Layamon

Layamon (Laȝamon) names himself at the opening of his Brut as a priest at Areley Kings, on the banks of the Severn, where he says he read books and conceived the plan of telling the history of the English. Nothing more is known of his life beyond what he tells us there.

The Brut is an English alliterative chronicle of about 16,000 long lines, running from the Trojan Brutus to the last British king, Cadwalader. It is drawn chiefly from Wace's Anglo-Norman Roman de Brut, which Layamon expands considerably, and it is the first English poem to tell the story of King Arthur, including the Round Table and his passing to Avalon.