[Dialect:] The speech of North Worcestershire, where the Brut was written, descended from a Saxon patois which was substantially South-Western, but with an Anglian element derived from the neighbouring Mercia. Occasional forms in the texts, which are foreign to this dialect, may be due, as Luhmann thinks, to the poet himself, who, as he tells us, had travelled ‘wide ȝond þas leode,’ or to some intermediate copyist, but otherwise the manuscripts present, on the whole, the natural development of the dialect of the original. What the professional scribes who copied them contributed to the divergences from the original text was mainly graphic and in a great measure due to the clash of native spelling with the French scribal methods to which they were accustomed.
[Vocabulary:] Scandinavian words in C O are bule bole, gærsume garisome, gistninge gystninge, hæil hail, laȝe lawe, swaines sweines, wæshail wassayl; in C only, ibon, dring, grið, loten, tiðende, utlaȝen; in O only, sleh, þorisdai: French in C O, castel, latimer; in O only, granti, pore, sarui.
[Metre:] (1) Of C. Like the Worcester Fragment, p. 232, and the Proverbs of Alfred, pp. 292-4, Layamon’s verse presents an intermediate stage in the transition from the OE. alliterative long line to the rhyming couplet as exemplified in King Horn (KH p. xlvi). Our text has i. lines which continue the OE. practice of binding together the two halves of the line by alliteration only, as Ah héo weore hǽðene; þat wes hǽrm þa máre, 8; of þat ílken ǽnde; þe ángles is iháten, 34; these have four stresses separated by light syllables varying in number: ii. lines which add rhyme as an ornament to alliteration, as heo cómen into hálle; hǽndeliche álle 99; út of þan léode; to úncuðe lónde, 40; swiðe monie péohtes; heo slóȝen iþan féhte, 126, and with similar imperfect rhymes 79, 92, 174, &c.; the rhythm of these also is alliterative: iii. lines like those of the second class in structure, but already showing in various degrees the disintegrating effects of rhyme in their wavering rhythm, as þat ouer sǽ weorẹn icúmen; swíðe | sélcuðe | gúmen, 2, or with a regular syllabic rhythm, as ne mí|hte wé | bilǽ|uè; for lí|ue né | for dǽ|ðè, 46: iv. lines with rhyme only, as þe féor|ðe hǽh|te Jú|pitér; of ál|le þín|ge hé | is whár, 61; and ǽf|ter óh|te món|nèn; þa béz|stẹ of mí|ne cún|nè, 200; these can be scanned as syllabic verse without assuming any licence which is not to be found in the Poema Morale: v. lines without alliteration or rhyme, as 67, 242, 286, 297; these may be regarded as corrupt. The alliteration is varied, rarely 2 + 2, as 75, 127, 161; 2 + 1, normal in OE., as 17, 29, 32 &c.; 1 + 1, by far the commonest, as 30, 36, 38, 42, &c.; 1 + 2, as 2, 13, 33: the last stress sometimes falls at the end of the second half-line, contrary to OE. usage, as 17. Crossed alliteration occurs at 31, 39, 40, 91, 124; distinct alliteration in each half-line at 76, 249. Perfect rhymes like sohten : rohten 10, imetten : igrætten 18 are comparatively few, imperfect ones frequent, as vnwraste : criste 80, ænde : grunde 109, dæðe : cuðe 158, monnen : hennen 160, ræde : neode 171, spræde : hude 210, hude : neode 212, inne : cunne 235, nap : up 275, wīn : ĭn 283; a final consonant is negligible, to : idon 9, wolde : athalden 20, laȝe : dæȝen 69, peohtes : fehte 126, fluȝen : vnnifoȝe 130, fæhte : cnihten 155, cumeð : gærsume 189, monnen : cunne 200, hude : ouerspræden 202, sætte : hæhten 230, scruden : prude 254, even a final syllable, scenden : lond 192; assonances are frequent, as driȝen : liuen 25, lond : strong 56, londe : stronge 85, 124, ligge : libbe 174, faste : castle 177, atwite : riche 204, ende : uelde 211, while : time 237, time : liðe 243; inflectional rhymes are admissible, as andswerden : cuðen 11, peohtes : londes 137, andswarede : wolde 151, children : olden 187, ihærde : seide 264; partial correspondences of sound suffice, as tiðende : kinge 1, wenden : kinge 14, leofue : laðe 79, læue : liðe 92, arerde : mare 223 (Bartels, 61), tiðende : londe 271, hende : kinge 287; proper names have special freedom, as Jupiter : whar 61, appollin : idon 63, Teruagant : lon[d] 64, alemanisce : horse 125, vortigerne : sone 265. The text has suffered much less from a metrical point of view than the Proverbs of Alfred, the interval of time between the original and the extant copy being shorter, but the changes are the same in kind. i. Words altered: for þa king 15 read muri; comp. ‘Swa he uorð to Cantuare-buri; þer him þuhte swiðe muri,’ L 29519, 20: l. 37, see note: l. 63, MS. O has possibly preserved the original: l. 85, read leod-ferde ful stronge: l. 146, for blisse—heom, read dune wes heom among; comp. ‘Þer wes swiðe muchel dune; þeines þer dremden,’ L 11574, 5: l. 242, for wolde read ȝirnde (Bartels 55); comp. 106/206: l. 268, for ær read euere: l. 286, for fain read sæl: l. 288, read þe leuedi he ȝeorne biheold; and comp. ‘He clepede to þere leuedi; heo wes him on heorten leof,’ L 1190, 1: l. 297, read dringe : ȝunge (for child). ii. Words omitted: l. 67, read dihteð alswa (Bartels 69): l. 107, read Lauerd king! nu forðrihtes; comp. 94/30, 96/50, 108/263: l. 131, read Vortigerne þe king; to herberwe wendẹ on hiȝing; comp. ‘Þa sæide þe king; Nu to scipe an hiȝing,’ L 32040, 1: l. 134, read hehȝe maðmes inoȝe; comp. ‘þa hæuekes ⁊ þa hundes; ⁊ hehȝe mine maħmes,’ L 22397, 8: l. 148, read runen swiðe deorne; comp. ‘and Hengest spæc wið Vortigerne; of rune swiðe derne,’ L 14768, 9: l. 209, where two lines have been compressed into one, read ‘⁊ he seolf wende; wide ȝeond þissen londe | To sechen on folde; ænne brædne fæld’; comp. ‘Ah anan heo wende; toward þissen londe,’ L 11634, 5; ‘Leir king wende on anne feld; ⁊ reste hine on folden,’ L 3510, 11: l. 215, read bule hude: l. 224, read nome þare; comp. ‘Þa andswarede eorles þare; Alle we beoð ȝarẹwe,’ L 27332, 3. iii. Substitution of forms: read l. 5, cnihtes; l. 110 alle; ll. 149, 178, wule; comp. ‘Ȝif ȝe hit lusten wlle,’ L 919: read l. 159, stilliche; l. 196, iwille : alle; l. 233, rideren. iv. Words rearranged mostly in a prose order: read l. 3, icumen weoren to londe; l. 14, wenden gunne; l. 82, nohtes ne beoþ; l. 83, ich eou wullẹ; l. 129, ⁊ awæi floȝen swuðe; forð an ælche helue; l. 214, ænne wisne mon he hæfden; l. 232, hider liðen; l. 250, Bord heo breden hetten; cnihtes þer to setten (Bartels 35). v. Padding: omit l. 9, and; l. 23, aer; l. 31, we; l. 86, muchele; l. 88, lond; l. 93, heore scipen; l. 97, heore; l. 113, read mani oht mon: omit l. 121, ofte; l. 128, þa; l. 218, noht; l. 248, mid him; l. 252 þa (wes); l. 285, þissen; l. 293 read hire for þat mæiden.
