Note 2190 — Chapter X · THE NEW ENGLAND. 1170–1206.
Reading edition
[2189] Will. Newb. proœm. (Howlett, vol. i. pp. 11–18).
[2190]
“Hanc [sc. Britanniam] sub jure tuo, sub pace tuâ, teneamus;
Jus tibi, pax nobis, totaque terra simul”—
ends Henry’s letter to Arthur in the Draco Norm., l. ii. c. 22, vv. 1279, 1280 (Howlett, Will. Newb., vol. ii. p. 707). See above, p. 57, note 2{226}. The whole story is extremely curious; but I feel too doubtful about the character of the source from which it comes to venture upon any discussion of its possible significance.
[2191] “Sicut ab historico cantore Britone audierat antiquo,” Gir. Cambr. De Instr. Princ. (Angl. Christ. Soc.), p. 192. “Ex gestis Britonum et eorum cantoribus historicis,” Spec. Eccles., dist. ii. c. 9 (Brewer, vol. iv. p. 49). These pyramids were there in William of Malmesbury’s day, when one of them was already threatening to fall “præ nimiâ vetustate.” They were covered with “antiquitatis nonnulla spectacula, quæ plane possunt legi licet non plane possunt intelligi.” These were pictures of bishops and kings, with old English names written under them; Arthur, however, is not in the list. William thought that the persons represented were buried underneath. Will. Malm. Gesta Reg., l. i. c. 21 (Hardy, pp. 34, 35).
[2192] See the various accounts of the invention and translation of Arthur in Gir. Cambr. Spec. Eccles., dist. ii. cc. 9, 10 (Brewer, vol. iv. pp. 48–51), and De Instr. Princ. (Angl. Christ. Soc.), pp. 191, 192; R. Coggeshall (Stevenson), p. 36; Rog. Wend. (Coxe), vol. iii. p. 48, and Ann. Margam, a. 1190 (Luard, Ann. Monast., vol. i. pp. 21, 22). Gerald seems to have been present himself. He tells us the “translation” was made by the king’s order; and indeed his account, taken by itself, would leave an impression that the whole thing occurred during King Henry’s lifetime; but R. Coggeshall and Rog. Wend. both distinctly give the date, 1191; the Margam Annals place it only a year earlier; and in both those years the reigning king was far away.