#the history of the kings of britain

[queer-ragnelle]

Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth | More quotes at Arthuriana Daily

[verecunda]

I'm reading Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, and right now I'm wondering, how the hell does this guy never make it into any Arthurian/Matter of Britain retellings?:

At Hengist's treacherous stabby feast, while the Saxons are all busy murdering the unarmed British nobles:

There was present one Eldol, consul of Gloucester, who, at the sight of this treachery, took up a stake which he happened to find, and with that made his defence. Every blow he gave carried death along with it; and by breaking either the head, arms, shoulders or legs of a great many, he struck no small terror into the traitors, nor did he move from the spot before he had killed with that weapon seventy men. But being no longer able to stand his ground against such numbers, he made his escape from them, and retired to his own city.

YEAH BOI

He shows up later, when Aurelius Ambrosius comes back to Britain to wrest it from Vortigern and the Saxons. He's there when Ambrosius burns Vortigern in his tower, and later when he battles Hengist at Kaerconan:

In the meantime, Eldol, duke of Gloucester, went to the king, and said, "This one day should suffice for all the days of my life, if by good providence I could but get an opportunity to engage with Hengist; for one of us should die before we parted."

yes

Aurelius animated the Christians, Hengist the pagans; and all the time of the engagement, Eldol's chief endeavour was to encounter Hengist, but he had no opportunity for it.

Aw. :(

But wait! Later on, in the thick of battle:

Nor was Eldol less active in all parts of the field, running to and fro to assault his adversaries; but still his main endeavour was to find opportunity of encountering Hengist. As there were therefore several movements made by the parties engaged on each side, an opportunity occurred for their meeting, and briskly engaging each other. In this encounter of the two greatest champions in the field, the fire sparkled with the clashing of their arms, and every stroke in a manner produced both thunder and lightning.

AW YISS

Eldol, assured of victory, seized on the helmet of Hengist, and by main force dragged him in among the Britons, and then in transports of joy cried out with a loud voice, "God has fulfilled my desire! My brave soldiers, down, down, with your enemies the Ambrons. The victory is now in your hands: Hengist is defeated, and the day is your own."

Then, after the battle, everyone has a chat about what to do with the captured Hengist, and the bishop of Gloucester, who is Eldol's own brother, recommends that he be executed (I'm sure that was a very impartial decision there...)

Accordingly Eldol took his sword, and drew him out of the city, and then cut off his head. But Aurelius, who showed moderation in all his conduct, commanded him to be buried, and a heap of earth to be raised over his body, according to the custom of the pagans.

I like that character beat for Ambrosius. He is very much portrayed as the righteous Christian saviour delivering the Britons from the yoke of the pagan Saxons, but he still takes care that Hengist should be buried according to his own customs, and this is treated positively by Geoffrey.

But the important thing is that Eldol got to cut off Hengist's head! Eldol, who was there during the slaughter at the feast, who saw who only knows how many friends and kinsmen being slain around him, and who fought free of it all with nothing but a bit of wood to his name, got his desire to face Hengist in an epic duel, and have his revenge. What a good arc. What a great side character he'd make.

[talesfromtheenchantedforest]

ancestry-based pissing contests in the middle of a battlefield:

"Are you even high status enough to fight me?"

Then says the King of Surry [Syria], "Als save me Our Lord, Yif thou hufe [delay] all the day thou bes [will be] not delivered! But thou sekerly ensure with certain knights That thy cote [of arms] and thy crest be knowen with lords, Of arms of auncestry entered [endowed] with lands

"Yes, bitch, and I have a whole Troy-based pseudohistory to back me up"

"Sir King," says Sir Clegis, "full knightly thou asks; I trow [believe] it be for cowardis thou carpes these words; Mine armes are of auncestry envered [acknowledged] with lordes, And has in banner been borne senn Sir Brut time; At the citee of Troy that time was enseged, Oft seen in assaut with certain knights; Forthy Brut brought us and all our bold elders To Bretain the Brodden within ship-bordes."

