Nennius of Britain
Template:Short description {{#invoke:Hatnote|hatnote}} Template:Use dmy dates Nennius is a mythical prince of Britain at the time of Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain (55–54 BC). His story appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (1136), a work whose contents are now considered largely fictional. In Middle Welsh versions of Geoffrey's Historia he was called Nynniaw.
In Geoffrey's story, Nennius is said to have fought Caesar in personal combat and taken his sword, which he used to kill many Romans. In the Tudor and Jacobean eras he became an emblem of British patriotism.
Geoffrey's accountEdit
The History gives the following account of Nennius's life: He was the third son of Heli and brother of Lud and CassibelanusTemplate:Refn (and according to Welsh sources, of LlefelysTemplate:SfnpTemplate:RefnTemplate:Refn). He fought alongside Cassibelanus when Caesar invaded. He and his nephew Androgeus led the troops of Trinovantum (London) and Canterbury, when they encountered Caesar's own troops and Nennius faced Caesar in single combat. Caesar struck Nennius a blow to the head, but his sword got stuck in Nennius's shield. After they separated in the melée, Nennius threw away his own sword and attacked the Romans with Caesar's sword, killing many, including the tribune<ref name="geoffrey-tr-giles4.3"/> Quintus Laberius Durus (whom Geoffrey erroneously names Labienus, confusing him with Titus Labienus).<ref name="layamon-madden-ed-v3-notes"/><ref name="russell2017"/>Template:SfnpTemplate:Refn
According to Geoffrey, "everyone whom Nennius struck with the sword either had his head chopped off or else was so wounded as Nennius passed that he had no hope of ever recovering".Template:Refn For the sword, Template:Interlanguage link ("Yellow Death") had earned its name because no one escaped death who received a wound from it.Template:RefnTemplate:Refn
Fifteen days after the battle Nennius died of his head wound, and was buried at London (the "City of the Trinovantes"), near the North Gate. Caesar's sword, Crocea Mors, was buried with him.Template:RefnTemplate:Refn
Later versionsEdit
The Anglo-Norman writer Wace expands on the story of the fight in his book Roman de Brut (1155), in which there is detailed description of the combat. Caesar defeats Nennius, but his sword is stuck in Nennius' shield, and he is forced to retreat when Nennius' friends come to his aid. In this version, the loss of his sword is a humiliation that leads to Caesar's withdrawal and inspires rebellion in France.<ref name="suerbaum"/> Wace also embellished details not given by Geoffrey, adding that the name Crocea Mors was "stamped with letters of gold" on the upper part of the sword, next to the hilt.<ref name="nyffenegger"/>Template:Refn
The account of the event also occurs in the Middle English verse Brut (ca. 1190–1215) by Layamon,<ref name="layamon-madden-ed-v1-text"/> which paraphrased Wace's work.<ref>The full title of the Madden's edition Template:Harvp is: Layamons Brut, Or Chronicle of Britain; a Poetical Semi- Saxon Paraphrase of the Brut of Wace</ref> The Anglo-Norman French chronicle Scalacronica (c. 1363) by Thomas Grey also contains an account of the Julian invasion, largely derived from Wace, though the relevant text (in the Roman History section) was never published in past extracts;Template:SfnpTemplate:Refn the work calls the sword Crochi Amour ("Crooked Love"), though this may be a scribal error.Template:Sfnp
The Middle Welsh Brut y Brenhinedd (mid-13th century and later manuscripts) also translates the episode, expanded with Welsh-sourced material. Here Nennius is called Nynniaw<ref>Template:Harvp, passim, standardized spelling used throughout the paper.</ref> or Nynnyau<ref name="brut_y_brenhinedd-ed-parry"/> (also by various other spellings).Template:RefnTemplate:Refn Some versions interpolate the story of Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys and add a fourth brother named Llefelys,Template:Sfnp as already noted.
According to the Old Norse translation Breta sögur (Hauksbók copy, early 14th cent.), Nennius dies immediately the same nightTemplate:Refn, because the sword had been tainted with poison.<ref name="breta_sogur-ed-tr-black"/><ref name="nearing-poison">Cf. Template:Harvp, where the 15th century poetry The Mirror for Magistrates (infra) and the sögur both alludes to use of poison. The poetry gives "But thou hadste bathde thy sword in poyson all", etc.</ref>
Modern eraEdit
In the Tudor period Nennius became a patriotic symbol of British independence. In the poetry collection The Mirror for Magistrates Nennius is portrayed as an "inspirational lesson for future British people to defend their country from foreign invasion".<ref name = "kkk">Curran, John, Roman Invasions: The British History, Protestant Anti-Romanism, and the Historical Imagination in England, 1530-1660, University of Delaware Press, 2002, p.167.</ref> In the Parts Added to The Mirror for Magistrates, Nennius gives speech accusing Caesar of cheating by poisoning the sword-tip to deal him a shallow wound ("scarce he perced had the skin") whose venom nevertheless killed him ("my braynes it ranckle in") in fifteen days time.<ref name="nearing-poison"/>
Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene Book II (1590) writes that Julius Caesar in slaying Nennius lost his sword which could still be seen,Template:Refn, i.e., the sword was being displayed for viewing during the Elizabethan era.Template:Sfnp The artifact in question plausibly refers to the alleged sword Nennius took from Caesar, kept in the Tower of London, mentioned in the Anonymi Chronicon Godstovianum (15th cent.).Template:Refn
Nennius also appears in plays in the Jacobean era, notably Jasper Fisher's Fuimus Troes and John Fletcher's Bonduca (c. 1613). In the former he embodies the fighting spirit of the Britons and is given the patriotic opening speech exhorting the people to resist invasion.<ref name = "kkk"/> His funeral games after his fight with Caesar form the climactic point of the play. In the latter he is anachronistically portrayed as a contemporary of Boudica, acting as one of her generals.<ref>Jowitt, Claire, Voyage Drama and Gender Politics, 1589-1642: Real and Imagined Worlds, Manchester University Press, 2003, p.107.</ref>
Explanatory notesEdit
ReferencesEdit
- Citations
- Bibliography