Well, depends on what mean by greatest & by English, but Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12thC HRB surely most influential!https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/675971168290152448 …
@holland_tom But he wrote in England & is v v influential re: English historiography... He's def not pro-English, but does that matter?!
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@caitlinrgreen On that basis, you might as well define Marx as English -
@holland_tom Hmm *looks sceptically at you* But Geoffrey's version of history--Brutus, Arthur etc--rapidly became part of the definitive > -
@holland_tom > medieval ver of 'our island story' for hundreds of yrs, incorporated into Anglo-Norman+Middle English Bruts, & was used by > -
@holland_tom > English rulers to justify ambitions in L12/E13thC & 16thC etc... & when challenged by Polydore V in 16thC it was vigorously > -
@holland_tom >defended by English writers, incl John Dee who accused Polydore of burning cartload of 'proofs' of Geoffrey's vers of history! -
@caitlinrgreen There's good reason, though, why it's the Matter of Britain, not of England. Geoffrey's last line laments Æthelstan's reign. -
@holland_tom So it is about definitions! ;) They have to be writing about the Anglo-Saxons & be pro-Anglo-Saxon...! > -
@holland_tom > But Medieval English history not so neat ;) See the most popular vernacular history, the 15thC Middle English Brut: runs > - 3 more replies
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