Complaint by Gildas

A Complaint by Gildas

Arthur
May his name go down in ignominy.

He has slain my brother Huaill,
who would bow his head to no upstart king.
My eldest brother, first son of Caw,
Caw of Prytain, Caw of Strathclyde.

Prince of Alclud, the Rock of the Britons,
the Rock of the Clyde,which swims
in the blue water like a massive Red Dragon.
That mighty citadel, Din Barton.

Now the truth is plain:
All men are venal, selfish and greedy
When the thin veneer of civilisation
is stripped, beneath is the savagery of beasts.

And so of Arthur I will write no more.

Those twenty seven books which I have written
extolling the virtues of Arthur
his Vision, his Virtue,
the Battles he fought against the Barbarians,
his Exploits and Feats of Arms
in defence of the Realm and the Holy Church,
Why, those books I have carried to the cliffs
and cast them into the sea.

May his name be Expunged from History !

The Britons maintain that, when Gildas criticised his own people so bitterly, he wrote as he did because he was so infuriated by the fact that King Arthur had killed his own brother, who was a prince of Albaniae. When he heard of his brother's death he threw into the sea a number of outstanding books which he had written in their praise and about Arthur's achievements.

As a result you will find no book which gives an authentic account of that great prince.