10.4225/03/58b4a717b9ed1
Joyce, Stephen James
Stephen James
Joyce
Rome burns brightly still: contextualising Gildas's De Excidio Britanniae
Monash University
2017
Gildas, 516?-570?. Excidio Britanniae
monash:120186
Gildas, 516?-570?. Fall of Britain
Dark Age Britain
thesis(masters)
ethesis-20130911-123232
1959.1/901288
Restricted access
2013
2017-02-27 22:24:21
Thesis
https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/thesis/Rome_burns_brightly_still_contextualising_Gildas_s_De_Excidio_Britanniae/4700425
One of the few surviving texts from 'Dark Age' Britain is De Excidio Britanniae (DEB), 'The Fall of Britain', by Gildas. The traditional placing of this text within an insular sixth-century British Church has influenced a construct of Gildas as a 'Dark Age' monk or cleric, monastically educated and isolated from classical tradition and continental orthodoxy. This construct has been challenged by textual analyses from Franyois Kerlouegan, Thomas O'Sullivan, Neil Wright, Michael Lapidge et al. The intention of this thesis is to re-examine the literary context of the DEB in order to further refine the cultural legitimations used by Gildas in shaping his critical letter to the leaders of a divided Britannia. These cultural legitimations will argue that the author of the DEB draws on romanitas, prophecy and an ascetic tradition resistant to the authority of Augustine to articulate a harsh critique of the behaviour of political leaders and clergy. In doing so, Gildas appears to legitimate his text with cultural, literary and religious themes more appropriate to the late-fifth century than the mid-sixth century.