Legendary Stories of England and Geoffrey of Monmouth unblemished state of mind of a long-vanished people. But even then, literature may be lost: their houses burned or pillaged, their pages decayed, and their language changed. It is often a sad fate that we are left with only a few fragments of a bygone era, the only works preserved through the ages, those translated and transmitted. It is then our duty to decipher them to discover the spirit of our ancestors. This is the situation in British literature. We examine the composite piece and see works such as Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731 AD), Rood's Dream (author anonymous, date unknown), Beowulf (c. 750 AD), and The History of the Kings of Great Britain (c. 1135-38 AD). Now these of course only represent a part of the whole of ancient English literature, for example it will be masterful in examining the progression of English religious trends. By the seventh century AD, the English people had largely converted to Catholicism, although its beliefs and traditions still remained largely foreign for several centuries afterwards. It is interesting to note that one of the earliest pieces of British history – Rood's Dream – is written with a very Catholic feeling, both in its doctrine and in its style. Although arguably theologically unfounded, the poem does not appear to have a strong pagan influence. Another similar work, although without as strong a Catholic style, is the Hymn of Cædmon (Bed), possessing the same doctrinal ideas, but containing few or no obvious pagan influences. Of course, The Dream of Rood was an earlier work, but they both come from early English Catholicism. The next step in the progression appears to be Beowulf, drawing on mythologies and various pagan sources but still containing strong Christian support. Although this work was published only twenty years after the pious Catholic works mentioned above, it appears to be a notable step towards English paganism. And finally we come to Geoffrey of Monmouth, writing his History of the Kings of Great Britain four hundred years later with the aim of advancement in the Church. In this work, one cannot help but observe the references to the origins of the British inhabitants coming from Troy (as recounted in Homer's Iliad) – which may very well contain an element of truth – and praying to the goddess Diane who guides them to Great Britain..

Essay / Legendary Stories of England and Geoffrey of Monmouth unblemished state of mind of a long-vanished people. But even then, literature may be lost: their houses burned or pillaged, their pages decayed, and their language changed. It is often a sad fate that we are left with only a few fragments of a bygone era, the only works preserved through the ages, those translated and transmitted. It is then our duty to decipher them to discover the spirit of our ancestors. This is the situation in British literature. We examine the composite piece and see works such as Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731 AD), Rood's Dream (author anonymous, date unknown), Beowulf (c. 750 AD), and The History of the Kings of Great Britain (c. 1135-38 AD). Now these of course only represent a part of the whole of ancient English literature, for example it will be masterful in examining the progression of English religious trends. By the seventh century AD, the English people had largely converted to Catholicism, although its beliefs and traditions still remained largely foreign for several centuries afterwards. It is interesting to note that one of the earliest pieces of British history – Rood's Dream – is written with a very Catholic feeling, both in its doctrine and in its style. Although arguably theologically unfounded, the poem does not appear to have a strong pagan influence. Another similar work, although without as strong a Catholic style, is the Hymn of Cædmon (Bed), possessing the same doctrinal ideas, but containing few or no obvious pagan influences. Of course, The Dream of Rood was an earlier work, but they both come from early English Catholicism. The next step in the progression appears to be Beowulf, drawing on mythologies and various pagan sources but still containing strong Christian support. Although this work was published only twenty years after the pious Catholic works mentioned above, it appears to be a notable step towards English paganism. And finally we come to Geoffrey of Monmouth, writing his History of the Kings of Great Britain four hundred years later with the aim of advancement in the Church. In this work, one cannot help but observe the references to the origins of the British inhabitants coming from Troy (as recounted in Homer's Iliad) – which may very well contain an element of truth – and praying to the goddess Diane who guides them to Great Britain..

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