Geoffrey of Monmouth

Wrote The history of the Kings of Britain at about 1136-1138.

Text was written for audience of noblemen and prelates who were
descendants of the Norman conquerors of the Anglo-Saxons.
Geoffrey of Monmouth was probably a churchman.
The history of the Kings of Britain was one of the earliest works
regarding the English sense of identity.
One of the goals of this period's literature was to give the English an
understanding of what it means to be English.
The first example from English literature that gives us a sense of
those moral and ideals is King Arthur.
The English needed a national identity and history and those stories
gave it to them.
Most of the history is fictional.
Geoffrey of Monmouth was the major author of that period who
created those stories.
The longest part of The History of the King of Britain is about King
Arthur.
Geoffrey of Monmouth fictionalizes the Trojan war.
According to him Brutus is the founder of England. He brings with
him a certain set of characteristics: Nobility, Royal Figures,
Bravery, and Heroics.
Brutus is a subject of a prophecy: He should become the father of a
nation.
The parts of the prose that show as a poem are written in Latin to
give them a more official tone and to show Geoffrey's classical
learning and familiarity with pagan rituals.