duke of Cornwall, Margadud, king of the Demetians, and Caduan, of the Venedotians, came from all parts to meet him and, joining battle with him, wounded him and forced him to flee. They killed ten thousand sixty-six men from his army. On the Britons’ side fell Blederic, duke of Cornwall, who was their commander in those wars.