The book was packed with stories which had never before been heard. The cleric was Geoffrey of Monmouth and his book, Historia Regnum Britanniae (translated as History of the Kings of Britain). “Around 1135 AD a cleric living in Oxford published a complete history of the British ruling dynasty from Brutus, the grandson of Aeneas, to Cadwallader, the last historically attested British king who abandoned Britain to the Saxons in the seventh century. The third story also revolves around these ancient Greek myths. One of them was Britto and hence called Britain. The second tradition says it all began with Alanus was the first man to enter Europe and had twelve sons and each of them founded one European state. He came to Britain, after spending time in Gaul and the country was named after him. Britto, the grandson of Aeneas, accidentally killed his father and was driven away from Italy. The first, the Roman tradition begins with Aeneas a Trojan hero and said to be founder of ancient Rome fleeing from Troy. Barry Cunliffe’s Britain Begins is one such quest to unravel the origins of that country.Īccording to Cunliffe there are three distinct traditions associated with the origins of Britain. Scholars world over have spent enormous time working backward to reach the beginning. THE origin of anything is almost always shrouded in mystery. Britain Begins, Barry Cunliffe, Oxford University Press, Pp 553(HB), £30
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