Chapter One: After the Death of Brutus, His Three Sons Succeed Him in the Kingdom #

¹ During these events, Brutus had by his wife Ignoge three famous sons, whose names were Locrin, Albanact, and Kamber. After their father’s death, which happened in the twenty-fourth year after his arrival, they buried him in the city he had built. Then, having divided the kingdom of Britain among themselves, each withdrew to his own government. Locrin, the eldest, possessed the middle part of the island, afterwards called Loegria from his name. Kamber had the part that lies beyond the River Severn, now called Wales, but which for a long time was named Kambria; hence that people still call themselves Kambri in their British tongue. Albanact, the younger brother, possessed the country he called Albania, now Scotland. After they had reigned together in peace for a long time, Humber, king of the Huns, arrived in Albania and, having killed Albanact in battle, forced his people to flee to Locrin for protection.

Chapter Two: Locrin, Having Routed Humber, Falls in Love with Estrildis #

¹ When Locrin heard this news, he joined his brother Kamber and went with the whole strength of the kingdom to meet the king of the Huns near the river now called Humber, where he fought him and put him to flight. Humber fled towards the river and was drowned in it, and for this reason it has borne his name ever since. After the victory, Locrin bestowed the enemy’s plunder upon his own men, reserving for himself the gold and silver he found in the ships, together with three virgins of remarkable beauty. One of them was the daughter of a king in Germany, whom Humber, along with the other two, had forcibly carried away after laying waste their country. Her name was Estrildis, and her beauty was scarcely to be matched. No ivory, no newly fallen snow, no lily could surpass the whiteness of her skin. Locrin, struck with love, would gladly have married her, at which Corineus was extremely enraged, because of the promise Locrin had made to marry his daughter.

Chapter Three: Corineus Resents the Affront Put upon His Daughter #

¹ He therefore went to the king and, wielding a battle-axe in his right hand, vented his rage against him in these words: “Is this how you reward me, Locrin, for the many wounds I suffered under your father’s command in his wars against foreign nations: that you should slight my daughter and demean yourself by marrying a barbarian? While there is strength in this right hand, which has destroyed so many giants on the Tyrrhenian coasts, I will never endure this insult.” Repeating this again and again in a loud voice, he shook his battle-axe as though he were about to strike him, until the friends of both men intervened and, after they had appeased Corineus, compelled Locrin to fulfil his agreement.

Chapter Four: Locrin at Last Marries Guendoloena, the Daughter of Corineus #

¹ Locrin therefore married Corineus’s daughter, named Guendoloena, yet still kept his love for Estrildis. For her he made underground apartments, where he entertained her and had her honourably attended. For he was resolved at least to carry on a private love affair with her, since he could not live with her openly for fear of Corineus. In this way he concealed her and made frequent visits to her for seven years, without anyone knowing except his most intimate servants, all under the pretence of performing certain secret sacrifices to his gods, by which he deceived everyone’s credulity. In the meantime Estrildis became pregnant and gave birth to a most beautiful daughter, whom she named Sabre. Guendoloena also became pregnant and bore a son, who was named Maddan and placed under the care of his grandfather Corineus to be educated.

Chapter Five: Locrin Is Killed; Estrildis and Sabre Are Thrown into a River #

¹ But in the course of time, when Corineus was dead, Locrin divorced Guendoloena and raised Estrildis to be queen. Guendoloena, provoked beyond measure by this, withdrew into Cornwall, where she gathered together all the forces of that kingdom and began to stir up rebellion against Locrin. At last both armies joined battle near the River Stour, where Locrin was killed by an arrow shot. After his death, Guendoloena took upon herself the government of the whole kingdom, retaining her father’s furious spirit. For she commanded Estrildis and her daughter Sabre to be thrown into the river now called the Severn, and published an edict throughout all Britain that the river should bear the maiden’s name, hoping by this to perpetuate her memory, and by that the disgrace of her husband. Thus to this day the river is called in the British tongue Sabren, which, through corruption of the name, is in another language Sabrina.

