"Rowing Championships of Great Britain in June 2009 Monmouth Rowing Club Monmouth Rowing Club is located on the banks of the River Wye in Monmouth, the county town of the historic county of Monmouthshire, Wales. The club is affiliated with the Welsh Amateur Rowing Association (WARA) and hosts several annually organised race events. Monmouth is the furthest south of the three rowing clubs on the River Wye; the other two being at Hereford and Ross-on-Wye. The boathouse is sited on the western bank of the river. All rowing activities take place upstream of the 17th-century Wye Bridge and during the"
"his ""Historia Regum Britanniae"" (""History of the Kings of Britain)"" in the 12th century. It is possible that Geoffrey had been repeating a name for the priest that had come into common usage in his time, but it is also possible that Geoffrey of Monmouth misunderstood the Latin word used for the cloak, ""amphiboles"", which was worn by Saint Alban. Wilhelm Levison noted that the story of the name, which goes back to a 5th-century ""Passio Albani"", is composed of borrowings from other lives of saints and it has, in his words, ""no place in the ranks of ""Acta martyrum"
"He reached the age of majority by 1129 when he is recorded as witnessing a charter. Geoffrey refers to himself in his ""Historia"" as ""Galfridus Monemutensis"" (Geoffrey of Monmouth), which indicates a significant connection to Monmouth, Wales, and which may refer to his birthplace. His works attest to some acquaintance with the place-names of the region. Geoffrey was known to his contemporaries as ""Galfridus Arturus"" or variants thereof. The ""Arthur"" in these versions of his name may indicate the name of his father or a nickname based on his scholarly interests. Earlier scholars assumed that Geoffrey was Welsh or at"
"medieval period contributed to a rich variety of artistic production, and made British literature distinctive and innovative. Works were still written in Latin and include Gerald of Wales's late-12th-century book on his beloved Wales, ""Itinerarium Cambriae"", and following the Norman Conquest of 1066, Anglo-Norman literature developed in the Anglo-Norman realm introducing literary trends from Continental Europe, such as the ""chanson de geste"". However, the indigenous development of Anglo-Norman literature was precocious in comparison to continental Oïl literature. Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100 – c. 1155) was one of the major figures in the development of British history and the popularity"
"the suggestion that he was a friar. The Franciscans are also believed to have been prevalent in Wales by 1237, the year of the establishment of the house at Llan-faes. The poet was a native of Llanfihangel, as mentioned in the englynion to the Archangel Michael. A Latin text from the late 13th century Cardiff claims that Geoffrey of Monmouth translated Welsh poems praising the ancient British kings, the author of which calls himself 'Frater Walensis madocus edeirnianensis'. Certain scholars argue that this poet is therefore Friar Madog ap Gwallter, stating his origins as in Edeirnion, known to have been"
"up the Matter of Britain. The legendary Arthur developed as a figure of international interest largely through the popularity of Geoffrey of Monmouth's fanciful and imaginative 12th-century ""Historia Regum Britanniae"" (""History of the Kings of Britain""). In some Welsh and Breton tales and poems that date from before this work, Arthur appears either as a great warrior defending Britain from human and supernatural enemies or as a magical figure of folklore, sometimes associated with the Welsh otherworld Annwn. How much of Geoffrey's ""Historia"" (completed in 1138) was adapted from such earlier sources, rather than invented by Geoffrey himself, is unknown."
"debate on the Union). ""The Whole Prophesie of Scotland"" of that year treated Merlin's prophecies as authoritative. James Maxwell, a student of prophecy who put it to political use in the reign of James VI and I, distinguished between the Welsh and ""Caledonian"" Merlins. Prophetiae Merlini The Prophetiæ Merlini is a Latin work of Geoffrey of Monmouth circulated, perhaps as a ""libellus"" or short work, from about 1130, and by 1135. Another name is Libellus Merlini. The work contains a number of prophecies attributed to Merlin, the wizard of legend, whose mythical life is often regarded as created by Geoffrey"
"Cornwall. Although broadly thought of as a work of fiction, Geoffrey of Monmouth's work had a lasting effect upon the identity of the Cornish. His ""historical construct"" characterised the ancient Britons as heroes, which later helped Celtic revivalists to redefine Cornishness as an identity closely related to ancient heroic Celtic folklore. Another strand of Cornish folklore is derived from tales of seafaring pirates and smugglers who thrived in and around Cornwall from the early modern period through to the 19th century. Cornish pirates exploited both their knowledge of the Cornish coastline as well as its sheltered creeks and hidden anchorages."
"Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century to account for the ancestry of the British nation, and which parallels Virgil's ""Aeneid""). According to ""Edda"", these warriors settled in northern Europe, where they were accepted as divine kings because of their superior culture and technology. Remembrance ceremonies later conducted at their burial sites degenerate into heathen cults, turning them into gods. Alexander M. Bruce suggested that Sturlson was in possession of the ""Langfeðgatal"" or a closely related text when he composed the detailed list of gods and heroes given. He noted parallel sequences in the ""Langfeðgatal"" and the Edda, noting the"
"Vita Merlini Vita Merlini, or The Life of Merlin, is a work by the Norman-Welsh author Geoffrey of Monmouth, composed in Latin around 1150. It retells incidents from the life of the Brythonic seer Merlin, and is based on traditional material about him. Merlin is described as a prophet in the text. There are a number of episodes in which he loses his mind and lives in the wilderness like a wild animal, like Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel, or the Welsh wild man of the woods. It is also the first work to describe the Arthurian sorceress Morgan"
"Monmouth (d. c. 1155) composed his ""Historia Regum Britanniae"", a collection of stories and legends about Arthur. Other works were more clearly history, such as Otto von Freising's (d. 1158) ""Gesta Friderici Imperatoris"" detailing the deeds of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, or William of Malmesbury's (d. c. 1143) ""Gesta Regum"" on the kings of England. Legal studies advanced during the 12th century. Both secular law and canon law, or ecclesiastical law, were studied in the High Middle Ages. Secular law, or Roman law, was advanced greatly by the discovery of the ""Corpus Juris Civilis"" in the 11th century, and by 1100"
"Prophetiae Merlini The Prophetiæ Merlini is a Latin work of Geoffrey of Monmouth circulated, perhaps as a ""libellus"" or short work, from about 1130, and by 1135. Another name is Libellus Merlini. The work contains a number of prophecies attributed to Merlin, the wizard of legend, whose mythical life is often regarded as created by Geoffrey himself although Geoffrey himself claims to have based on older Brittonic traditions some of which may have been oral but now lost. The ""Prophetiae"" preceded Geoffrey's larger ""Historia Regum Britanniæ"" of c. 1136, and was mostly incorporated in it, in Book VII; the prophecies,"
"Breton lords since 1075 or 1086, and the names Galfridus and Arthur were more common among the Bretons than the Welsh. He may have served for a while in the Benedictine Monmouth Priory, but most of his adult life appears to have been spent outside Wales. Between 1129 and 1151, his name appears on six charters in the Oxford area, sometimes styled ""magister"" (teacher). He was probably a secular canon of St. George's college. All the charters signed by Geoffrey are also signed by Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford, a canon at that church. Another frequent co-signatory is Ralph of Monmouth,"
"Cumbric or Old Welsh and contains the earliest known reference to King Arthur. From around the seventh century, the connection between Wales and the Old North was lost, and the focus of Welsh-language culture shifted to Wales, where Arthurian legend was further developed by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Wales's most celebrated medieval poet, Dafydd ap Gwilym (""fl.""1320–1370), composed poetry on themes including nature, religion and especially love. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest European poets of his age. Until the late 19th century the majority of Welsh literature was in Welsh and much of the prose was religious"
"warning of the dangers of civil discord. ""A niece of King Gorboduc"" is mentioned briefly by the Fool in Shakespeare's ""Twelfth Night"". ""Gorboduc"" is the name of a poem by John Ashbery that appears in the collection ""April Galleons"". Gorboduc Gorboduc (""Welsh:"" Gorwy or Goronwy) was a legendary king of the Britons as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was married to Judon. When he became old, his sons, Ferrex and Porrex, feuded over who would take over the kingdom. Porrex tried to kill his brother in an ambush, but Ferrex escaped to France. With the French king Suhardus, he"
"Monmouth around 1136, which included many more details. Geoffrey claimed his additions derived from a treatise by Gildas on Aurelius Ambrosius but this work (if it ever existed) has been lost. Around 1203, Gerald of Wales's composed his work ""On Invectives"", which claims to preserve verbatim a letter to Pope Honorius II from the convent of St David's. The letter seems to date from the 1120s. The story was subsequently repeated and embellished elsewhere. These accounts generally provided no earlier authorities for their claims, however, prior to the collection of the Iolo Manuscripts by Edward Williams. Among other changes, Williams"
