Layamon's Brut is a landmark in English literature, the first major work in English after the Norman Conquest, and the precursor of a rich Arthurian literature, from Malory to Tennyson and on to our own time. This edition combines a fully-edited version of the original text with a closeparallel prose translation, together with a lengthy Introduction, textual notes and a full and up-to-date bibliography. Written c.1200-1220, the Brut develops the themes of its principal source, Robert Wace's Roman de Brut, itself a version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's bestseller, the Historia Regum Britanniae, in a metre and idiom reminiscent of Old English. It demonstrates the fundamental strength of a native culturewhich survived two centuries of French dominance to re-emerge as a fusion of a national tradition and continental influences. | Layamon's Arthur by W. R. J. Barron, Paperback | Indigo Chapters