Chapter Six: Guendoloena Delivers Up the Kingdom to Maddan, Her Son, After Whom Menpricius Succeeds #

¹ Guendoloena reigned for fifteen years after the death of Locrin, who had reigned for ten, and then raised her son Maddan, whom she now saw to be mature, to the throne, contenting herself with the country of Cornwall for the remainder of her life. At this time Samuel the prophet governed in Judaea [1 Samuel 7:15–17], Sylvius Aeneas was still living, and Homer was esteemed as a famous orator and poet. Maddan, now in possession of the crown, had by his wife two sons, Menpricius and Malim, and ruled the kingdom in peace and with care for forty years. As soon as he was dead, the two brothers quarrelled over the kingdom, each being ambitious for sovereignty over the whole island. Menpricius, impatient to attain his ends, entered into negotiations with Malim under the appearance of reaching an agreement with him, and, having formed a conspiracy, murdered him in the assembly where their ambassadors had met. By these means he obtained dominion over the whole island, over which he exercised such tyranny that he left scarcely a nobleman alive in it, and either by violence or treachery oppressed everyone whom he thought likely to succeed him, pursuing his hatred against his whole race. He also deserted his own wife, by whom he had a noble youth named Ebraucus, and gave himself over to sodomy, preferring unnatural lust to the pleasures of marriage. At last, in the twentieth year of his reign, while he was hunting, he withdrew from his company into a valley, where he was surrounded by a great multitude of ravenous wolves and horribly devoured by them. Then Saul reigned in Judaea [1 Samuel 10:1; 11:15], and Eurystheus in Lacedaemonia.

Chapter Seven: Ebraucus, the Successor of Menpricius, Conquers the Gauls and Builds the Towns Kaerebrauc, etc. #

¹ Menpricius being dead, Ebraucus, his son, a man of great stature and extraordinary strength, took upon himself the government of Britain, which he held for forty years. He was the first after Brutus to invade Gaul with a fleet, and he distressed its provinces by killing their men and laying waste their cities. Having by these means enriched himself with an immense quantity of gold and silver, he returned victorious. After this he built a city on the other side of the Humber, which, from his own name, he called Kaerebrauc, that is, the City of Ebraucus, about the time when David reigned in Judaea [2 Samuel 5:4–5], and Sylvius Latinus in Italy; and when Gad, Nathan, and Asaph prophesied in Israel [2 Samuel 24:11; 2 Samuel 12:1; 1 Chronicles 25:1–2]. He also built the city of Alclud towards Albania, and the town of Mount Agned, called at this time the Castle of Maidens, or the Mountain of Sorrow.

Chapter Eight: Ebraucus’s Twenty Sons Go to Germany, and His Thirty Daughters to Sylvius Alba in Italy #

¹ This prince had twenty sons and thirty daughters by twenty wives, and governed the kingdom of Britain with great valour for sixty years. The names of his sons were Brutus, surnamed Greenshield, Margadud, Sisillius, Regin, Morivid, Bladud, Lagon, Bodloan, Eoncar, Spaden, Gaul, Darden, Eldad, Ivor, Gangu, Hector, Kerin, Rud, Assarach, and Buel. The names of his daughters were Gloigni, Ignogni, Oudas, Guenliam, Gaudid, Angarad, Guendoloe, Tangustel, Gorgon, Median, Methahel, Ourar, Mature, Kambreda, Ragan, Gael, Ecub, Nest, Cheun, Stadud, Gladud, Ebren, Blagan, Aballac, Angaes, Galaes, who was the most celebrated beauty at that time in Britain or Gaul, Edra, Anaor, Stadial, and Egron. All these daughters their father sent into Italy to Sylvius Alba, who reigned after Sylvius Latinus, where they were married among the Trojan nobility, since the Latin and Sabine women refused to associate with them. But the sons, under the leadership of their brother Assaracus, departed with a fleet to Germany, and, having subdued the people there with the assistance of Sylvius Alba, obtained that kingdom.