"the life of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Research, design and preparation took six months and the first stitches were worked in July 2001, at the festivities to celebrate the Priory's 900th anniversary. The work, measuring by , was completed in May 2003, after a combined effort by the 14 volunteers of 2,750 hours. The background design is based on Kempe's ‘The Four Rivers Window’ in St Mary's Priory Church, Monmouth. A Celtic knot pattern gradually rises from green (earth) through blue (sky) to purple (heaven). These intertwining lines were also used by the Hereford School of Romanesque sculptors who were involved"
"of the monastic foundation are sited on the adjacent Priory Street, including the Prior's Lodging, with a fine fifteenth century oriel window, often mistakenly thought to have a connection with Geoffrey of Monmouth. Geoffrey is believed to have been born in the town around 1100, probably of Breton parents, about the time that the first priory was being built. In 1851 Monmouth Cemetery was created when Monmouth Council closed St Mary's Churchyard for burials, when decaying human remains started to appear above ground. This was caused by the raised height of the churchyard. Residents in neighbouring Whitecross Street suffered a"
"of Constantine, which supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the Pope, became widely circulated. In the twelfth century, Geoffrey of Monmouth published the ""History of the Kings of Britain"", a pseudohistorical work purporting to describe the ancient history and origins of the British people. The book synthesises earlier Celtic mythical traditions to inflate the deeds of the mythical King Arthur. The contemporary historian William of Newburgh wrote around 1190 that ""it is quite clear that everything this man wrote about Arthur and his successors, or indeed about his predecessors from Vortigern onwards,"
"rumor eventually spread throughout the Christian world in the Middle Ages. Thomas of Monmouth Thomas of Monmouth (fl. 1149–1172) was a monk who lived at Norwich Cathedral Priory, a Benedictine monastery in Norwich, in Norfolk, England during the mid-twelfth century. He was the author of ""The Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich"", a hagiography of William of Norwich that is sometimes considered an antisemitic text. Thomas was presumably born in Monmouth, since he is identified by the town's name. Historian Gavin I. Langmuir says that he appears to have been ""respectably educated"". He arrived in Norwich in 1149–50,"
"Thomas of Monmouth Thomas of Monmouth (fl. 1149–1172) was a monk who lived at Norwich Cathedral Priory, a Benedictine monastery in Norwich, in Norfolk, England during the mid-twelfth century. He was the author of ""The Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich"", a hagiography of William of Norwich that is sometimes considered an antisemitic text. Thomas was presumably born in Monmouth, since he is identified by the town's name. Historian Gavin I. Langmuir says that he appears to have been ""respectably educated"". He arrived in Norwich in 1149–50, a few years after the 1144 death of William of Norwich,"
"Walter of Oxford Walter of Oxford (died 1151) () was a British cleric and writer. He served as archdeacon of Oxford in the 12th century. Walter was a friend of Geoffrey of Monmouth, who claimed he got his chief source for the ""Historia Regum Britanniae"" from him. In the dedication to his ""Historia Regum Britanniae"", Geoffrey claims that while writing the book he had struggled to find material on the early Kings of the Britons. This problem had been solved when Walter gave him a ""very ancient book"" written in ""britannicus sermo"" (The ""British"" tongue, i.e. Brittonic, Welsh, or Breton)."
"and includes references to various figures from that period, including Gwenddoleu and Taliesin. Geoffrey attempts to synchronize the ""Vita"" with his earlier work by having Merlin mention he had been with Arthur long before. Vita Merlini Vita Merlini, or The Life of Merlin, is a work by the Norman-Welsh author Geoffrey of Monmouth, composed in Latin around 1150. It retells incidents from the life of the Brythonic seer Merlin, and is based on traditional material about him. Merlin is described as a prophet in the text. There are a number of episodes in which he loses his mind and lives"
"Geoffrey of Monmouth's who wrote of King Arthur in ""History of the Kings of Britain"" (ca. 1136) and of Avalon in ""Life of Merlin"" (ca. 1150). A lai is a lyrical, narrative written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance. Lais were mainly composed in France and Germany, during the 13th and 14th centuries. Marie's lays despite the fairy tale atmosphere all feature ordinary humans, except for ""Lanval"" which features an immortal ""fairy mistress"". Here too, she is not ""particularly supernatural"" in her described manners and guises. However, she is evidently from the Otherworld and"
