The English poet Layamon (active ca. 1200), or Lawman, is best known for his "Brut," an important work in the development of the Arthurian legend.

In the beginning of his long Historia Brutonum, or Brut, Layamon gives a brief introduction to himself and tells of his inspiration to undertake so vast a work. He was a parish priest of Lower Areley, or Areley Regis, a village on the Severn River in Worcestershire. An educated man, he was an inveterate reader of old books and a collector of tales and legends. Among his books were an English translation of Bede and Le Roman de Brut by the Anglo-Norman poet Wace. Wace's book, which is a translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae, fired Layamon with the desire to write an English version. In such manner were the Latin of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the French Geste of Wace siphoned...