Chapter Nine: After Ebraucus Reigns Brutus His Son, After Him Leil, and After Leil, Hudibras #

¹ But Brutus, surnamed Greenshield, remained with his father, whom he succeeded in the government, and reigned for twelve years. After him reigned Leil, his son, a peaceable and just prince, who, enjoying a prosperous reign, built in the north of Britain a city called by his name, Kaerleil. This was at the same time that Solomon began to build the temple of Jerusalem [1 Kings 6:1; 2 Chronicles 3:1–2], and the Queen of Sheba came to hear his wisdom [1 Kings 10:1–13; 2 Chronicles 9:1–12]; at this time also Sylvius Epitus succeeded his father Alba in Italy. Leil reigned for twenty-five years, but towards the latter end of his life he became more careless in his government, so that his neglect of affairs quickly caused civil discord in the kingdom. After him reigned his son Hudibras for thirty-nine years, and he settled the civil discord among his people. He built Kaerlem, or Canterbury, Kaerguen, or Winchester, and the town of Mount Paladur, now Shaftesbury. At this place an eagle spoke while the wall of the town was being built; and indeed I would have passed its speech down to posterity had I thought it as true as the rest of the history. At this time Capys, the son of Epitus, reigned, and Haggai, Amos, Joel, and Azariah were prophets in Israel [Haggai 1:1; Amos 1:1; Joel 1:1; 2 Chronicles 15:1].

Chapter Ten: Bladud Succeeds Hudibras in the Kingdom and Practises Magical Operations #

¹ Next succeeded Bladud, his son, and he reigned for twenty years. He built Kaerbadus, now Bath, and made hot baths there for the benefit of the public, which he dedicated to the goddess Minerva. In her temple he kept fires that never went out and were not consumed to ashes, but as soon as they began to decay they turned into balls of stone. About this time the prophet Elijah prayed that it might not rain upon the earth, and it did not rain for three years and six months [James 5:17; 1 Kings 17:1; 1 Kings 18:1]. This prince was a very ingenious man and taught necromancy in his kingdom. Nor did he stop pursuing his magical practices until he attempted to fly to the upper region of the air with wings he had prepared, and fell down upon the temple of Apollo in the city of Trinovantum, where he was dashed to pieces.

Chapter Eleven: Leir, the Son of Bladud, Having No Son, Divides His Kingdom Among His Daughters #

¹ After this unhappy fate of Bladud, Leir, his son, was raised to the throne and nobly governed his country for sixty years. He built a city on the River Soar, called in the British tongue Kaerleir, and in Saxon Leicester. He had no male heir, but had three daughters, whose names were Gonorilla, Regau, and Cordeilla. He was deeply fond of them all, but especially of his youngest, Cordeilla. When he began to grow old, he considered dividing his kingdom among them and bestowing them upon such husbands as were fit to be advanced to government with them. But, to test which of them was worthy to have the best part of his kingdom, he went to each of them and asked which loved him most. When the question was put to her, Gonorilla, the eldest, answered that she called heaven to witness that she loved him more than her own soul. Her father replied, “Since you have preferred my declining age before your own life, I will marry you, my dearest daughter, to whomever you choose, and give you the third part of my kingdom.” Then Regau, the second daughter, wishing, after the example of her sister, to prevail upon her father’s kindness, answered with an oath that she could not express her thoughts otherwise than by saying that she loved him above all creatures. The trusting father then made her the same promise he had made to her elder sister: the choice of a husband, together with the third part of his kingdom. But Cordeilla, the youngest, understanding how easily he was satisfied with the flattering words of her sisters, wished to test his affection in a different manner. “My father,” she said, “is there any daughter who can love her father more than duty requires? In my opinion, whoever claims to do so must be hiding her true feelings beneath a veil of flattery. I have always loved you as a father, and I do not now depart from my intended duty. If you insist on forcing something more from me, then hear now the measure of the affection I have always borne you, and take this as a brief answer to all your questions: as much as you have, so much are you worth, and so much do I love you.” The father, supposing that she spoke this out of the abundance of her heart, was greatly provoked and immediately replied, “Since you have so far despised my old age as not to think me worthy of the love your sisters express for me, you shall receive the like regard from me, and shall be excluded from any share with your sisters in my kingdom. Nevertheless, since you are my daughter, I do not say that I will not marry you to some foreigner, if fortune offers you such a husband; but I assure you I will never make it my business to procure so honourable a match for you as for your sisters. For although I have until now loved you more than them, you have in return thought me less worthy of your affection than they have.” Without further delay, after consulting his nobility, he bestowed his two other daughters upon the dukes of Cornwall and Albania, giving them half the island at once, and after his death the inheritance of the whole monarchy of Britain.

