ties for Welsh history; Tewkesbury,
another abbey whose chronicle is preserved, counted him among its
chief benefactors; Robert de Monte, Abbot of Mont St. Michel, the
Breton and lover of Breton legends, was a native of his Norman estates
at Torigny, and wrote a valuable history of his times. Among the
brilliant circle of men of letters who frequented his court at
Gloucester and Bristol and Cardiff were Caradoc of Llancarven, whose
chronicle (if he ever wrote one) has been lost, and greatest of all
Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Geoffrey dedicated his History of the Kings of Britain to Robert: "To
you, therefore, Robert Earl of Gloucester, this work humbly sues for
the favour of being so corrected by your advice that it may be
considered not the poor offspring of Geoffrey of Monmouth, but, when
polished by your refined wit and judgment, the production of him who
had Henry, the glorious King of England, for his father, and whom we
see an accomplished scholar and philosopher, as well as a brave
soldier and tried commander."

Not very much is known about Geoffrey. The so-called "Gwentian Brut,"
attributed to Caradoc of Llancarven, on which his biographers have
relied for a few details of his life, is very untrustworthy, and,
according to the late Mr. Thomas Stephens, was written about the
middle of the sixteenth century, though containing earlier matter.
The sixteenth century was a great age for historical forgeries. We
find a Franciscan interpolating passages in a Greek manuscript of the
New Testament in order to refute Erasmus; a learned Oxonian forging a
passage in the manuscript of Asser's "Life of Alfred" to prove that
Alfred founded the University of Oxford; and Welsh genealogies
invented by the dozen and the yard--reaching back to "son of Adam, son
of God." The "Gwentian Brut" or "Book of Aberpergwm" is in doubtful
company. The following seem to be the facts known about Geoffrey. In
1129 he was at Oxford, in company with Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford
(not Walter Mapes). His father's name was Arthur; and he was connected
with the Welsh lords of Caerleon. He calls himself "of Monmouth,"
either as being born there, or as having a connection with the
Benedictine monastery at Monmouth, which was founded by a Breton, and
kept up connections with Brittany and Anjou. He may have been
archdeacon--but not of Monmouth. The first version of his history was
finished in or before April, 1139, and the final edition of the
History was co