Product Description

TRANSLATED BY NEIL WRIGHT This imaginative history of the Britons, written in the twelfth century, contains the first appearance of many mythical figures, King Lear and King Arthur among them. It rapidly became a `bestseller' across the British Isles and Europe: over 200 manuscripts survive. Here, an authoritative version of the text is presented with a facing translation, prepared especially for the volume. It also contains a full introduction and notes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106539 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 392 pages

Review
A fabulous British history - giants and all - deserves its former bestseller status. Fresh and engaging, and can be enjoyed purely as mythical history. FORTEAN TIMES This new critical edition (...) is a major advance in scholarship and will undoubtedly become the standard text for the foreseeable future. SPECULUM This is a handsome volume and a major contribution to twelfth-century British studies. It will provide a firm textual basis for the next generation of scholarly research on Geoffrey of Monmouth and on twelfth-century historiography. JOURNAL OF BRITISH STUDIESThe Historia Regum Britanniae is a text of major importance for any folklorist interested in medieval folklore, national epics, and the invention of tradition. (...) For students and scholars wanting to read Geoffrey in the original Latin, or even just looking for a good translation of the book, Michael Reeve's and Neil Wright's edition and translation (.) is the best available edition of this influential text. FABULA Praise for the original hardback: Reeve's new text, a collation of 11 of the most important manuscripts, is probably the best we've had since Geoffrey put his pen down, and it makes much previous scholarship redundant. (...) A definitive work for scholars. TOM SHIPPEY, LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS The text itself is beautifully edited, and the translation is extremely close to the Latin original without being stilted: all the energy of Geoffrey's prose shines through. CHOICE

Review
This new critical edition [...] is a major advance in scholarship and will undoubtedly become the standard text for the foreseeable future.

About the Author
MICHAEL REEVE is Kennedy Professor of Latin Emeritus at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge; Dr NEIL WRIGHT is a Senior Language Teaching Officer at the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge.

Customer Reviews

Essential for any Latinist, as well as any Medievalist
This is as near as possible a definitive version of Geoffrey's fabulous, racy and vivid "history", with a Loeb-style Latin text and English facing-page translation. The critical study of variant editions and readings is exhaustive, though most readers might have preferred more notes about Geoffrey's possible sources, his literary style and his influence on later writers.

Still, this is the text to get, whether you only want to read the English version or have the Latin as well -- and the Latin is a real joy, accessible and readable and always running along at a cracking pace. Why this is not studied and enjoyed more by Latin students is a mystery -- hopefully this edition will start to become a required text for post A-level (or even A-level).