Characters
Last Updated on June 19, 2019, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 219
The character's in Layamon's Brut, a famous Middle English poem of roughly 17,000 lines, overlap with those of several other well-known works of the Middle Ages, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Brittaniae ("History of the Kings of Britain," c. 1136), as well as Roman de Brut by...
(The entire section contains 1021 words.)
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The character's in Layamon's Brut, a famous Middle English poem of roughly 17,000 lines, overlap with those of several other well-known works of the Middle Ages, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Brittaniae ("History of the Kings of Britain," c. 1136), as well as Roman de Brut by the Norman poet, Wace (c. 1150).
Layamon's Brut is thought to have been completed in the early 13th century, owing to a reference to the late Eleanor of Aquitane. There are countless characters, as the work is an episodic chronicle of kings; however, several stand out for their historical importance or legacy.
The principle section by volume (approx. 8,000) treats King Arthur and his company of characters, such as the wizard, Merlin; Arthur's father, Uther; his enemy, Modred; and his wife, Guinevere.
The story begins with the title character, Brutus, a descendant of Aeneas (of Trojan war fame). The story then chronicles Brutus' travels around the Mediterranean to the British isles, alongside other Trojans. Britain is, according to Layamon, named for Brutus, as he led the Trojans in battle against the indigenous giants.
The series of kings listed thereafter include famous names like King Lear, Cymbeline, and (the last in the novel) King Cadwallader (685-682 CE), who is notionally (according to Brut and other legends) the last king in the same line as Brutus.
Characters Discussed
Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 802
Aeneas
Aeneas (ee-NEE-uhs), the Trojan hero, legendary ancestor of the ancient rulers of Britain.
Ascanius
Ascanius (as-KAY-nee-uhs), his son.
Brutus
Brutus (BREW-tuhs), his grandson, who colonizes Britain with a group of Trojan descendants. Brave and generous to his followers, he is an ideal leader in the tradition of Beowulf.
Assaracus
Assaracus, the heir of a Greek knight and his Trojan concubine. He is Brutus’ companion and military aide.
Corineus
Corineus, the ruler of a Trojan colony in Spain and, later, of Cornwall. He is a man of violent temper and great bravery.
Geomagog
Geomagog, the giant who rules Logice, the island where Brutus lands.
Locrin
Locrin, Brutus’ successor, who brings chaos upon his country by repudiating his wife, Corineus’ daughter, for his mistress, a maiden of his enemies, the Huns.
Camber
Camber and
Albanact
Albanact, his brothers, rulers of Wales and Scotland.
Humber
Humber, the king of the Huns, defeated by Locrin and Camber.
Aestrild
Aestrild, Locrin’s mistress.
Guendoline
Guendoline, Locrin’s rejected queen, who raises an army to defeat her husband and kill her rival.
Leil
Leil, a monarch who dies of sorrow at the uprising of his barons.
Ruhhudibras
Ruhhudibras, the founder of Winchester and Canterbury.
Bladud
Bladud, his heir, whose discovery of hot springs is considered evidence of his consultation with devils.
Leir
Leir, the legendary original of William Shakespeare’s Lear. He divides his kingdom between two of his daughters but rejects the third for her refusal to flatter him. After suffering persecution from the elder two, he is happily reunited with his youngest child.
Gornuille
Gornuille,
Ragun
Ragun, and
Cordoille
Cordoille, his daughters.
Aganippus
Aganippus, the king of France, Cordoille’s husband.
Gorbodiago
Gorbodiago, a good king, the model of the title figure in Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville’sGorboduc (1565).
Fereus
Fereus and
Poreus
Poreus, his sons, murdered and murderer.
Jadon
Jadon, their mother, who takes Poreus’ life to avenge his killing of Fereus.
Cloten
Cloten, the duke of Cornwall, the man with the greatest right to Gorbodiago’s throne. He lacks wealth and power to claim it.
Donwallo Molinus
Donwallo Molinus, his son, the fairest king of England, who brings peace, quiet, and good laws to his people.
Belen
Belen and
Brennes
Brennes, brothers and joint rulers. They conduct successful campaigns against Scandinavian and Roman forces.
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar and
Claudius
Claudius, Roman emperors and rulers of Britain.
Luces
Luces, the just monarch in whose reign Christianity reaches England.
Asclepidiot
Asclepidiot, the ruler who expels the Romans.
Helen
Helen, the daughter of Coel, king of Britain, and Constantine’s mother, who discovers the Cross of Christ in Jerusalem.
Constantine
Constantine, her son, who reigns in Britain and expels the tyrant Maxenz from Rome.
Vortiger
Vortiger, a powerful earl, controller of half of Wales. To acquire power, he instigates a plot to place on the throne his king’s son Constance, who is a monk and is therefore ineligible to rule.
Constance
Constance, a weak king.
Uther
Uther, his brother, a fine warrior who, before he becomes king, defeats both the Irish and the invading heathens under Hengest.
Hengest
Hengest, the leader of the Germanic tribes who joins Vortiger’s court at his own request.
Vortimer
Vortimer, Vortiger’s son and heir, a Christian ruler who tries to expel Hengest.
Merlin
Merlin, a magician, “son of no man,” who serves as counselor to Uther and Arthur.
Ygaerne
Ygaerne, the wife of Gorlois, earl of Cornwall. Uther desires her.
Arthur
Arthur, the son of Uther and Ygaerne, recalled from his home in Brittany to be a wise and generous king of England and sworn enemy to the Saxon invaders. A fierce warrior, he extends his conquests to Rome itself. Mortally wounded in battle against his treacherous nephew, Modred, he departs for Avalon to be healed by the fairy queen, promising to return.
Wenhavere
Wenhavere (Guinevere), his queen. She betrays him with Modred and retreats to a nunnery after her lover’s defeat.
Walwain
Walwain (Gawain), Arthur’s nephew, a noble, virtuous knight, prototype of the hero of Pearl-Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (fourteenth century), who is debased in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur (1485).
Kay
Kay, one of Arthur’s trusted knights.
Beduer
Beduer (Bedivere), Arthur’s steward and another of his favorite knights.
Modred
Modred, Walwain’s treacherous brother.
Luces
Luces, the Roman emperor killed by Arthur after he had demanded tribute from the British.
Austin
Austin, a priest sent, years later, to introduce Christianity into Britain a second time.
Æthelbert
Æthelbert, his royal convert.
Aeluric
Aeluric, his enemy, a Northumbrian king.
Penda
Penda, the king of Marcia, who treacherously murders the son of his ally, King Edwine.
Cadwalader
Cadwalader, the last of the British kings, beset by plague and famine.
Athelstan
Athelstan, the first English king of all England.