A Companion to Geoffrey of Monmounth

A Companion to Geoffrey of Monmouth brings together scholars from a range of disciplines to provide an updated scholarly introduction to all aspects of his work. Arguably the most influential secular writer of medieval Britain, Geoffrey (d. 1154) popularized Arthurian literature and left an indelible mark on European romance, history, and genealogy. Despite this outsized influence, Geoffrey’s own life, background, and motivations are little understood. The volume situates his life and works within their immediate historical context, and frames them within current critical discussion across the humanities. By necessity, this volume concentrates primarily on Geoffrey’s own life and times, with the reception of his works covered by a series of short encyclopaedic overviews, organized by language, that serve as guides to further reading.

Contributors are Jean Blacker, Elizabeth Bryan, Thomas H. Crofts, Siân Echard, Fabrizio De Falco, Michael Faletra, Ben Guy, Santiago Gutiérrez García, Nahir I. Otaño Gracia, Paloma Gracia, Georgia Henley, David F. Johnson, Owain Wyn Jones, Maud Burnett McInerney, Françoise Le Saux, Barry Lewis, Coral Lumbley, Simon Meecham-Jones, Paul Russell, Victoria Shirley, Joshua Byron Smith, Jaakko Tahkokallio, Hélène Tétrel, Rebecca Thomas, Fiona Tolhurst.

Georgia Henley, Ph.D. (2017), Harvard University, is an assistant professor of English at Saint Anselm College and junior fellow in the Andrew W.Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography at the Rare Book School. She has published articles in The Journal of Medieval Latin and Arthurian Literature and has co-edited Gerald of Wales: New Perspectives on a Medieval Writer and Critic (University of Wales Press, 2018) and The Chronicles of Medieval Wales and the March (Brepols, 2020).

Joshua Byron Smith, Ph.D, (2011), Northwestern University, is an associate professor of English at the University of Arkansas, where he is also the director of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies program. He is the author of Walter Map and the Matter of Britain (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), and is a senior fellow in Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography at the Rare Book School.