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Also known as Laȝamon, Laghamon

Layamon or Laghamon (, ; ) – spelled Laȝamon or Laȝamonn in his time, occasionally written Lawman – was an English poet of the late 12th/early 13th century and author of the Brut, a notable work that was the first to present the legends of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in English poetry (the first Arthurian poems were by Frenchman Chrétien de Troyes).

Person · Open Library

Born
12th
Died
13th cent.
Works
27

Top works

  • Brut
  • Le gesta di Artù
  • Layamons Brut, or Chronicle of Britain
  • Layamons Brut
  • Arthurian Chronicles Roman De Brut

via Open Library + Wikidata

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
1
Total plays
1

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Layamon">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Layamon

Recent publications · Crossref

2 total works indexed

  1. Brut

    · 1847 · cited 6x

  2. Laȝamon's 'Arthur': The Arthurian Section of Laȝamon's 'Brut'

    · 1992

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

  • Betere is liste þene ufel strenðe.for mid liste me mai ihalden þat strengðe ne mai iwalden.
  • Þa þe Arður wes king hærne nu seollic þing.he wes mete-custi ælche quike monne.cniht mid þan bezste wunder ane kene.he wes þan yungen for fader þan alden for frouer.and wið þan vnwise wunder ane sturnne.
  • Yurstendæi wes Baldulf cnihten alre baldest.nu he stant on hulle & Auene bi-haldeð.hu ligeð i þan stræme stelene fisces.mid sweorde bi-georede heore sund is awemmed.heore scalen wleoteð swulc gold-faye sceldes.þer fleoteð heore spiten swulc hit spæren weoren.Þis beoð seolcuðe þing isiyen to þissen londe.swulche deor an hulle swulche fisces in wælle.
  • And ich wulle uaren to Aualun to uairest alre maidene.to Argante þere quene aluen swiðe sceone.& heo scal mine wunden makien alle isunde.al hal me makien mid haleweiye drenchen.And seoðe ich cumen wulle. to mine kineriche.and wunien mid Brutten mid muchelere wunne.
  • By reason of Arthur's position as its climax as well as of the long line of other traditional heroes, events and associations, and of its breadth of treatment, simplicity, intensity, enthusiasm, accord with the supernatural, vitality of imagination, elevation and sometimes nobility and religious feeling, the poem is the nearest thing we have to a traditional racial epic.
  • Even the British Arthur becomes an Englishman, a Germanic hero, brave, daring and open-handed. We are in a world of feasts and vaunting speeches, flytings and lusty battles, fierce deeds and bloody humour, with the Fiend, the Adversary of Man, always round the next corner.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Wikidata facts

Show 4 more facts
date of death
1300-01-01
date of birth
1200-01-01
end of work period
1300-00-00
start of work period
1200-00-00
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~3 min read

Article

7 sections
Contents
  • Life and influence
  • Brut
  • Spelling of name
  • See also
  • Notes
  • References
  • External links

Layamon or Laghamon (, ; ) – spelled Laȝamon or Laȝamonn in his time, occasionally written Lawman – was an English poet of the late 12th/early 13th century and author of the Brut, a notable work that was the first to present the legends of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in English poetry (the first Arthurian poems were by Frenchman Chrétien de Troyes).

J. R. R. Tolkien valued him as a transmitter of early English legends in a fashion comparable to the role played with respect to Icelandic legend by Snorri Sturluson.

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