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LAYAMON

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 312 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LAYAMON , See also:

early See also:English poet, was the author of a See also:chronicle of See also:Britain entitled See also:Brut, a See also:paraphrase of the Brut d'Angleterre by See also:Wace, a native of See also:Jersey, who is also known as the author of the See also:Roman de Ron. The excellent edition of Layamon by See also:Sir F. See also:Madden (Society of Antiquaries, See also:London, 1847) should be consulted. All that is known concerning Layamon is derived from two extant See also:MSS., which See also:present texts that often vary considerably, and it is necessary to understand their See also:comparative value before any conclusions can be See also:drawn. The older See also:text (here called the A-text) lies very near the See also:original text, which is unfortunately lost, though it now and then omits lines which are absolutely necessary to the sense. The later text (here called the B-text) represents a later recension of the original version by another writer who frequently omits couplets, and alters the See also:language by the substitution of better-known words for such as seemed to be obsolescent; e.g. harme (harm) in See also:place of balewe (See also:bale), and dead in place of feie (fated to See also:die, or dead). Hence little reliance can be placed on the B-text, its See also:chief merit being that it sometimes preserves couplets which seem to have been accidentally omitted in A; besides which, it affords a valuable commentary on the original version. We learn from the brief See also:prologue that Layamon was a See also:priest among the See also:people, and was the son of Leovenath (a See also:late spelling of A.-S. Leofnoth); also, that he lived at Ernley, at a See also:noble See also:church on See also:Severn See also:bank, See also:close by Radstone. This is certainly Areley Regis, or Areley See also:Kings, close by Redstone See also:rock and See also:ferry, 1 m. to the S. of See also:Stourport in See also:Worcestershire. The B-text turns Layamon into the later See also:form Laweman, i.e. See also:Law-See also:man, correctly answering to See also:Chaucer's " Man of Lawe," though here apparently used as a See also:mere name.

It also turns Leovenath into Leuca, i.e. Leofeca, a diminutive of Leofa, which is itself a pet-name for Leofnoth; so that there is no real See also:

contradiction. But it absurdly substitutes " with the See also:good See also:knight,' ;which is practically meaningless, for " at a noble church." We know no more about Layamon except that he was a See also:great See also:lover of books; and that he procured three books in particular which he prized above others, " turning over the leaves, and beholding. them lovingly." These were: the English See also:book that St Beda made; another in Latin that St Albin and St See also:Austin made; whilst the third was made by a See also:French clerk named Wace, who (in 1155) gave a copy to the noble Eleanor, who was See also:queen of the high See also:king See also:Henry (i.e. Henry II.). The first of these really means the Anglo-Saxon See also:translation of Beda's Ecclesiastical See also:History, which begins with the words: " Ic Beda, Cristes theow," i.e. " I, Beda, See also:Christ's servant." The second is a See also:strange description of the original of the translation, i.e. See also:Albinus Beda's own Latin book, the second See also:paragraph of which begins with the words: " Auctor ante omnes atque adiutor opusculi huius Albinus Abba reverentissimus vir per omnia doctissimus extitit "; which Layamon evidently misunderstood. As to the See also:share of St See also:Augustine in this See also:work, see Book I., chapters 23-34, and Book II., chapters r and 2, which are practically all concerned with him and occupy morethan a tenth of the whole work. The third book was Wace's poem, Brut d'Angleterre. But we find that although Layamon had ready See also:access to all three of these See also:works, he soon settled down to the translation of the third, without troubling much about the others. His chief See also:obligation to Beda is for the well-known See also:story about See also:Pope See also:Gregory and the English captives at See also:Rome; see Layamon, vol. iii. 180.

