Geoffrey of Monmouth's works

Title: The History of the Kings of Britain
Author: Geoffrey of Monmouth
First published Written: 1136
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Rating: ★★★☆☆

Geoffrey of Monmouth is the one who laid the foundation for Arthur's insane popularity, as he was the first to collect all the legends and stories about him, put them into historical context and present as truth. Geoffrey claims that his work is just a translation of some "certain very ancient book written in the British language", but the truth is that he just mixed whatever written sources he has read with some Welsh myths he has heard and spiced the story up with some fictitious adornments to make it exciting. Although The History of the Kings of Britain had been considered a serious historical work for some time, now it should be read more as a historical fiction or fantasy. Nor is it less gripping than the modern books of these genres.

Geoffrey starts the history of Britons with the story of Trojan Aeneas, which he totally ripped off from Virgil. Aeneas's grandson Brutus is banished from Italy where his people now reside and has to colonize Britain. After battling some giants to free the island for settling, he becomes the first of the kings of Britons. Geoffrey tells about all the subsequent kings chronologically, but he has his favorites, and while some of them get two lines, the deeds of others occupy tens of pages. Among the characters most beloved by Geoffrey are: King Lear, Cassibelanus, Vortigern and of course Arthur.

Unlike Nennius, who only lists Arthur's battles, Geoffrey describes his life in detail. There is a totally amazing story of his conception (not without the help of Merlin!), the story of his battles and the conquest of half of Europe and the account of his death and departure to Avalon after a wound inflicted in the battle against his treacherous nephew Mordred. All the basic elements of the subsequent retellings are there, but it is still a legend, not a fully developed story. We don't know much about the character of Arthur of his followers, there is no explanation of Mordred's treason and Guinevere's behavior. There is no sword in the stone as yet, no famous knights surrounding him, no Grail and no real charm in the story. But it's a beginning, and a fascinating beginning for all that.

In my book:
This is a good place to start exploring Arthur story, but it's important to remember that most of the book is Geoffrey's fantasy :)

Title: Life of Merlin
Author: Geoffrey of Monmouth
First published Written: 1150
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Rating: ★★★☆☆

Unlike The History of the Kings of Britain, Life of Merlin is a story in verse, and it doesn't concern Arthur at all. It tells about Merlin as a mad prophet, who went off his head and withdrew to the forests after the death of his two brothers. After that, his wife and sister are constantly trying to drag him back to civilization, but in his short relapses he makes his horrifyingly true but cynical and indiscreet predictions and runs away again. Finally, he trains some apprentice prophets and dies in the forests after foreseeing the future of Britain.

The story would have been amazing, if the second half of it was not filled with the useless information about birds, fishes, geography, physics and what not taken from Etymologiae by Isidore of Seville. These educational passages were really tiresome to read.

In my book:
A lovely poem composed of several fable-like stories. With the omission of the "etymological" parts would be really precious.