"Cambrian Archaeological Association and the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art. Outside Wales, a related form survives as the name Cumbria in North West England, which was once a part of . The Cumbric language, which is thought to have been closely related to Welsh, was spoken in this area until becoming extinct around the 12th century. This form also appears at times in literary references, as in the pseudohistorical """" of Geoffrey of Monmouth, where the character of Camber is described as the eponymous King of . Wales has been inhabited by modern humans for at least 29,000 years. Continuous"
"a canon of Lincoln. Archbishop Theobald of Bec consecrated Geoffrey as Bishop of St Asaph at Lambeth on 24 February 1152, having ordained him a priest at Westminster 10 days before. According to Lewis Thorpe, ""There is no evidence that he ever visited his see, and indeed the wars of Owain Gwynedd make this most unlikely."" He appears to have died between 25 December 1154 and 24 December 1155—in 1155 according to Welsh chronicles, when his successor took office. Geoffrey wrote several works in Latin, the language of learning and literature in Europe during the medieval period. His major work"
"and Uther that pre-dates Geoffrey of Monmouth. Other early Welsh Arthurian texts include a poem found in the ""Black Book of Carmarthen"", ""Pa gur yv y porthaur?"" (""What man is the gatekeeper?""). This takes the form of a dialogue between Arthur and the gatekeeper of a fortress he wishes to enter, in which Arthur recounts the names and deeds of himself and his men, notably Cei (Kay) and Bedwyr (Bedivere). The Welsh prose tale ""Culhwch and Olwen"" (), included in the modern ""Mabinogion"" collection, has a much longer list of more than 200 of Arthur's men, though Cei and Bedwyr"
"popularly interpreted as meaning 'fortress of turns' (""caer"" = 'fort'). There is another tenuous connection between Wales and Troy that has been disproven by historians but remains a resilient myth. Geoffrey of Monmouth, following the early Welsh historian Nennius, created a Christian/classical genealogy which placed Brutus of Troy, grandson of Aeneas and liberator of enslaved Trojans, as founder of Britain. This Brutus is generally considered a medieval fiction. Caerdroia A caerdroia is a Welsh turf maze, usually in the sevenfold Cretan labyrinth design. They were created by shepherds on hilltops and were apparently the setting for ritual dances, the nature"
"most popular of Wace's works and survives in more than 30 manuscripts or fragments. It was used by Layamon as the basis for his ""Brut"" and inspired Robert de Boron's ""Merlin"". It contained a number of significant elaborations of Geoffrey, including the first mention of King Arthur's Round Table. Roman de Brut Roman de Brut (meaning ""Romance of Brut"") or ""Brut"" is a verse literary history of Britain by the poet Wace. It is based on Geoffrey of Monmouth's ""Historia Regum Britanniae"", and was probably begun around 1150 and finished in 1155. Written in the Norman language, it consists of"
"the seat of the Bishop of Monmouth. In the 9th Century Gwynllyw's church was rebuilt in stone, indicating his importance and the wealth of his shrine, as stone buildings were unusual in Wales at this time. Part of this building is now incorporated into St. Woolos Cathedral as the Galilee chapel. The cult of the saint according to his life grew as a series of miracles were attributed to him. His fountain healed those who drank from it and angels were seen near his tomb. Later miracles included the protection of a bard from flood waters, and the destruction of"
"""Essay on the Welsh Saints"", where he says that Cadfan (rather than his son Cadwallon) was given the golden sceptre by Beuno. The largely fictional stories of ancient Britain written by Geoffrey of Monmouth use the names of many historical personages as characters, and the use of these names is a literary convenience made in order to advance the plot of Geoffrey's stories. One of these stories uses the names of Cadfan and other contemporary people, telling of how a certain Edwin spent his exiled youth at the court of King Cadfan, growing up alongside Cadfan's son, the future King"
"John of Monmouth (died 1257) John of Monmouth (died 1257) was a feudal lord in the Welsh Marches. He was the son of John of Monmouth and his second wife Agnes, daughter of Walter de Muscegros. Penrhos Castle was the focus of a sharp dispute the younger John of Monmouth had with William III de Cantilupe. There are official records showing that John was appointed ""custos"" of the castle in 1251, and William was pardoned the following year for demolishing it. On the basis of documentary evidence, the castle and the dispute it created lasted from 1248 to 1253. John"
"produced by William of Rennes. Material from Geoffrey was incorporated into a large variety of Anglo-Norman and Middle English prose compilations of historical material from the 13th century onward. Geoffrey was translated into a number of different Welsh prose versions by the end of the 13th century, collectively known as ""Brut y Brenhinedd"". One variant of the ""Brut y Brenhinedd"", the so-called ""Brut Tysilio"", was proposed in 1917 by the archaeologist William Flinders Petrie to be the ancient British book that Geoffrey translated, although the ""Brut"" itself claims to have been translated from Latin by Walter of Oxford, based on"