— Alliterative Morte Arthure, lines 1687-1699

[apaladinsventure]

Welsh authors…. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿📚

“Who therefore amongst you shall be slain in this battle, unto him shall that death be as full penance and absolution of all his sins, if so be he receive it willingly on this way.”

——

The History of the Kings of Britain, Geoffrey of Monmouth 📖

#Art 🎨 Tim Skoglund

[cynicalclassicist]

Just putting this out for my fellow arthurian nerds!

personal / catchall blog (likes, follows, etc): @waverii

literature (mainly arthuriana) blog: here!

podcast / mechs blog: @daughterdooley

here are all the texts i've scanned for when tumblr inevitably decides to stop them from showing up in search results (again)

the romance of yder (roman d'yder), trans. alison adams

the history of the kings of britain (historia regum brittania), trans. lewis thorpe

the byelorussian tristan (povest o’ trischane), trans. zora kipel

[illustratus]

Sir Bedivere put King Arthur gently into the barge by William Henry Margetson

Illustration for Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by James Knowles

[gailyinthedark]

Can't stop thinking about Geoffrey of Monmouth describing the language of the Trojans/Britons as "graecum curvum" and wondering how he'd say it if he were on tumblr in 2024

bent Greek

mangled Greek

silly Greek

Greek, but a little to the left

Greek's weird sister

The possibilities are endless.

[paranoid-artist]

Thank you for this idea @salmonthecat

[gwydpolls]

Time Travel Question 34: Medievalish and Earlier 3

These Questions are the result of suggestions from the previous iteration.

This category may include suggestions made too late to fall into the correct earlier time grouping. Basically, I'd already moved on to human history, but I'd periodically get a pre-homin suggestion, hence the occasional random item waaay out of it's time period, rather than reopen the category.

In some cases a culture lasted a really long time and I grouped them by whether it was likely the later or earlier grouping made the most sense with the information I had. (Invention ofs tend to fall in an earlier grouping if it's still open. Ones that imply height of or just before something tend to get grouped later, but not always. Sometimes I'll split two different things from the same culture into different polls because they involve separate research goals or the like).

Please add new suggestions below if you have them for future consideration. All cultures and time periods welcome.

[tmcphotoblog]

Such glorious photo of HM King George VI visiting No. 617 Squadron in 1943.

[queer-ragnelle]

Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth | More quotes at Arthuriana Daily

[verecunda]

At first the Britons had the worst of it, for Bedevere the Cup-bearer was killed and Kay the Seneschal was mortally wounded. When Bedevere met Boccus, the King of the Medes, he was run through by the latter's lance and fell dead inside the enemy lines. Kay the Seneschal did his utmost to avenge Bedevere, but he was surrounded by battalions of Medes and received a mortal wound. Nevertheless, brave soldier as he was, he cut a way through with the force which he was commanding, scattered the Medes and would have retreated to his own support-group with his line of battle unbroken, had he not come up against the legion of the King of Libya, whose counter-attack completely scattered the troops under Kay's command. Even then he fell back with a few men still alive and made his way to the Golden Dragon [Arthur's standard] with the corpse of Bedevere.

[coquetteladyofthedeadmensworld]

It's finally here, people! Forgive the long wait:

The Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Plead to a King

Kensington Palace is now home to a bereaved husband and son. Unfortunately, this is only the start of the tragedy...

Main Characters:

William III - Following the death of his beloved wife and mother of his child, the King of England seeks justice. And he will stop at nothing to get it.

Mary II - The reluctant Queen for many reasons had only her husband and darling son to cherish. Well, until her untimely demise, that is.

Prince Edward - The heir to the British throne after his parents, he ends up caught in a tangle as he gets placed in the middle of his father and the assassin William wants rid of. He is expected to handle this affair like the prince he is. But is he going to end up spiralling downwards??

Hans William Bentinck - The loyal friend of the King who is too stricken with rage to acknowledge his presence.

