While the original creator of King Arthur remains a mystery, the father of the modern legend is a medieval cleric named Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was likely born sometime in the early 1100s. At first, historians believed that Geoffrey was of Welsh origins, but he is now thought to have come from French-speaking elites. Sometime in the 1130s, he wrote ?Historia Regum Britannaie,? which is translated as ?History of the Kings of England.? In his work, which is often described as ?pseudo-historical,? Geoffrey describes the history of Britain, including the account of a king by the name of Arthur. It is believed that the Arthur in his story is an adaptation from early Welsh bard tales of a great unifying tribal leader. Geoffrey makes Arthur a Norman character with the persona of a mighty conquering king. He is the first to mention several elements of the modern Arthurian legend like the sword Excalibur and Merlin. This edition of Geoffrey?s work was translated into English by Sebastian Evans and is a fun and interesting way to learn the origins of the modern King Arthur.
