Opening Passage:
Whoever wishes to hear about, and to know about, kings and heirs, as one passed to another, who they were and where they came from, about who first ruled England and which kings it had, in order, who came earlier and who came later, Master Wace, who is telling the truth about this, has translated this.
As the book sets forth, when the Greeks had conquered Troy and destroyed the whole country, in order to take venegeance on Paris, who had abducted Helen from Greece, Duke Aeneas escaped the great slaughter with some considerable difficulty. (p. 3)
Summary: Aeneas escapes with his people from the ruin of Troy; a son he has after the escape, Silvius, who in turn has a son named Brutus. In accordance with a prophecy, Brutus accidentally kills his father and is exiled; he and a number of his companions seek their fortunes in Spain and France. In France they meet up with another band of Trojan refugees under Corineus, and together they conquer the island to the North, which is named after Brutus, and is divided up in the way the ancient names suggest: Corinee (later called Cornwall) for Corineus, and then among Brutus's sons, Kamber receives Cambria (later called Wales), Locrinus Logres (later called England), Albanactus Alba/Albany (later called Scotland). Brutus founds New Troy (Trinovant, later called London), and when he dies is buried there. His sons get along well with each other, but Albanactus's kingdom if invaded by a Hun named Humber, who kills Albanactus in battle. Locrinus and Kamber defeat him and he dies plunging into a river to escape them, which ever after is known as the River Humber. You see how this is building: the tale that Wace is telling is not so much the story of Brutus himself, or even only of his line, but it is in great measure a tale of the very geography of Britain, the very land of Britain conceived as itself an epic story.
Locrinus then has Madan, who has two sons, Malin and Menbriz, who tear the land apart in a dispute of which Menbriz is the victor. Menbriz has Ebrauc, a war without peer who successfully ravages the continent. Ebrauc has many children, some of whom go to Lombardy and marry into the Trojan refugee families there; Brutus Green Shield, his eldest, succeeds him. Brutus Green Shield has Leil, who has Ruhundibras, who has Bladud. Bladud is a sorcerer king and the founder of Bath; he dies when an attempt to fly by magic goes very wrong. His son was Leir.
With King Leir we get to the first major waypoint after Brutus and his sons. Leir has three daughters, Gonorille, Ragau, and Cordelia, and as he approaches the end of his life he tests their love for him, and I don't need to dwell too much on the details of the result given the fame of the story. Leir in Wace's version, despite his anger at Cordelia, still loves her, and when a king in France, Aganippus, asks for her hand, Leir allows it as long as it is with the understanding that Cordelia is not inheriting any part of Leir's kingdom. She literally arrives in France with nothing but the clothes on her back, but the marriage is a successful one and she becomes a relatively powerful queen. The husbands of Gonorille and Ragau use force to force Leir to relinquish the kingdom to them in exchange for having what in modern times would be called 'a golden parachute': they will keep him well as long as the kingdom is theirs. Gonorille thinks it unfair for Leir to have so much income and support for nothing, and so at her nagging, her husband restricts the support he provides Leir; Ragau's husband eventually does the same, so that Leir is now trying to maintain a household with a quarter of the support he was promised. He goes to France to visit Cordelia, whom he now realizes is the only daughter who really loved him. He is greeted warmly and his son-in-law Aganippus crosses the channel to reconquer Leir's kingdom for him. After Leir's death, Cordelia rules a short while, but she has continual problems with her nephews, who eventually imprison her. She commits suicide in prison, "which was an act of folly" (p. 32).
Cordelia's nephews, Margan and Cunedagius, inevitably come to blows; Cunedagius is the victor. Cunedagius has Rival who follows him. Rival, while a wise king, is a very minor episode, but it provides a good point at which to capture one of the features of Wace's narrative that does not translate well into a summary. Wace marks that Rival's reign was plagued by strange omens:
In his time, rain, consisting of blood, came down for three days -- I do not know what the meaning of this was -- and there was a storm of flies from which many people became fatally ill. The scarlet-coloured rain that fell, and the truly remarkable flies, frightened everyone, and each one of them was afraid for his own safety. (p. 33)
The parenthetical is not unique; Wace regularly tells us on various topics that he doesn't know what happened, or doesn't know what it meant, or can't confirm something because he has never been to a certain place. The narrative technique, which is found throughout the Roman de Brut, is very effective, because despite the fact that he is always admitting ignorance, it conveys a sense of sincerity that goes well beyond what one would expect from a mere report of legends or happenings. While Roman de Brut and Roman de Rou are very different in some ways, one thing they do share is Wace's disarming frankness, which makes the story much more vivid.
