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''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae'' (Latin for "On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain") is a work by the 6th-century British cleric St Gildas. It is a sermon in three parts condemning the acts of Gildas' contemporaries, both secular and religious, whom he blames for the dire state of affairs in sub-Roman Britain. It is one of the most important sources for the history of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries, as it is the only significant source for the period written by a near contemporary of the people and events described. Part I contains a narrative of British history from the Roman conquest to Gildas' time; it includes references to Ambrosius Aurelianus and the Britons' victory against the Saxons at the Battle of Mons Badonicus. Part II is a condemnation of five kings for their various sins, including both obscure figures and relatively well-documented ones such as Maelgwn Gwynedd. Part III is a similar attack upon the British clergy of the age. ==History== Gildas's work is of great importance to historians, because although it is not intended primarily as history, it is almost the only surviving source written by a near-contemporary of British events in the fifth and sixth centuries. The usual date that has been given for the composition of the work is some time in the 540s, but it is now regarded as quite possibly earlier, in the first quarter of the sixth century, or even before that. Cambridge historian Karen George, in her exhaustive study of Gildas' text, offers a date range of c. 510-530 AD.〔George, Karen, ''Gildas's De Excidio Britonum and the Early British Church'', Studies in Celtic History 26, Boydell Press, 2009, p. 125.〕 In the view of the historian Guy Halsall: :There is some evidence for an 'early Gildas', writing in the late fifth century. This includes Gildas' rhetorical education, his Latin style, his theological concerns, and a rereading of his historical section and his place within it. I tend towards this interpretation, although it cannot be proven. It is unlikely that Gildas wrote before 480/490 or much after about 550; beyond that we cannot go. Gildas' intent in his writing was to preach to his contemporaries after the manner of an old testament prophet, not to write an account for posterity. Thus, he gives historical details where it serves his purpose; for instance he offers one of the first descriptions of Hadrian's Wall and perhaps the Antonine Wall, though his account of their history is highly inaccurate.〔Koch, p. 808.〕〔Gransden, p. 4.〕 However, he omits details where they do not contribute to his message; he is consistently vague, giving few names and no firm dates.〔Gransden, p. 5.〕 Nonetheless, ''De Excidio'' remains an important work not only for medieval history but also for British history in general, as it is one of the few works written in Britain to survive from the 6th century. In ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae'', Gildas mentions that the year of his birth was the same year as the Battle of Mons Badonicus, which might have taken place in 482 AD.〔Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí and McCarthy, Daniel. "The 'Lost' Irish 84-year Easter Table Rediscovered", ''Peritia'', 6-7(1987-88): 227-242.〕 Gildas' rhetorical writing style indicates a classical Latin education that could hardly have been available to any Britons after the 5th century. The ''Annales Cambriae'' gives the year of his death as 570; however the ''Annals of Tigernach'' dates his death to 569. Gildas's treatise was first published in 1525 by Polydore Vergil, but with many avowed alterations and omissions. In 1568 John Joscelyn, secretary to Archbishop Parker, issued a new edition of it more in conformity with manuscript authority; and in 1691 a still more carefully revised edition by Thomas Gale appeared at Oxford. It was frequently reprinted on the Continent during the 16th century, and once or twice since. The next English edition, described by August Potthast as ''editio pessima'', was that published by the English Historical Society in 1838, and edited by the Rev. J. Stevenson. The text of Gildas founded on Gale's edition collated with two other manuscripts, with elaborate introductions, is included in the Monumenta Historica Britannica. Another edition is in Arthur West Haddan and William Stubbs, ''Councils and ecclesiastical documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland'' (Oxford, 1869); the latest edition is that by Theodor Mommsen in Monumenta Germaniae Historica auct. antiq. xiii. (Chronica min. iii.), 1898. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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