History of the Britons (Historia Brittonum)
- Pages
- about 48
- Category
- History
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 53 min at 250 wpm
From the opening
1. Nennius, the lowly minister and servant of the servants of God, by
the grace of God, disciple of St. Elbotus,* to all the followers of
truth sendeth health.
* Or Elvod, bishop of Bangor, A.D. 755, who first adopted in
the Cambrian church the new cycle for regulating Easter.
Be it known to your charity, that being dull in intellect and rude of
speech, I have presumed to deliver these things in the Latin tongue, not
trusting to my own learning, which is little or none at all, but partly
from traditions of our ancestors, partly from writings and monuments
of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the
Romans, and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymus,
Prosper, Eusebius, and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons,
although our enemies, not following my own inclinations, but, to the
best of my ability, obeying the commands of my seniors; I have lispingly
put together this history from various sources, and have endeavored,
from shame, to deliver down to posterity the few remaining ears of corn
about past transactions, that they might not be trodden under foot,
seeing that an ample crop has been snatched away already by the hostile
reapers of foreign nations. For many things have been in my way, and I,
to this day, have hardly been able to understand, even superficially, as
was necessary, the sayings of other men; much less was I able in my own
strength, but like a barbarian, have I murdered and defiled the
language of others. But I bore about with me an inward wound, and I
was indignant, that the name of my own people, formerly famous and
distinguished, should sink into oblivion, and like smoke be dissipated.
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