Rival has two sons, Ferreus and Porreus, who fight over the kingdom even before their father is dead; the fighting eventually leads to Porreus's death, which is avenged when their mother, Judon, kills the other son for his crime. At this point, a succession crisis occurs, no son or daughter remaining. The kingdom fractures until Dumwallo Molmuz manages to reunify it. Dumwallo has two sons, Belin and Brenne, and here we reach our second major waypoint. Troublemakers institute a war between them. Belin has the upper hand early, and consolidates it by a marriage alliance with the king of Norway, but the fight is massively escalated when Belin gives shelter to Gudlac, king of Denmark, who is attempting to run away with the woman to whom Breen is engaged to be married. Brenne is forced to flee, but gathers allies abroad. The war is about to break out on an even more savage scale, but is narrowly averted by the appeals of Tonuuenne, the mother of Belin and Brenne. Instead of fighting each other, the brothers decide to conquer Rome, which they do successfully. Brenne stays to rule Rome and Belin goes back to Britain.
Belin has Gurguint, and Gurguint has Guincelin. Guincelin's wife, Marcia, was a brilliant woman and established a set of laws that became the framework for later legal systems. Guincelin had Sisillius, and as he died before Sisillius was of age, Marcia rules as queen regent until Sisillius takes the crown. Sisillius has Rummarus, who succeeds him, and Damus, who succeeds his older brother. Damus has Morpidus, who dies fighting a sea monster. At this point the succession starts tangling. Morpidus has five sons and is succeeded by the eldest, Gorbonian, who was an extremely upright man. He is followed by his brother Argal, who is so much the opposite that the people rise against him and exile him and, despite trying to raise support to retake the kingdom, he keeps burning bridges so that he is never able to do so. Argal is followed by Elidur, who is a kind man; perhaps too kind, for when Argal eventually meets Elidur, Elidur has pity on him and returns the crown to him voluntarily. Nonetheless, it may have been the wise thing to do -- Argal is at least not as bad as he had been until his death, after which Elidur succeeds him again. However, the two youngest brothers, Jugenes and Peredur, revolt against Elidur; they defeat him, imprison him, and divide the land among themselves. Jugenes dies, then Peredur dies, and Elidur succeeds as king for a third time.
After Elidur's death an unnamed nephew, son of Gorbonian, rules; and then after that nephew, Margan son of Argal. Margan, who rules well, is succeeded by his brother Eumannus, who rules so badly he is exiled; Eumannus is succeeded by his cousin, Iwallo son of Jugenes, who is succeeded by Runo, son of Peredur, who is succeeded by Geronces, son of Elidur. Geronces is succeeded by his son Catullus, who is succeeded by Coillius, who is succeeded by Porreus , who is succeeded by Cherim. Cherim is a drunkard, but has the luck -- no problems arise during his entire drunken rule. He is followed by his sons in succession: Fulgenius, Eldadus, and Andragius. Andragius has Urian, who has Eliud, who is succeeded by Cledaucus, who is succeeded by Doten, who is succeeded by Gurgustius, and who is succeeded by Merian, who is succeeded by Beldudo, who is succeeded by Cap, who is succeeded by Oenus, who is succeded by Sillius, who is succeeded by Blegabret. Blegabret is succeeded by his brother, Archinal, who has Eldol, who is succeeded by Redion, who is succeeded by Rederch, who is succeeded by Famu Penissel, who is succeeded by Pir, who is succeeded by Caporus, who is succeeded by Eliguiellus. Eliguellus is succeeded by his so, Heli, who has three sons: Lud, Cassibellan, and Nennius. Lud is the one from whom the name 'London' ultimately comes. When Lud dies, his sons, Androgeus and Tenuancius, are too young to rule, so their uncle Cassibellan rules instead. He is a very good king, and when his nephews are getting old enough to be considered for rule, he makes them each take charge of a county first. And all is peaceful enough for a while.