² It happened after this that Aganippus, king of the Franks, having heard of the fame of Cordeilla’s beauty, immediately sent his ambassadors to the king to demand her in marriage. Her father, still retaining his anger towards her, answered that he was very willing to bestow his daughter, but without either money or territories, because he had already given away his kingdom, with all his treasure, to his eldest daughters, Gonorilla and Regau. When this was told to Aganippus, he, being very much in love with the lady, sent again to King Leir to tell him that he had money and territories enough, since he possessed the third part of Gaul, and desired nothing more than his daughter alone, so that he might have heirs by her. At last the match was concluded, and Cordeilla was sent to Gaul and married to Aganippus.

Chapter Twelve: Leir, Finding the Ingratitude of His Two Eldest Daughters, Betakes Himself to His Youngest, Cordeilla, in Gaul #

¹ A long time after this, when Leir had become infirm through old age, the two dukes on whom he had bestowed Britain with his two daughters stirred up an insurrection against him and deprived him of his kingdom and of all royal authority, which until then he had exercised with great power and glory. At length, by mutual agreement, Maglaunus, duke of Albania, one of his sons-in-law, was to provide for him in his own house, together with sixty soldiers who were to be kept for his dignity. After he had stayed two years with his son-in-law, his daughter Gonorilla begrudged the number of his men, who had begun to reproach the officers of the court for their scanty allowance. Having spoken to her husband about it, she ordered that the number of her father’s followers should be reduced to thirty, and that the rest should be dismissed. Her father, resenting this treatment, left Maglaunus and went to Henuinus, duke of Cornwall, to whom he had married his daughter Regau. Here he was honourably received, but before the year was out, a quarrel arose between the two households, which provoked Regau’s indignation. She therefore commanded her father to dismiss all his attendants except five, and to be content with their service. This second affliction was unbearable to him, and made him return again to his former daughter, hoping that the misery of his condition might stir in her some feelings of filial piety, and that he and his household might find support with her. But she, not forgetting her resentment, swore by the gods that he should not stay with her unless he dismissed his retinue and was content with the attendance of one man. With bitter reproaches, she told him how ill his desire for vainglorious pomp suited his age and poverty. When he found that she could not be prevailed upon by any means, he was at last forced to comply and, dismissing the rest, to be satisfied with only one man. But by this time he began to reflect more deeply on the greatness from which he had fallen and the miserable state to which he was now reduced, and he began to think of going overseas to his youngest daughter. Yet he doubted whether he would be able to move her compassion, because, as was related above, he had treated her so unworthily. However, disdaining to endure such base treatment any longer, he took ship for Gaul. During the voyage, he observed that only the third place among the princes who were with him in the ship had been given to him, at which, with deep sighs and tears, he burst out into the following complaint:

² “O irreversible decrees of the Fates, which never turn aside from your appointed course! Why did you ever raise me to an unstable happiness, since the punishment of lost happiness is greater than the feeling of present misery? The memory of the time when vast numbers of men attended me obediently as I took cities and laid waste the lands of my enemies pierces my heart more deeply than the sight of my present calamity, which has exposed me to the mockery of those who once lay prostrate at my feet. O the enmity of fortune! Shall I ever again see the day when I may be able to reward according to their deserts those who have forsaken me in my distress? How true was your answer, Cordeilla, when I asked you about your love for me: ‘As much as you have, so much are you worth, and so much do I love you.’ While I had anything to give, they valued me, being friends not to me, but to my gifts. They loved me then, but they loved my gifts far more. When my gifts ceased, my friends vanished. But with what face shall I presume to see you, my dearest daughter, since in my anger I married you on worse terms than your sisters, who, after all the great favours they have received from me, allow me to live in banishment and poverty?”

