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Gildas
Gildas. Brythonic monk (c.495–c.570), born, according to tradition, near what is today Glasgow, contemporary of Dewi Sant, whose De Excidio Britanniae [On the Ruin of Britain] (c.540–8) is the only early work covering the phase of history to which King Arthur is usually assigned. His description of the battle at Mount Badon is most often cited. Gildas argued that the Brythonic defeat before the Saxons was occasioned by moral failure and that in repentance ‘good men’ should join monasteries; thus he sometimes bears the title ‘saint’, although later medieval writers thought the saint and the historian were two different people. Even though De Excidio is composed in an inventive Latin, Gildas is sometimes cited as a father of Welsh literary tradition; his name is also known in Cornish and Breton traditions; see Joseph Loth, ‘Le Nom de Gildas dans l'Iˆle de Bretagne en Irlande et en Armorique’, Revue Celtique, 46 (1929), 1–15; Pádraig Ó Riain, ‘Gildas: A Solution to His Enigmatic Name’, in Catherine Laurent and Helen Davis (eds.), Irlande et Bretagne (Rennes, 1994), 33–9. See also Michael Winterbottom (ed. and trans.), The Ruin of Britain (Chichester, UK, and Totowa, NJ, 1978); Michael Lapidge and David Dumville (eds.), Gildas: New Approaches (Woodbridge, UK, 1984).
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JAMES MacKILLOP. "Gildas." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JAMES MacKILLOP. "Gildas." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-Gildas.html JAMES MacKILLOP. "Gildas." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-Gildas.html |
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Gildas
Gildas (c.500–70) British monk and historian. He is best known as the author of a polemical work (c.550) De excidio et conquestu Britanniae (“The Ruin and Conquest of Britain”) in which he attacked the British for their wickedness. In spite of its rhetorical tone and historical inaccuracies it is the only substantial written source for the condition of Britain during a crucial period. It contains an account of a British victory over the Saxons at Mount Badon, possibly a site in Dorset, around 500. NENNIUS later claimed that King Arthur had fought at the battle.
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"Gildas." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Gildas." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-Gildas.html "Gildas." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-Gildas.html |
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Gildas
Gildas (fl. some time between c.475 and c.550). An important British cleric, Gildas is chiefly known for his tract On the Ruin of Britain. This work outlines some of the history of 4th- and 5th-cent. Britain as a study in divine judgement, which he expected to come to bear on the evil rulers of his own day. He is the only early author to provide an account of the first Saxon settlements in Britain. As such he has attracted much exegesis, often fruitless. The most certain thing his book shows is that he was a well-educated man with a sophisticated style.
James Campbell |
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JOHN CANNON. "Gildas." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Gildas." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-Gildas.html JOHN CANNON. "Gildas." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-Gildas.html |
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Saint Gildas
Saint Gildas , d. 570, British historian, possibly a Welsh monk. Shortly before 547 he wrote the De excidio et conquestu Britanniae, a Latin history of Britain dealing with the Roman invasion and the Anglo-Saxon conquest of England, the earliest authority for the period. Gildas is said to have gone to Brittany and to have founded the monastery named after him near Vannes. He explained the Germanic invasions as God's punishment for the sins of the Romano-British Christians. |
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"Saint Gildas." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Saint Gildas." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Gildas-S.html "Saint Gildas." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Gildas-S.html |
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Gildas
Gildas (d. 570), a British historian who wrote shortly before 547 a Latin sketch of the history of Britain, De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, followed by a castigation of the degraded rulers and priests of his day. He says nothing of Arthur, but refers to the victory of Mount Badon. He is the first writer of history in Britain. He was an important source for later historians from Bede onwards.
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Gildas." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Gildas." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-Gildas.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Gildas." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-Gildas.html |
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Gildas
Gildas (fl. some time between c.475 and c.550). An important British cleric, Gildas is chiefly known for his tract On the Ruin of Britain. This work outlines some of the history of 4th‐ and 5th‐cent. Britain. He is the only early author to provide an account of the first Saxon settlements in Britain.
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Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "Gildas." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Gildas." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-Gildas.html JOHN CANNON. "Gildas." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-Gildas.html |
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Gildas
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Gildas." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Gildas." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Gildas.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Gildas." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Gildas.html |
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