The History of the Kings of Britain

The History of the Kings of Britain marches through approximately 1,900 years of British monarchs, beginning with Brutus and his founding of Britain around 1200 BCE, through Cadwallader’s departure from Britain in the seventh century CE. Scholars described the text as an epic in verse, meaning it may take certain historical facts as a jumping off point but so widely diverges from those facts as to become fiction. Notably, accepted evidence does not support the existence of a founding king called Brutus, a Briton called Belinus sacking Rome, or a King Arthur being born by mystical circumstances. Further, the highly specific information Geoffrey provides about troop types, movements, and commanders—as well as speeches and conversations—are romanticized creations.

Suggestive of this purpose is Geoffrey’s use of narrative themes and techniques evident in ancient epics like Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and Virgil’s Aeneid. These include Geoffrey’s allusion to Britain’s founding as being divinely ordained, his description of battle scenes in the epic style, and his attention to prophecy in both pagan and Christian contexts.

The theme of homecoming is central to Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid.