Customer Reviews

Arthurian Period Sources Vol 8: Nennius (v. 8)

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Morris' Arthurian Period Sources series provides a complete edition of the original Latin and an English translation. A very brief introduction (8 pages) focuses on the manuscripts, and the proper name index is occasionally helpful. This edition, like the edition of Gildas in the same series, is very well done, but there are some things that some readers won't like. There are no notes to the text, marginal glosses, or vocabulary lists. The assumption is that if you're reading Nennius in the original Latin, you already know Latin and thus don't need any help. There are no explanatory notes, either, probably because the author figures that if you've searched out a copy of Nennius, you already know who he is and why he's important, and you can get an explanation of the text somewhere else. The other somewhat non-traditional issue here is the layout. Morris provides the complete English translation first, then the complete Latin original instead of doing the more common facing-page translation. This makes comparing passages more difficult, but it also helps when reading the Latin as you don't tend to use the English as a crutch.

So this is an edition of the text with a translation, and nothing more. It does one thing, and it does it well. An absolute must for anyone interested in the Arthurian legends.

I must be a idoit, I never knew these sources existed until recently. Inexpensive Dark age resoures, how great is that? These volumes are easy to read, and don't take up much room on the bookcase. A must for British history fans