De Excidio Et Conquestu Britanniae - History

History

Gildas's work is of great importance to historians, because although it is not intended primarily as history, it is almost the only surviving source written by a near-contemporary of British events in the fifth and sixth centuries. The usual date that has been given for the composition of the work is some time in the 540s, but it is now regarded as quite possibly earlier, in the first quarter of the sixth century, or even before that.

Gildas' intent in his writing was to preach to his contemporaries after the manner of an old testament prophet, not to write an account for posterity. Thus, he gives historical details where it serves his purpose; for instance he offers one of the first descriptions of Hadrian's Wall and perhaps the Antonine Wall, though his account of their history is highly inaccurate. However, he omits details where they do not contribute to his message; he is consistently vague, giving few names and no firm dates. Nonetheless, De Excidio remains an important work not only for medieval history but also for British history in general, as it is one of the few works written in Britain to survive from the 6th century.

In De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, Gildas mentions that the year of his birth was the same year as the Battle of Mons Badonicus, which might have taken place in 482 AD. Gildas' rhetorical writing style indicates a classical Latin education that could hardly have been available to any Britons after the 5th century. The Annales Cambriae gives the year of his death as 570; however the Annals of Tigernach dates his death to 569.

Gildas's treatise was first published in 1525 by Polydore Vergil, but with many avowed alterations and omissions. In 1568 John Joscelyn, secretary to Archbishop Parker, issued a new edition of it more in conformity with manuscript authority; and in 1691 a still more carefully revised edition by Thomas Gale appeared at Oxford. It was frequently reprinted on the Continent during the 16th century, and once or twice since. The next English edition, described by August Potthast as editio pessima, was that published by the English Historical Society in 1838, and edited by the Rev. J. Stevenson. The text of Gildas founded on Gale's edition collated with two other manuscripts, with elaborate introductions, is included in the Monumenta Historica Britannica. Another edition is in Arthur West Haddan and William Stubbs, Councils and ecclesiastical documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland (Oxford, 1869); the latest edition is that by Theodor Mommsen in Monumenta Germaniae Historica auct. antiq. xiii. (Chronica min. iii.), 1898.