an ancient English chronicler, was born about the beginning of the twelfth century, in the town from which he took his name. A room in the Benedictine monastery of Monmouth is still pointed out as the place where he studied. He entered the church, became archdeacon of Monmouth in 1152, was promoted in 1152 to the see of St Asaph, and is supposed to have died in 1154. Geoffrey's Chronicon, sive Historia Brittonum professes to be, and probably is, a translation from the Welsh. The Welsh original fell into his hands through Walter, archdeacon of Oxford (a different person from Walter Mapes, who has been very often confounded with him), who got possession of it in the course of a tour through Armorica or Brittany. Geoffrey, who undertook to translate it, executed his task with great fidelity. The work itself is a history in nine books of the Welsh from the time of their leader Brut, the great-grandson of Æneas! to the death, in 688, of Cadwalader, whom the Saxon chroniclers name Ceadwalla, and describe as king of Wessex. This work does probably not possess much historical value, but it is important as containing the legends and traditions of the Kymri in a better form than they are to be found elsewhere. The outline of Geoffrey's history is all to be found in Nennius, who preceded him by at least three centuries.

But the splendid tale of Arthur and his knights had fallen into complete oblivion, till revived by the monk of Gloucester into fresh life and universal and enduring popularity. For this service alone does Geoffrey deserve to be gratefully remembered by us, and to be forgiven the many fabulous and trifling stories which he has grafted on historical outline in such numbers as to make some critics, Buchanan among the rest, regard his entire work as a fiction. The style of the Chronicum is lively and agreeable, and the Latinity, though far from perfect, is greatly superior to that of most contemporary chroniclers.

There are several editions of Geoffrey's history. The oldest is that printed by Ascensius at Paris in 1508, and again in 1517. It is also contained in Commelin's Collection, Heidelberg, 1587. It was translated into English in 1718 by Aaron Thompson of Queen's College, Oxford. (Tanner, Bibl. Britan. Hib.; Chalmers, Biog. Dict.; Craik, History of Learning and Literature, &c., &c.)