. He probably acquired his last name
from being archdeacon of Monmouth. He was appointed Bishop of St.
Asaph in 1152 and died about 1154. Unlike the majority of the monkish
chroniclers, he possessed a vivid imagination, which he used in his
so-called _History of the Kings of Britain_.

Geoffrey pretended to have found an old manuscript which related the
deeds of all British kings from Brutus, the mythical founder of the
kingdom of Britain, and the great-grandson of Aeneas, to Caesar.
Geoffrey wrote an account of the traditionary British kings down to
Cadwallader in 689 with as much minuteness and gravity as Swift
employed in the _Voyage to Lilliput_. Other chroniclers declared that
Geoffrey lied saucily and shamelessly, but his book became extremely
popular. The monks could not then comprehend that the world's greatest
literary works were to be products of the imagination.

In Geoffrey of Monmouth's _History of the Kings of Britain_ we are
given vivid pictures of King Lear and his daughters, of Cymbeline, of
King Arthur and his Knights, of Guinevere and the rest of that company
whom later poets have immortalized. It is probable that Geoffrey was
not particular whether he obtained his materials from old chroniclers,
Welsh bards, floating tradition, or from his own imagination. His book
left its impress on the historical imagination of the Middle Ages. Had
it not been for Geoffrey's _History_, the dramas of _King Lear_ and
_Cymbeline_ might never have been suggested to Shakespeare.

Layamon's Brut.--About 1155 a Frenchman named Wace translated into
his own language Geoffrey of Monmouth's works. This translation fell
into the hands of Layamon, a priest living in Worcestershire, who
proceeded to render the poem, with additions of his own, into the
Southern English dialect. Wace's _Brut_ has 15,300 lines; Layamon's,
32,250. As the matter which Layamon added is the best in the poem, he
is, in so far, an original author of much imaginative power. He is
certainly the greatest poet between the Conquest and Chaucer's time.

A selection from the _Brut_ will give the student an opportunity of
comparing this transition English with the language in its modern
form:--

"And Ich wulle varan to Avalun: And I will fare to Avalon,
To vairest alre maidene To the fairest of all maidens,
To Argante ethere quene, To Argante the queen,
Alven swiethe sceone; Elf surpassing fair;
And heo scal