Early Welsh Histories

Written in the sixth century, vividly describing the harrowing of the Celtic kingdoms of Britain by the Anglo-Saxon invaders, Gildas’s Destruction of Britain is both a lament for Roman civilisation and a blistering polemic against the impieties of the British kings. Written three centuries later, Nennius’s History of Britain presents a picture of the mythical king Vortigern, the prophet Ambrosius, and the conflict between the red dragon and the white that inspired Geoffrey of Monmouth, and resounds in Welsh popular culture to this day. Between them, they represent a society in extremis, and a passionate defence of the nationhood of Wales.