Nennius is the second important figure in the early historical record of England. The standard edition is Nennius: British History and the Welsh Annals (1980) edited and translated by John Morris. It is based on Harley 3859, a manuscript written in the early twelfth century that contains the most complete version of the Historia Brittonum.

Composed anonymously in northern Wales in AD 829/830 but popularly ascribed to Nennius, whose later redaction includes a preface in which he confesses to having “made a heap of all that I have found,” the Historia Brittonum is miscellany of synchronized material. There are the ages of the world, the origin of Britain and Ireland, Britain under the Romans, the lives of Germanus and Patrick, the tale of Emrys and the campaigns of Arthur, the chronicles of Kent and royal genealogies, and the wonders of Britain and Ireland. Nennius tends not to correlate or criticize his sources, most of which now are lost, and there is much of value in this jumble.

Roman Britain is discussed, as is Hadrian’s Wall, which ran “from sea to sea across the width of Britain.” It is attributed to Septimius Severus, who “ordered the wall to be built between the British and the Picts and Irish, because the Irish from the west and the Picts from the north were fighting against the British, for they were at peace with each other” (23). In Nennius, the British are not so craven as they are in Gildas but “overthrew the rule of the Romans, and paid them no taxes, and did not accept their kings to reign over them, and the Romans did not dare to come to Britain to rule anymore, for the British had killed their generals” (28). Still, when the beleaguered British are harassed by marauding Picts and Irish, they implore the Romans for help. But, after defending the country for the last time, they “deprived Britain of her gold and silver and bronze, and all her precious raiment and honey, and went back in great triumph” (30).

Nennius draws upon a Kentish chronicle to continue his narrative. There is a fearful period of forty years during which the Saxons, led by two brothers, Horsa and Hengist, arrive at Thanet on the eastern coast of Kent, “driven into exile from Germany” (31). They are welcomed there by Vortigern, who “promised to supply them with food and clothing without fail; and they agreed, and promised to fight bravely against his enemies. But the barbarians multiplied their numbers, and the British could not feed them” (36). Foolishly, more warriors are sent for, including Hengest’s daughter, a beautiful girl with whom Vortigern falls drunkenly in love, giving up all of Kent for her hand. More warriors are summoned and given land north of the Wall.

Vortigern then incestuously has a daughter and is condemned by Germanus, whose story is related by Nennius. When the Saxons also turn against him, Vortigern asks his wizards where he might find refuge. He is told to build his stronghold in Wales at the farthest border of his kingdom but, each time an attempt is made, the foundation disappears. Nor will it stand unless the site is sprinkled with the blood of a fatherless boy. Such a child is found, who reveals that, beneath the citadel, there is a lake in which there are two vessels and, folded in a cloth, two dragons, one white and one red. The red dragon symbolizes the Britons, the white dragon, the Saxons, who eventually will be defeated when “our people will arise, and will valiantly throw the English people across the sea” (42). The boy says that his name is Ambrosius and that his father is one of the consuls of Rome. Awed by the prophecy, Vortigern bestows on Ambrosius (Emrys in Welsh) rule over the western part of Britain; later, he is identified as “king among all kings of the British nation” (48).

Nennius returns to affairs in Kent. “But the barbarians returned in force, for Vortigern was their friend, because of his wife, and none were resolute to drive them out; for they occupied Britain not because of their strength, but because it was the will of God. Who can resist the will of God, even if he tries” (45). Even more of the country is lost when Hengist and his followers, “friendly in their words, but wolfish in heart and deed” (48), treacherously draw their knives and slay three hundred of the king’s advisors while sitting down to talk peace. The beleaguered Vortigern eventually is consumed by fire brought down from heaven by the righteous fasting of Germanus.

The name of Arthur now is mentioned for the first time. On the death of Hengist, his son comes down from the north to Kent. “Then Arthur fought against them in those days, together with the kings of the British; but he was their leader in battle” (56). Twelve battles are cataloged, the last “on Badon Hill and in it nine hundred and sixty men fell in one day, from a single charge of Arthur’s, and no one laid them low save he alone; and he was victorious in all his campaigns. When they were defeated in all their campaigns, the English sought help from Germany, and continually and considerably increased their numbers.” (The 960 who were slain can be attributed to the use of triads, in which figures conventionally are expressed in multiples of threes: three three-hundreds and three twenties.)

Nennius concludes his narrative with the wonders of Britain, one of which can be identified as Bath and may have been the site of Badon. “It is surrounded by a wall, made of brick an stone, and men may go there to bathe at any time, and every man can have the kind of bath he likes. If he wants, it will be a cold bath, and if he wants a hot bath, it will be hot” (67). A later Anglo-Saxon poem, The Ruin, also is thought to refer to Bath (Aquae Sulis), which, like all Roman ruins, was imagined to have been built by Giants.

Nennius is not always consistent in his dating. The arrival of the Saxons, AD 428, is calculated from the Incarnation, when he intends the Passion, a date that may have been influenced by the Life of Germanus, who visited Britain in AD 429. Earlier, he gives AD 375 for the advent. Contrary to his assertion that the young Ambrosius is to have been born without a father, his is said to be a consul of Rome, as Gildas had mentioned. (It is this mysterious child whom Geoffrey of Monmouth later identifies with Merlin.) Although not specifically identified as the victor at Badon Hill, in the account of Gildas, it is Ambrosius leads the British resistance: “Under him our people regained their strength, and challenged the victors to battle. The Lord assented, and the battle went their way.” In Nennius, it is Arthur, as dux bellorum, who is victorious at the siege of Mons Badonicus and Vortigern, the “proud tyrant” of Gildas, who fights the Saxons.

All this having been said, Gildas and Nennius preserve some the earliest records of British history.