But there is a theme that has been slowly building here, and I have in part dwelt on the genealogical structure here because of it. (Although there is plenty in Wace's actual development of the genealogical history that would be enough to interest people who have a hobbit-like interest in genealogical anecdote and comment.) Families unified do exceptionally well; quarrels unmanaged cause unmitigated harm. This has been shown throughout, but it is now going to reach a much greater level of significance as we reach our third major waypoint: Julius Caesar invades. Rome has a long memory, and it is out to avenge the humiliation it suffered in the days of Belin and Brenne.
Actually, Caesar is relatively reasonable; he'll go home if Cassibellan agrees to give Rome tribute. This, of course, Cassibellan does not do, but gathers all the forces of Britain to oppose him. Cassibellan, his brother Nennius, and his nephews Androgeus and Tenuancius, as well as their allies, come together and give the Romans a resounding defeat, although at considerable cost Caesar manages to salvage the situation, calming the resulting unrest in France, and returns again in two years -- to be defeated again. But the second victory plants the seed of defeat. The Britons celebrate with a tournament, but Androgeus's nephew kills another nephew of Cassibellan, and Androgeus and Cassibellan cannot come to terms over it. War breaks out between them and Androgeus, recognizing that Cassibellan has the upper hand, allies with Caeasar. Cassibellan holds out as long as he can, but he is forced into submission, and agrees to pay tribute to Rome. He is succeeded by Tenuancius, who is succeeded by his son Kimbelin, who is succeeded by his son Wider, who quarrels again with Rome. Claudius invades and defeats him, and Arviragus, Wider's brother, becomes king. Arviragus quarrels with Rome again, and Vespasian invades, but Arviragus and Vespasian are able to come to terms. Arviragus is succeeded by Marius, who was raised in Rome who defeats the invading army of Scythians who become the Picts in Scotland. After Marius comes Coil and after Coil comes Luces; it is in the time of Luces that Christianity comes to the island. But Luces leaves no heir, and to handle the succession crisis, the Romans send Sever (Septimius Severus) to Britain, where he brings order to the island but dies in the process. A chaos follows and the Romans eventually send a senator named Constanz to get things in hand. Constanz marries the daughter of a British king, Choel, Elaine (i.e., St. Helena), and their son Constantine becomes emperor of Rome. Not long after, Maximien establishes Little Britain (later known as Brittany) by colonizing it with Britain peasants. But Rome is beginning to have its own troubles and eventually gives up on Britain; the British are now cast back onto their own resources.
At this point we reach our fourth major waypoint. The British elect a king to their defense, also named Constantine, but a cunning advisor named Vortigern outmaneuvers Constantine to put Constantine's son Constant on the throne and then arranges to have Pictish mercenaries kill him. He then maneuvers himself onto the throne. The Arthurian Age begins to dawn. Constant's sons Ambrosius and Uther flee.
There are Arthurian legends that predate the Roman de Brut, including Geoffrey of Monmouth's history of the kings of Britain, on which Wace is (quite loosely at times) basing his own work, but it is with Wace that the tale begins to be clearly recognizable. The basic outline of how Ambrosius and Uther, with the help of Merlin reestablish their rightful rule, will remain mostly constant from from this point. In Wace's version, however, both Ambrosius and, later, Uther, die of poison rather than in battle as later came to be told. Arthur is conceived much as in later tales. However, there is never really any doubt about his parentage (and thus no Sword in the Stone), and Arthur is crowned at age 15. He is a remarkably warlike king, and something of a tactical king; he large scale conquering spree in which he defeats the Saxons, the Scots, the Irish, the Icelanders, and the northern isles. He then establishes the Round Table; Wace is the first author to mention it. He then conquers Norway because his brother-in-law Lot has a dispute with them, and this touches off another conquering spree as a dispute with the Roman provinces in France lead him to conquer France. He has a crown-wearing in Caerleon afterward at which all the northern kingdoms recognize his overlordship, but at the same time they receive a furious message from Lucius, the king of the Romans, demanding that he give tribute to Rome. So Arthur solves that problem the way he's solved his other problems: he conquers Rome.