³ As he was lamenting his condition in these and similar words, he arrived at Karitia, where his daughter was, and waited outside the city while he sent a messenger to inform her of the misery into which he had fallen, and to ask her relief for a father who suffered both hunger and nakedness. Cordeilla was startled at the news and wept bitterly, and with tears asked how many men her father had with him. The messenger answered that he had none but one man, who had been his armour-bearer and was staying with him outside the town. Then she took what money she thought would be sufficient and gave it to the messenger, ordering him to take her father to another city, to give out there that he was ill, and to provide him with bathing, clothes, and every other necessity. She likewise ordered that he should take into his service forty men, well clothed and equipped, and that when all things had been prepared in this way, he should announce his arrival to King Aganippus and his daughter. The messenger quickly returned, took Leir to another city, and kept him hidden there until he had done everything that Cordeilla had commanded.

Chapter Thirteen: He Is Very Honourably Received by Cordeilla and the King of Gaul #

¹ As soon as he had been provided with royal clothing, ornaments, and a retinue, he sent word to Aganippus and his daughter that he had been driven out of his kingdom of Britain by his sons-in-law, and had come to them to obtain their assistance in recovering his dominions. Upon this, they, attended by their chief ministers of state and the nobility of the kingdom, went out to meet him, received him honourably, and placed the whole power of Gaul under his command until he should be restored to his former dignity.

Chapter Fourteen: Leir, Being Restored to the Kingdom by the Help of His Son-in-Law and Cordeilla, Dies #

¹ In the meantime Aganippus sent officers throughout Gaul to raise an army to restore his father-in-law to his kingdom of Britain. When this was done, Leir returned to Britain with his son-in-law, his daughter, and the forces they had raised, where he fought against his sons-in-law and routed them. Having thus brought the whole kingdom back under his power, he died in the third year afterwards. Aganippus also died, and Cordeilla, obtaining the government of the kingdom, buried her father in a certain vault beneath the River Soar in Leicester, which she had ordered to be made for him, and which King Leir had originally built underground in honour of the god Janus. Here all the craftsmen of the city, on the yearly solemnity of that festival, used to begin their annual labours.

Chapter Fifteen: Cordeilla, Being Imprisoned, Kills Herself; Margan, Aspiring to the Whole Kingdom, Is Killed by Cunedagius #

¹ After Cordeilla had possessed the government peaceably for five years, she began to encounter disturbances from the two sons of her sisters, both of them young men of great spirit. One, named Margan, was born to Maglaunus, and the other, named Cunedagius, to Henuinus. After the death of their fathers, these two succeeded them in their dukedoms and were incensed to see Britain subject to a woman. They raised forces in order to stir up rebellion against the queen, nor would they desist from hostilities until, after a general wasting of her lands and several battles fought, they at last captured her and put her in prison, where, from grief at the loss of her kingdom, she killed herself. After this they divided the island between them. The part that stretches from the north side of the Humber to Caithness fell to Margan; the other part, from the same river westward, was Cunedagius’s share. At the end of two years, certain restless spirits who took pleasure in the troubles of the nation gained access to Margan and filled him with vain ideas, representing to him how mean and disgraceful it was for him not to govern the whole island, which was his due by right of birth. Stirred up by these and similar suggestions, he marched with an army through Cunedagius’s country and began to burn everything before him. When war had thus broken out, Cunedagius met him with all his forces, attacked Margan, killed no small number of his men, and put him to flight. He pursued him from one province to another until at last he killed him in a town of Kambria, which since his death has been called Margan by the country people to this day. After the victory, Cunedagius gained the monarchy of the whole island, which he governed gloriously for thirty-three years. At this time the prophets Isaiah and Hosea flourished [Isaiah 1:1; Hosea 1:1], and Rome was built on the eleventh day before the Kalends of May by the two brothers Romulus and Remus.

