 He may have come from the same French-speaking elite of the Welsh border country as Gerald of Wales, Walter Map, and Robert, Earl of Gloucester, to whom Geoffrey dedicated versions of his "History".Frank Merry Stenton and others have suggested that Geoffrey's parents may have been among the many Bretons who took part in William I's conquest and settled in the southeast of Wales.Monmouth had been in the hands of Breton lords since 1075 or 1086, and the names Galfridus and Arthur were more common among the Bretons than the Welsh.