Welsh Journals

ON THE NORTH BRITISH SECTION OF THE HISTORIA BRITTONUM The great controversies over the origins and development of the Historia Brittonum are largely things of the past.1 In spite of the considerable apparent importance of this text for early British history, there has been a lull in discussion of fundamental questions about the Historia since the publication of A. G. Van Hamel's edition of the Irish text,2 Ferdinand Lot's of the Latin,3 and A. W. Wade-Evans's English translation.4 The only major study devoted specifically to the development of the text to have appeared since the 'thirties is Professor K. H. Jackson's important paper, 'On the Northern British Section in Nennius', published in 1963.5 In the absence of any reply, it may justly be said that Professor Jackson holds the field. His detailed study is of the greatest value in the investigation of the materials contained in the so-called 'North British section' of the text. However, he propounds, though at times tentatively, a hypothesis which claims to trace a long period of development, culminating in the text which now survives as part of the Historia Brittonum. Professor Jackson concludes his long paper by saying of his theory: 'It may well be rejected, and with good reason produced; but it seems desirable to draw attention to certain aspects of the problem of the Northern chapters in the Historia Brittonum which appear never to have been considered'.6 The present paper seeks to produce that 'good reason', to remove the overall theory of development of this section suggested by Professor Jackson, so that any discussion on the basis of all the other material contained in his article may proceed without prejudice to or from his theory. It is not the intention here to replace it with another elaborate theory; if the time for that should ever come, it will be when new editions of all the relevant texts have been published. Suffice it to say that, at present, I see nothing inconsistent with the 1 The standard edition is that of Theodor Mommsen, Chronica Minora, t. 3 (Berlin, 1894-98), 111-222 (Vol. 13 of the series 'Auctores Antiquissimi' in the collection of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica). I have prepared a new edition. Lebor Bretnach. The Irish Version of the Historia Britonum ascribed to Nennius (Dublin, 1932). I have discussed this unsatisfactory edition in 'The textual history of "Lebor Bretnach": a preliminary study', Eigse: A Journal of Irish Studies, XVI (1975-76). Nennius et V Historia Brittonum (2 vols., Paris, 1934). 4 Nennius's 'History of the Britons' (1938). 1 N. K. Chadwick (ed.), Celt and Saxon. Studies in the Early British Border (Cambridge, 1963; rev. imp., 1964), pp. 20-62. I should like to acknowledge Professor Jackson's great generosity in reading and criticising a draft of this reply to his article. Celt and Saxon, p. 62.