Geoffrey of Monmouth's famos Historia Regun Britanniae has held an important place in English litersture since it was completed in 1136.
It is an epic work spanning two thousand years, from the founding of Britain by Brutus to the coming of the Saxons. As an historian Geoffrey is sometimes less than reliable, but as the chronicler of half-legendary figures whose deeds have captured the imagination of millions, he is unrivalled: Lear, Cymbeline and, above all, Arthur were first recorded here and the Historia's influence inspired Malory and Tennyson, Shakespeare and Dryden.
Geoffrey's remarkably vivid narrative grips the readerand is as exciting and vital today as it was eight hundred years ago.