Layamon (lāˈəmən, –mŏn, lĪˈ–) [key], fl. c.1200, first prominent
Middle English poet. He described himself as a humble priest
attached to the church at Ernley (Arley Regis) near Radstone.
His Brut is a chronicle in 32,341 short lines on the history of
Britain, from the fall of Troy to the arrival of Brutus in
Britain and continuing through the death of Cadwaladr. Layamon
freely adapted the Brut of Wace and added material from other
sources. His Anglo-Saxon narrative meter foreshadows the Middle
English metrical system. This chronicle, important in the
development of the Arthurian legend, gives one of the finest
renderings of King Arthur as a national hero. It also contains
the first mention of Lear and Cymbeline. See his Brut, ed. by G.
L. Brook and R. F. Leslie (1963). The Columbia Electronic
Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University
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