MIDDLE ENGLISH CHRONICLES

MIDDLE ENGLISH CHRONICLES

v            1) Layamon’s Brut:

* It is written about 1205 by Layamon, a monk of Arley kings in Worcester.

* It is a poem of some 16000 lines.

* The chief sources of the poem is the ‘Roman de Brut’ of Wace, itself a translation into Norman-French of the ‘Historia Regum Britanniae’ of Geoffrey of Monmouth.

* The poem begins with the destruction of Troy and the flight of Aeneas into Italy. Brutus, a grandson of Aeneas, gathers his people and finally they land on Britain and set up the kingdom. Then the poet describes in about 13000 lines the history of Arthur and his knights. The poem ends with the death of Cadwallader in 689.

* The poem is written in long alliterative lines. The poet uses his characteristic epic formula, often in summing up a situation and his use of similes.

2) Robert of Gloucester:

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* It is written about 1300 by Robert, a monk of Gloucester, though it is though it is thought that there is more than one author to this work.

* The work is based upon the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth, William of Malmesbury and other chroniclers.

* The hero of his work is ‘Arthur’ and he largely deals with the stories of King Arthur.

* Throughout the work the poet’s love for his country can easily be scented.

3) Robert Manning of Brunne:

* Robert manning came from Brunne in Lincolnshire.

* His rhymed chronicle is ‘story of England’ which was completed as the poet himself tells us between three and four p.m. of Friday, May 25, 1338.

* It begins with Noah and the Deluge and ends with the death of Edward-I.

* The first part of the poem is based upon Wace’s ‘Brut’ and the second part upon Chronicle of Pierre de Langtoft.

* The poem is written in alexandrine couplets.