Chapter Sixteen: The Successors of Cunedagius in the Kingdom; Ferrex Is Killed by His Brother Porrex in a Dispute for the Government #

¹ At last Cunedagius died and was succeeded by his son Rivallo, a fortunate youth who diligently applied himself to the affairs of government. In his time it rained blood for three days together, and vast swarms of flies fell, followed by a great mortality among the people. After him succeeded Gurgustius, his son; after him Sisillius; after him Jago, the nephew of Gurgustius; after him Kinmarcus, the son of Sisillius; and after him Gorbogudo, who had two sons, Ferrex and Porrex. When Ferrex and their father grew old, the brothers began to quarrel about the succession. But Porrex, who was the more ambitious of the two, formed a design to kill his brother by treachery. Ferrex, discovering this, escaped and crossed over into Gaul. There he obtained aid from Suard, king of the Franks, with which he returned and made war upon his brother. When they came to battle, Ferrex was killed and all his forces cut to pieces. When their mother, whose name was Widen, was informed of her son’s death, she fell into a great rage and conceived a mortal hatred against the survivor. For she had greater affection for the dead son than for him, so that nothing less would appease her indignation at his death than avenging it upon her surviving son. She therefore took her opportunity while he was asleep, fell upon him, and, with the assistance of her women, tore him to pieces. From that time a long civil war oppressed the people, and the island became divided under the power of five kings, who harassed one another continually.

Chapter Seventeen: Dunwallo Molmutius Gains the Sceptre of Britain, from Whom Came the Molmutine Laws #

¹ At length there arose a youth of great spirit named Dunwallo Molmutius, the son of Cloten, king of Cornwall, who excelled all the kings of Britain in valour and gracefulness of person. When his father was dead, he had no sooner taken possession of the government of that country than he made war against Ymner, king of Loegria, and killed him in battle. Then Rudaucus, king of Kambria, and Staterius, king of Albania, met together, formed an alliance, and marched from there with their armies into Dunwallo’s country to destroy everything before them. Dunwallo met them with thirty thousand men and gave them battle. When a great part of the day had been spent in fighting, and the victory was still uncertain, he drew aside six hundred of his bravest men and commanded them to put on the armour of the slain enemies, as he himself also did, laying aside his own. Thus equipped, he marched swiftly up to the enemy’s ranks as though he belonged to their side, and, approaching the very place where Rudaucus and Staterius were, commanded his men to fall upon them. In this assault the two kings were killed, and many others with them. But Dunwallo Molmutius, fearing that in this disguise his own men might attack him, returned with his companions to take off the enemy’s armour and put on his own again. Then he encouraged them to renew the assault, which they did with great vigour, and in a short time gained the victory by scattering the enemy and putting them to flight. From there he marched into the enemy’s countries, destroyed their towns and cities, and brought the people under his obedience. When he had completely subdued the whole island, he made himself a crown of gold and restored the kingdom to its ancient state. This prince established what the Britons call the Molmutine Laws, which are famous among the English to this day. In these laws, among other things about which St Gildas wrote a long time afterwards, he enacted that the temples of the gods, and also cities, should have the privilege of giving sanctuary and protection to any fugitive or criminal who fled to them from his enemy. He likewise enacted that the roads leading to those temples and cities, as well as farmers’ ploughs, should be granted the same privilege. Thus in his day the murders and cruelties committed by robbers were prevented, and everyone travelled safely without violence being offered to him. At last, after a reign of forty years spent in these and other acts of government, he died and was buried in the city of Trinovantum, near the temple of Concord, which he himself had built when he first established his laws.