Brutus of Britain
Brutus of Britain was the first king of Britain and grandson of Aeneas, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth. Exiled from Italy for the accidental killing of his natural father Silvius, Brutus liberated a group of Trojans living in slavery in Greece and led them forth, received a vision during this wandering that he would found a kingdom in a land inhabited by giants, then after numerous battles in the region of the Gallic city of Tours, he settled in Britain with the aid of his fellow Trojan Corineus, where they slew the giants living in that island. He is said to have founded the city Troia Nova, later named London. By Ignoge he had three sons -- Locrinus, Kamber, and Albanactus -- who on Brutus' death divided the island between them.Although the Historia Britonum, from which Geoffrey drew the core of this story, claims Britain was named after Brutus, this personage has no basis in actual fact, and is generally considered a medieval fiction created to provide a distinguished genealogy for one or more Welsh royal families. Brutus became part of the Matter of Britain[?], a pseudo-historical account of the events of that island, which was widely accepted as historical fact until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when reliable historical records and inscriptions were available and studied by scholars who gradually disproved much of it -- but is still occasionally cited in popular or ceremonial accounts in contemporary England.
Had this
sailed across the seas and landed in France there would have
allow them to stay long in the parts which they
his jarls, and there they seem disposed to settle down; but
the hands of its former owners to till, and after to wring from
becomes thoroughly impoverished, they must move elsewhere.
that there is nothing for them to do but to sweep down again
is hopeless to think that we alone can withstand their united
asked.
"'Tis difficult to see the end," Alfred replied. "It would
they have utterly eaten up and ravaged England they may.html">may.html">may
the northern coasts of France, but there are richer prizes on
is no longer worth plundering they may sail away to Spain
them. When they first began to arrive upon our coasts we
could go forth and meet them on the seas.
"Some, indeed, might have escaped our watch and
coming to them, and thus those who reached our shores could
might be done that way, and I purpose to build a fleet which
mouth of the Thames and fall upon the vessels bringing stores
to the people, whose hopelessness and desperation are caused
the enemy, since so many are ready constantly to take
"The fort is now finished, and with the revenues of the land
time, when she is finished I would build another. I will the
entirely overrun our country we must take to the sea.html">sea and so in
built large and strong, so that she may keep the sea in all
There must be plenty of ports in France, and many a.
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