Cover of Layamon's Brut

Layamon's Brut

by Layamon

Reading level
Plain English
Price
Free

About the book

"Layamon's Brut" by Layamon is a Middle English alliterative verse poem written between 1190 and 1215. Spanning over 16,000 lines, this epic chronicles a fictionalized history of Britain from its mythical founder Brutus of Troy through the Early Middle Ages. Written by an English priest in deliberately archaic Anglo-Saxon vocabulary, the work features an expanded section on King Arthur's life and exploits. It stands as the first major historical work composed in English since the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, preserving Britain's legendary past during an era dominated by French literature.

  • Arthurian romances
  • Romances

Updated September 2026. Public domain in the USA. Text and summary from Project Gutenberg eBook #14305. Layamon's Brut on Wikipedia.