Elision takes place under the usual conditions, auerẹ 7, 132, cnihtenẹ 55, 89, sendẹ 198, bezstẹ 200, hudẹ 217, but hiatus is not infrequent, þinge 61, swiðe 84, alle 135, fæire 144, fulliche 183, hafde 212. In trisyllabic words the vowel of the middle syllable sometimes suffers syncope, as neoðẹles 83, hengẹstes 232, nauẹre 23, læuẹdi 65, naeuẹden 228, similarly answerẹde 21, 29, 55 and generally bịliue, weorẹn. The added n has small share in the metrical scheme; of the twenty-six certain instances of its use, three, rihten 20, cumen 24, comen 235, prevent hiatus, to which, however, the poet seems indifferent; once it makes a rhyme, hallen : men 259; twice it is in excess cunnen : wunne 188, Rouwenne : wimmonnen 270; once it rhymes with itself, hæfden : craften 214 (as emended above); four times it completes a rhyme, driȝen : liuen 25, iwiten : wurðscipen 26, ræden : dæden 110, innen : monnen 112; the remaining instances are whænnenen 27, wullen 30, 88, 184, duȝeðen 166, næueden 228, burhȝen 251, weoren 266, bitæhten 284. Doubtful are runen 148, ronen 156, leoden 165, 285, laȝen 278, 285; but they are most probably weak forms, and it may well be that the use of n spread from such cases to other forms. It is noteworthy that, out of these twenty-seven instances, the added n appears sixteen times at the end of line or half-line.
(2) Of O. The author of this recension had little regard for the metre of his original; ll. 68, 93, 112, 193, 226, 265, 297 are quite formless. Two lines are compressed into one, mostly unmetrical, at 67, 90, 157, 159, 173. Rhyme is substituted for alliteration at 114, 123, 131, 133, 149, 178, 221, 245; occasionally attempts are made to improve the rhyme, as at 35, 63, 253. At l. 7 a prose order is adopted; archaic words and phrases are rejected at 92, 108, 138, 139, 184, 207, 230, 251, 258, 267, 273, 278 &c.
[Introduction:] The priest Layamon, son of Leovenath, served the church at Ernley (Arley Regis) on the Severn near Radestone, ‘sel þar him þuhte.’ There it came into his mind that he would tell of the noble deeds of the English, and journeying wide over the land he got the noble books, Bede’s History in English, the Latin text of the same, which he ascribes to S. Austin and S. Albin, and the history which a French clerk made. Such is the poet’s account of his authorities, but of the two first he made no use, Wace’s metrical version of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Britonum was his main source. This he greatly amplified out of his legendary store and from other sources, writing in epic style and a somewhat archaic diction derived from the older English literature, and investing the whole with the charm of his imaginative and descriptive powers. But Imelmann maintains that, apart from some insignificant details, Wace was his only source, not indeed the text as we have it in Le Roux de Lincy’s edition, but a later lost redaction enlarged from an intermediate version which blended the original Wace with the first part of Gaimar’s Chronicle.
Layamon wrote in the early years of the thirteenth century, and finished his book before 1205 A.D.
This extract gives ll. 13785-14382 in Madden ii. pp. 152-177: it corresponds to Wace (W) 6860-7168. The references are to the older text of L, unless O is prefixed.
[1]. Vnder ðan, meanwhile; OE. under þām, where the prep. means among: ‘Entretant,’ W. Comp. ‘Under þis,’ SK 1858; ‘vnder þat,’ R. of Gloucester 116/11. L has also ‘Vnder þan ilke þinge,’ 29849, ‘Wnder þon,’ 6433. tiðende is OWScand. tíðindi: tydinge in O is OE. tīdung: see Björkman, 167. vortiger is from W: the OE. form is Wyrtgeorn.
[5]. Alse hit weoren, to all appearance: usually with swulc in L, ‘heo leopen ut of þan wuden; swulc hit deor weoren,’ 12828, 3070, 11571. For hit comp. 1/10. Kempes, champions, in O is a characteristic toning down of Kinges in C, but comp. L 25301.