It is impossible to enter here upon a discussion of the numerous points of See also:

interest which a proper examination of this vast and important work would present to any careful inquirer. Only a few See also:bare results can be here enumerated. The A-text may be dated about 1205,. and the B-text (practically by another writer) about 1275. Both texts, the former especially, are remarkably See also:free from admixture with words of French origin; the lists that have been given hitherto are inexact, but it may be said that the number of French words in the A-text can hardly exceed See also:loo, or in the B-text 16o. Layamon's work is largely original; Wace's Brut contains 15,300 lines, and Layamon's 32,240 lines of a similar length; and many of Layamon's additions to Wace are nctable, such as his story " regarding the See also:fairy elves at See also:Arthur's See also:birth, and his transportation by them after See also:death in a See also:boat to See also:Avalon, the See also:abode of Argante, their queen "; see Sir F. Madden's pref. p. xv. Wace's Brut is almost wholly a translation of the Latin chronicle concerning the early history of Britain by See also:Geoffrey of See also:Monmouth, who said that he obtained his materials from a See also:manuscript written in Welsh. The name Brut is the French form of See also:Brutus, who was the fabulous See also:grand-son of See also:Ascanius, and great-See also:grandson of See also:Aeneas of See also:Troy, the See also:hero of See also:Virgil's Aeneid. After many adventures, this Brutus arrived in See also:England, founded Troynovant or New Troy (better known as London), and was the progenitor of a See also:long See also:line of See also:British kings, among whom were Locrine, Bladud, Leir, See also:Gorboduc, Ferrex and Porrex, Lud, Cymbeline, See also:Constantine, See also:Vortigern, Uther and Arthur; and from this mythical Brutus the name Brut was transferred so as to denote the entire chronicle of this British history. Layamon gives the whole story, from the See also:time of Brutus to that of Cadwalader, who may be identified with the Caedwalla of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, baptized by Pope See also:Sergius in the See also:year 688. Both texts of Layamon are in a See also:south-western See also:dialect; the A-text in particular shows the Wessex dialect of earlier times (commonly called Anglo-Saxon) in a much later form, and we can hardly doubt that the author, as he intimates, could read the old version of Beda intelligently. The remarks upon the B-text in Sir F.

Madden's See also:

preface are not to the point; the See also:peculiar spellings to which he refers (such as same for shame) are by no means due to any confusion with the Northumbrian dialect, but rather to the usual vagaries of a See also:scribe who knew French better than English, and had some difficulty in acquiring the English See also:pronunciation and in representing it accurately. At the same time, he was not strong in English See also:grammar, and was See also:apt to confuse the plural form with the singular in the tenses of verbs; and this is the See also:simple explanation of most of the examples of so-called " nunnation " in this poem (such as the use of wolden for wolde), which only existed in See also:writing and must not be seriously considered as representing real spoken sounds. The full See also:proof of this would occupy too much space; but it should be noticed that, in many instances, " this pleonastic n has been struck out or erased by a second See also:hand." In other instances it has escaped See also:notice, and that is all that need be said. The peculiar See also:metre of the poem has been sufficiently treated by J. Schipper. An abstract of the poem has been given by Henry See also:Morley; and good See also:general criticisms of it by B. ten Brink and others. See Layamon's Brut, or a Chronicle of Britain; a Poetical Semi-Saxon Paraphrase of the Brut of Wace; ...by Sir F. Madden (1847) ; B. ten Brink, Early English Literature, trans. by H.M.See also:Kennedy (in See also:Bohn's See also:Standard Library, 1885) ; H Morley, English Writers, vol. iii. (1888) ; J. Schipper, Englische Metrik, i. (See also:Bonn, 1882), E. See also:Guest, A History of English Rhythms (new ed. by W.

W. See also:

Skeat, 1882) , See also:Article " Layamon," in the See also:Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Six Old English See also:Chronicles, including See also:Gildas, See also:Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth (in Bohn's Antiquarian Library) ; Le Roux de Lincy, Le Roman de Brut, See also:par Wace, avec un commentaire et See also:des notes (See also:Rouen, 1836–1838) , E. Matzner, Altenglische Sprachproben (See also:Berlin, 1867), (W. W.

End of Article: LAYAMON

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