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{{Short description|English poet}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Layamon''' or '''Laghamon''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|l|aɪ|.|ə|m|ə|n|,_|-|m|ɒ|n}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|l|eɪ|.|ə|m|ə|n|,_|ˈ|l|aɪ|-}}; {{IPA|enm|ˈlaɣamon|lang}}) – 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]].<ref>T. Shippey, ''The Road to Middle-Earth'' (1992) p. 300 and p. 57</ref>
==Life and influence==
Layamon describes himself in his poem as a priest living at [[Areley Kings]] in [[Worcestershire]]. His poem had a significant impact on medieval history writing in England and the development of [[Arthurian literature]]<ref>I. Ousby ed, ''The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English'' (1995) p. 536</ref> and subsequently provided inspiration for numerous later writers, including Sir [[Thomas Malory]] and [[Jorge Luis Borges]].
==Brut==
{{Main|Layamon's Brut}}
''[[Layamon's Brut|Brut]]'' (ca. 1190) is a [[Middle English]] poem compiled and recast by Layamon. It is named after [[Great Britain|Britain]]'s mythical founder, [[Brutus of Troy]]. It is contained in the manuscripts [[List of manuscripts in the Cotton library#Caligula|Cotton Caligula]] A.ix, written in the first quarter of the 13th century, and in the [[List of manuscripts in the Cotton library#Otho|Cotton Otho]] C.xiii, written about fifty years later (though in this edition it is shorter). Both are kept at the [[British Library]].
The ''Brut'' is 16,095 lines long and narrates the history of Britain. It is largely based on the [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]] ''[[Roman de Brut]]'' by [[Wace]], which is in turn inspired by [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]''. It is, however, longer than both and includes an enlarged section on the life and exploits of [[King Arthur]]. Among the new material Layamon provided were an account of the birth of Merlin and one of the origins of the [[Round Table]],<ref>J. R. Tanner ed., The Cambridge Medieval History VI (Cambridge 1929) p. 826</ref> as well as details of Arthur's departure by ship to [[Avalon]] to be healed by the elf-queen.<ref>C. Tolkien ed., The Fall of Arthur (2015) p. 146-8</ref>
It is written in a combination of [[alliterative verse]], deriving from Old English, and rhyme, influenced by Wace's ''[[Roman de Brut]]'' and used in later Middle English poetry.
==Spelling of name==
Print-era editors and cataloguers have spelled his name in various ways, including "Layamon", "Lazamon", or "Lawman". Brown University suggests that the form "Layamon" is etymologically incorrect; the Fifth International Conference on {{lang|ang|Laȝamon's}} ''Brut'' at Brown University stated, "BL MS [[Cotton Caligula]] A.ix spells it '{{lang|ang|Laȝamon}}' (the third letter is called a "[[yogh]]"). BL MS [[Cotton Otho]] C.xiii spelled it 'Laweman' and 'Loweman'."<ref>[http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Medieval_Studies/lawman_conference/program.html program Medieval Studies Department, Brown University] Retrieved October 21, 2006</ref>
==See also==
*[[Alliterative Morte Arthure|Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'']]
*''[[The Fall of Arthur]]'' by [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]
==Notes==
{{Reflist|2|}}
==References==
{{refbegin}}
*{{citation |last=Ackerman |first=Robert W. |title=Backgrounds to Medieval English Literature |location=New York |publisher=Random House |date=1966|url=https://archive.org/details/backgroundstomed0000acke|url-access=registration}}.
*{{citation |editor-last=Barron |editor-first=W. R. J.  |translator-last=Weinberg |translator-first=S. C. |date=2001  |title=Layamon's Arthur: The Arthurian Section of Layamon's ''Brut'' (lines 9229–14297) |publisher=Exeter University Press |isbn=978-0-85989-685-6|url=https://archive.org/details/layamonsarthurar0000laya_h8o5|url-access=registration}}.
*{{citation |last=Cannon |first=Christopher |title=The Grounds of English Literature |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2004 |isbn=0-19-927082-1}}.
*{{citation |last=Everett |first=Dorothy |chapter=Laȝamon and the Earliest Middle English Alliterative Verse  |title=Essays on Middle English Literature |editor=Patricia Kean.  |location=Westport, CT |publisher=Greenwood Press |date=1978}}.
*{{citation |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |author-link=C. S. Lewis |title=The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1964}}.
*{{citation |last=Loomis |first=Roger S. |author-link=Roger Sherman Loomis |chapter=Layamon's ''Brut'' |title=Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages |editor=Roger S. Loomis |publisher=Clarendon Press |date=1959 |isbn=0-19-811588-1}}.
*{{citation |last1=Solopova |first1=Elizabeth |first2=Stuart D. |last2=Lee.  |title=Key Concepts in Medieval Literature  |location=New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date=2007}}.
*{{citation |last=Tiller |first=Kenneth J. |date=2007 |title=Layamon's ''Brut'' and the Anglo-Norman Vision of History  |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-7083-1902-4}}.
{{refend}}
==External links==
{{wikiquote|Layamon}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=5461}}
* {{Internet Archive author |search=("Layamon" OR "Laȝamon" OR "Laz̳amon" )}}
*''[http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-old?id=LayBruC&tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/lv1/Archive/mideng-parsed&part=0 Brut]'' by Layamon (British Library, MS Cotton Caligula A.ix [[manuscript]] version)
*''[http://layamon.free.fr Le ''Brut'' de Layamon]'' by Marie-Françoise Alamichel
*{{Citation
|last=Layamon
|orig-year=c. 1215
|date=1847
|editor-last=Madden
|editor-first=Frederic
|editor-link=Frederic Madden
|contribution=
|title=Layamons Brut, or Chronicle of Britain; A Poetical Semi-Saxon Paraphrase of The Brut of Wace
|volume=I
|publisher=The Society of Antiquaries of London
|location=London
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOJRHk2MM9YC
|translator=Madden
}}. Also, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0xE7AQhSPuMC Vol. II] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=AIIlAAAAMAAJ Vol. III].
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Writers of Arthurian literature]]
[[Category:13th-century English Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:13th-century English poets]]
[[Category:12th-century English Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:12th-century English poets]]
[[Category:People from Wyre Forest District]]
[[Category:English chroniclers]]