It comes at a great cost, however; many of his best knights, including Bedivere and Wawain (= Gawain; Wace is writing at a period in which W and G are often interchanged and in fact Wace's own name is sometimes given in manuscripts as Gace) are killed. But far worse than this, when he left for Rome, he put Medraut (later Mordred) in charge, and Medraut seizes the kingdom and marries Guinevere. Arthur returns to take back his kingdom, and does very well. But at the battle of Camlann, on the River Camble (probably Camel) in Cornwall, the two armies come together in one last great clash and pretty much everyone on both sides dies. Arthur's wounds are tended in Avalon, and Wace notes the legend that Arthur will one day return, but with his characteristic Wace-ness, says that nobody knows and perhaps nobody will ever know what happened to him. Constantine, the son of Arthur's Cador of Cornwall, becomes king of Britain and cleans up the mess, defeating Medraut's sons. Constantine is succeeded by his nephew Cunan, who is succeeded by Vortyporus, who is succeeded by his nephew Malgo, who is succeeded by Cariz. In all this time, the Saxons become increasing problems, and finally a pirate named Gormund organizes them and large parts of the British kingdom become Saxon. The British epoch of Britain has begun to come to its end; now large portions of the realm begins to be Anglo-Saxon and ultimately English, and England dominates the rest of the island. St. Augustine of Canterbury brings Christianity to the English, and is denied help by the British (who are already Christians). In fact the British repudiate him vehemently and treat him as an enemy. (I wonder if this ultimately comes from Bede, who holds that the rise of the Anglo-Saxons was a judgment on the British for failing to convert their pagan neighbors to Christianity.) There is a back-and-forth for a while, but Cadwallader becomes the last British king of Britain, then loses his grip on the kingdom and dies in Rome having received divine revelation that the Saxons will dominate the land. His son and nephew attempt to retake the island, but fail because the English have multiplied so much.
Thus ends the history of Britain. The name may remain, but the thing is no longer the same. This is actually another reason why I have insisted on giving pretty much the whole succession, despite the fact that it might come across as a bit tedious in summary (it is not tedious in the original, given Wace's constant comments and anecdotes), because I think this is in great measure Wace's point. Everything up to Cadwallader is a unified national story, even a unified family story, as represented by the genealogical connections that mostly remain intact even through terrible and troubled times. After Cadwallader these connections break down; it's not that there aren't any genealogical connections any more, but that they no longer matter. The tale of the children of Brutus is effectively done; even if they were to rise again, it would be a completely different story.
One thing that this summary cannot convey is Wace's extraordinary facility in writing scenes. He will tell a short anecdote in a very concise way and yet the whole thing comes across very vividly. He excels particularly at battle scenes, one small portion of which I include below as my favorite passage this reading.
Favorite Passage:
Then you would have seen Arthur fighting, killing men and knocking them down, breaking hauberks, shattering helmets, cutting off heads, arms, and hands. He held Caliburn, which was smeared in blood. Anyone he caught up with he knocked down dead. I cannot describe his blows. With each blow he killed a man. Like a lion driven by hunger, he killed each beast he encountered. The king did exactly the same, leaving neither horse nor man alive. Whoever received a blow from him, or was wounded by him, had no use for a doctor, for he would never recover fromt he blow that Arthur had struck, however slight it may have been. They all fled from Arthur's path, like the sheep that flees before the wolf. He pursued the king of Libya. Sertorius was his name and he was a powerful man. Arthur sliced the head off his body, saying to him:
'A curse on you who came here bearing arms in order to cover Caliburn with blood.' The man who lay there dead said nothing. (p. 190)
Recommendation: Highly Recommended. This is, I think, an underappreciated book, sometimes more humorous than you might expect, and filled with some brilliantly written stories.
****
Wace, Roman de Brut, Glyn S. Burgess, tr., Oxford University Press (New York: 2023).
