LAYAMON, early English poet, was the author of a chronicle of Britain entitled Brut, a paraphrase of the Brut d' Angleterre by Robert Wace (q.v.). All that is known of Layamon is derived from two extant mss., which present texts that often vary con siderably, and it is necessary to understand their comparative value before any conclusions can be drawn. The older text (here called the A-text) lies very near the original text, which is un fortunately lost, though it now and then omits lines which are absolutely necessary to the sense. The later text (here called the B-text) represents a later recension of the original version by another writer who frequently omits couplets, and alters the language by the substitution of better-known words for such as seemed to be obsolescent ; e.g., harme (harm) in place of balewe (bale), and dead in place of feie (fated to die, or dead). Hence little reliance can be placed on the B-text, its chief merit being that it sometimes preserves couplets which seem to have been accidentally omitted in A; besides which, it affords a valuable commentary on the original version.
We learn that Layamon was a priest, and the son of Leovenath (a late spelling of A.-S. Leofnoth) ; also, that he lived at Ernley, at a church on Severn bank, close by Radstone. This is certainly Areley Regis, or Areley Kings, 1 m. S. of Stourport in Worcester shire. The B-text turns Layamon into the later form Laweman, i.e., Law-man, correctly answering to Chaucer's "Man of Lawe," though here apparently used as a mere name. It also turns Leovenath into Leuca, i.e., Leofeca, a diminutive of Leofa, which is itself a petname for Leofnoth; so that there is no real con tradiction. But it absurdly substitutes "with the good knight," which is practically meaningless, for "at a noble church." We know no more about Layamon except that he was a great lover of books ; and that he procured three books which he prized above others. These were : Baeda's Ecclesiastical History in the original Latin and in its English translation, and Wace's poem, Brut d' Angleterre, which Layamon proceeded to paraphrase in English. The A-text of Layamon's poem may be dated about 1205, and the B-text (practically by another writer) about 1275. Both texts are remarkably free from admixture with words of French origin; the lists that have been given hitherto are inexact, but it may be said that the number of French words in the A-text can hardly exceed ioo, or in the B-text 16o. Layamon's work is largely original; Wace's Brut contains 15,300 lines, and Laya mon's 32,240 lines of a similar length; and many of Layamon's additions to Wace are notable, such as his story "regarding the fairy elves at Arthur's birth, and his transportation by them after death in a boat to Avalon, the abode of Argante, their queen"; see Sir F. Madden's pref. p. xv.
Wace's Brut is almost wholly a translation of the Latin chronicle of the early history of Britain by Geoffrey of Mon mouth, who said that he obtained his materials from a manuscript written in Welsh. The name Brut is the French form of Brutus, who was the fabulous grandson of Ascanius, and great-grandson of Aeneas of Troy, the hero of Virgil's Aeneid. After many ad ventures, this Brutus arrived in England, founded Troynovant or New Troy (better known as London), and was the progenitor of a long line of British kings, among whom were Locrine, Bladud, Leir, Gorboduc, Ferrex and Porrex, Lud, Cymbeline, Constantine, Vortigern, Uther and Arthur ; and from this mythical Brutus the name Brut was transferred so as to denote the entire chronicle of this British history.
Layamon gives the whole story, from the time of Brutus to that of Cadwalader, who may be identified with the Caedwalla of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, baptized by Pope Sergius in the year 688. Both texts of Layamon are in a south-western dialect ; the A-text in particular shows the Wessex dialect of earlier times (commonly called Anglo-Saxon) in a much later form, and we can hardly doubt that the author, as he intimates, could read the old version of Beda intelligently. The metre of the poem has been sufficiently treated by J. Schipper. An abstract of the poem has been given by Henry Morley ; and good general criticisms of it by B. ten Brink and others.