The Legacy of Gildas: Constructions of Authority in the Early Medieval West

Provocative new investigation into the shadowy figure of Gildas, his influence and representation.


Gildas is an essential witness to the Christian culture of the British Isles in the opaque period after the decline and fall of the western Roman empire. His criticisms in De excidio Britanniae of the Britons in the context of spiritual and secular corruption and partition with pagan powers are a crucial source for understanding the transition to the medieval nations of England, Scotland, Wales...