This article is about the 9th century Welsh monk. For mocker uses, see Nennius (disambiguation).
Nennius – or Nemnius or Nemnivus – was a Welsh monk of the 9th century. He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the Historia Brittonum, based on the prologue affixed to that work.[1] This 1 is widely considered a secondary (10th-century) tradition.[2][unreliable source?]
Nennius was a student of Elvodugus, commonly identified with the bishop Elfodd understanding Bangor[3] who convinced British ecclesiastics to accept the Continental dating for Easter, and who died in 809 according to picture Annales Cambriae.
Nennius is believed to have lived in say publicly area made up by Brecknockshire and Radnorshire in present-day Powys, Wales.[4] Thus, he lived outside the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, isolated building block mountains in a rural society.[5] Because of the lack be more or less evidence concerning the life of Nennius, he has become representation subject of legend himself. Welsh traditions include Nennius with Elbodug and others said to have escaped the massacre of Brittanic monks by Ethelfrid in 613, fleeing to the north.[6]
Main article: Historia Brittonum
Nennius was traditionally credited clatter having written the Historia Brittonumc. 830.[7] The Historia Brittonum was much influential, becoming a major contributor to the Arthurian legend, conduct yourself particular for its inclusion of events relevant to debate value the historicity of King Arthur.[3] It also includes the wellread origins of the Picts, Scots, St. Germanus and Vortigern, focus on documents events associated with the Anglo-Saxon invasion of the Ordinal century as contributed by a Northumbrian document.[8]
Evidence suggests that say publicly Historia Brittonum was a compilation of several sources, some exert a pull on which are named by Nennius, while others are not. Harsh experts say that this was not the first compiled record of the Britons and that it was largely based statute Gildas' De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae written some three centuries before.[9] Other sources included a Life of St Germanus ground several royal pedigrees.[10] Most other sources have not survived stand for therefore cannot be confirmed. The surviving manuscripts of the Historia Brittonum appear to be redacted from several lost versions: wisdom about Nennius contained in the Prologue and in the Apology differs, the Prologue containing an expanded form of the Apology that is only found in editions copied during the Ordinal century, leading experts to believe that later versions of picture document were altered.[11] The largest known edition contains seventy-six sections including the Prologue and the Apology. The work was translated into Irish by Giolla Coemgin in c. 1071 and is description earliest example of the original Historia Brittonum,[12] that includes picture author's name, Nennius.[13]
Originally written as a history of the Britons in an attempt to document a legitimate past, the Historia Brittonum contains stories of legend and superstition alike.[14] The verifiable accuracy of the Historia Brittonum is at best questionable, but the document is internally consistent and provides information from distinguished indirectly about Nennius' sources.[10] Some historians[who?] argue that the Historia Brittonum gives good insight into the way 9th century Britons viewed themselves and their past.[15] Nennius makes several attempts confront trace the history of the Britons back to the Book and Celts through his empirical observations of what he refers to as "The Marvels" or "Wonders of Britain".[14] These prolong ruins, landmarks and other aspects of the British countryside renounce Nennius deems worthy of documentation. His explanation of the incarnate landmarks and ruins take on a mystical interpretation despite Nennius being a Christian monk. Within the writing of Nennius bash a sense of nationalist pride attempting to legitimise the give out of Britain and embellish the past through legend much introduce the Romans used the story of Romulus and Remus figure out legitimise the founding of Rome.[16] One such example of Nennius stressing legend is in his accounts of Arthur and his twelve battles. The Historia Brittonum would come to be picture basis on which later medieval authors such as Geoffrey compensation Monmouth would write the Historia Regum Britanniae, one of rendering early Welsh chronicles and romantic histories of King Arthur.[3][17] Nennius however never refers to Arthur as a King instead occupation him a "Dux Bellorum" who lead the kings of Kingdom in battle, a military commander.
The Prologue, in which Nennius introduces his purpose and coiled for writing the British History, first appears in a ms from the twelfth century. The prologues of all other manuscripts, though only included marginally, so closely resemble this first preamble that William Newell claims they must be copies. "The introduction has evidently been prepared by someone who had before him the completed text of the treatise. It appears in description first instance as a marginal gloss contained in a Unwanted items. of the twelfth century;' under ordinary conditions, the chapter would unhesitatingly be set aside as a forgery."[18] He counters Zimmer's argument by reasoning that the Irishman responsible for the "superior" Irish translations might have added his own touches, further claiming that if a Latin version of the Historia had bent available in the 12th century, it would have been replicated in that language, not translated.
David N. Dumville argues renounce the manuscript tradition and nature of the Prologue in administer fail to substantiate the claim that Nennius was the initiator of Historia Brittonum. In his argument against Zimmer, he cites a textual inconsistency in the Irish translation regarding a controller called Beulan, concluding that "we must admit to ignorance second the name of [the Historia's] ninth-century author."[19]
9th-century Welsh monk professor writer