Layamon (fl. 1190-1220) was a poet and a cleric, and he is best known as the author of 16,095-line Middle English poem the Brut (c. 1189-1216), which is extant in two manuscripts: British Library, Cotton MS Caligula A.ix and British Library, Cotton MS Otho C.xiii. He is commonly known as “Laȝamon” (Caligula) or “Laweman” (Otho), which are often modernised as “Layamon” and “Lawman”. In the Caligua Brut, Layamon reveals various biographical details in his prologue:
An preost wes on leoden; Laȝamon wes ihoten.
he wes Leouenaðes sone; liðe him beo Drihten.
He wonede at Ernleȝe; at æðelen are chirechen.
vppen Seuarne …
Please log in to
consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing
institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on
campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we
offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If
you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal
subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.
1960 words
Citation: Shirley, Victoria. "Layamon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 July 2022 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2650, accessed 31 October 2024.]