Arnold Joost van Keppel - Rising to power during the furore, he too has no success trying to recover William from the trauma of the assassination.

Princess Anne - The sister of the late Queen has grown to deeply cherish her young nephew. She also does not approve of William forcing him into a full on war. Which William only realises too late...

Prince George - Anne's husband who also dotes on Edward who confides in him and his wife more than his father.

Clarissa - A young lady who has just moved in from the country. Caught up in the furore, she ends up stuck in a massive nightmare she could have never imagined for herself. There is death on all roads she is forced to travel down. Will she pull through??

Chapter One

1:40 pm, Brompton Road, September 1690:

BANG.

It was a sound absolutely no one wants to hear. Especially not on a carriage ride.

Especially not when you are on the streets, greeting your sovereigns.

BANG.

Again.

And in that moment, every smile on every face vanished, transforming into grimaces of horror, fear and shock.

You couldn't forget, no matter how much you might want to.

Especially not when screaming was heard not only on the narrow, yet crowded streets, but from the inside of the rich carriage now rapidly performing a 180 back to the grand walls of Kensington.

"Mary! Mary, oh goodness - MARY!!"

What?! It can't be -

"MARY!!"

"Drive faster, man! She's bleeding, can't you see that?!"

Who's bleeding??

William III was always known as a quiet, dull, unaffectionate man to most people.

But today, that all changed.

"DRIVE!!!!"

The scream from him was enough for the whip to go down even harder than the last time. He was now holding the unconscious Mary II tightly in his arms.

"NEIGH, NEIGH!!"

The poor horses!!

Clarissa Hemsworth couldn't move. Not even when she hit the concrete. Because all she could feel was feet stabbing her in every corner of her body. The stampede had begun.

There was no denying it.

OW OW, OOF.

2:00 pm, Kensington Palace, September 1690:

The Queen was now plunged into bed while her despairing husband was curled up in the corner of the room, shaking uncontrollably with sobs, his dear Edward drifting between the two, trying to keep composure.

Please don't die Mary, please don't die-

"Your Majesty??" That was Bentinck, shaken.

Only then did the crumpled King look up.

"Find him." A nod. "FIND HIM!! PLEASE!"

"With Godspeed!" That was Edward, with all the strength needed for a prince of England. "We demand whoever did this.. this.. act.. to be punished! IMMEDIATELY!"

Mary please don't die!! -

Mother, please be strong -

"Oh goodness me!!" Dr Radcliffe gasped, straightening back up. "This wound goes deeper than we thought!"

No. Just please, no -

"IT CAN'T BE THAT BAD IF ONE BULLET HIT THE CARRIAGE!!" the prince yelled, storming back over to the bleeding bed, William trailing behind him.

"It Can't Be!!" The King had gone from screaming to sobbing again.

However, soon after, the mob of servants outside heard nothing but silence.

The Prince and Princess of Denmark were kept outside with the servants, Anne in particular banging on the door to get in and help while George had to hold her back. But even they knew the news they were dreading was going to come out of those doors.

"NOOO!!" The King - "NO, NO! NOOO!!"

"Please!! I need in!"

"Anne please, this isn't going to work -"

"Darling Mary, wake up PLEASE!!"

"Mother please, just wake up! -"

Brompton Road, September 1690:

It had taken what seemed like years for Clarissa to find the strength to stand up.

What on dear Earth just happened? Did that just happen? I could vomit. Truly vomit.

Right here, right now.

Was this what she moved here from Devonshire for? Witnessing shootouts at carriage rides??

Well, she was here now.

You have made your grave. Lie in it.

Wait what?! It's 'bed', not 'grave'!

And at that moment, the sky darkened.

[universalhat]

[w-m-pitt]

His Imperial Majesty George the Sixth of the British Empire, the man who ruled over more of the earth than any other in human history. His inferiors number over 100 billion, his superiors are none.

[illustratus]

Arthurian coats of arms from "Works on knighthood and tournaments" collection. Houghton Library, Harvard University.