Nennius, fl. 796 / 2008-07-27 00:00:00

EBOOK HISTORY OF THE BRITONS ***


Produced by Bert Olton and David Widger


HISTORY OF THE BRITONS (HISTORIA BRITTONUM)

by Nennius

Translated by J. A. Giles


I. THE PROLOGUE.

1. Nennius, the lowly minister and servant of the servants of God, by
the grace of God, disciple of St. Elbotus,* to all the followers of
truth sendeth health.
* Or Elvod, bishop of Bangor, A.D. 755, who first adopted in
the Cambrian church the new cycle for regulating Easter.
Be it known to your charity, that being dull in intellect and rude of
speech, I have presumed to deliver these things in the Latin tongue, not
trusting to my own learning, which is little or none at all, but partly
from traditions of our ancestors, partly from writings and monuments
of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the
Romans, and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymus,
Prosper, Eusebius, and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons,
although our enemies, not following my own inclinations, but, to the
best of my ability, obeying the commands of my seniors; I have lispingly
put together this history from various sources, and have endeavored,
from shame, to deliver down to posterity the few remaining ears of corn
about past transactions, that they might not be trodden under foot,
seeing that an ample crop has been snatched away already by the hostile
reapers of foreign nations.
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