From Ancient Mediterranen to Medieval Europe Transition of Fiction to History: A Literary Tradition Spanning from Homer's Iliad to Geoffrey Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain and Beyond

Abstract

The ancient Mediterranean world served as a vital cradle of literature for both Occidental and Oriental traditions, inspiring poets and writers whose works shaped many movements and conventions that spread beyond the region. A prime example is Homer's Iliad, composed in the 8th century BC. This foundational epic originated the literary tradition known as the Matter of Troy, which centered on the concept of Nova Troia (New Troy). This phenomenon—the transition of the Trojan narrative from fiction to perceived fact—is the central subject of this article. We will linearly analyze and compare successor works that inherited the Trojan origin concept, including the Aeneid (Rome), the History of the Britons and History of the English Kings (Britain), and the Roman de Brut (Normandy) and more. By examining these texts, we aim to comprehend how this transformation from fiction to legend and, eventually, to history occurred through the eyes of their Medieval readers.

Keywords

• Geoffrey Monmouth
• New Troy
• Iliad
• from fiction to history

Eskiçağ Akdenizinden Ortaçağ Avrupasına Nova Troia (Yeni Truva) Anlatısının Kurgudan Tarihyazımına Dönüşümü: Homeros’un İlyada Destanından Britanyalı Monmouth’un İngiliz Krallarının Tarihi’ne ve Ötesine Uzanan Bir Gelenek

Abstract

Akdeniz dünyası Eskiçağ’da şair ve yazarlarının ortaya koyduğu eserlerle Doğu ve Batı edebiyatını besleyen bir kaynak olmuş, bu eserler yüzyıllar sonra dahi bir takım fikir ve geleneklerin oluşmasında etkin rol oynamış ve Akdeniz sınırlarını aşmıştır. Akdenizli bir ozan olan Homeros’un MÖ 8. yüzyılda ortaya koyduğu İlyada destanı edebiyatta Nova Troia yani Yeni Truva konsepti üzerinden “Truva anlatısı” şeklinde kabul edilen bir geleneğin çıkış noktası olmuş ve bu anlatı ortaya çıktığı Akdeniz coğrafyasını aşarak Batı edebiyatında ve tarihyazımında kurgudan tarihe geçişin nasıl gerçekleştiğini ortaya koymasıyla bu çalışmanın konusu olmuştur. İlyada’yı takip eden Roma’da Aeneid, Britanya’da Britonların Tarihi ve İngiliz Krallarının Tarihi, Normandiya’da Roman de Brut gibi eserler mukayeseli bir şekilde ele alınarak bunların Yeni Truva anlatısını nasıl devam ettirdiği ve bu noktada bir kurgunun efsaneleşerek nasıl Ortaçağ okuyucusunun nezdinde tarihî bir gerçeğe dönüştüğü ortaya koyulmuştur.

Keywords

• Geoffrey Monmouth
• Yeni Truva
• İlyada
• kurgudan tarihe

References

1. Alamichel, Marie Françoise. “Brutus Fondateur de Londres / La Nouvelle Troie: Références Textuelles Latines et Anglaises de Nennius Au XXIe Siècle.” LISAA - Littératures, Savoirs et Arts 1, no. August (2018). http://layamon.free.fr/Documents/Nouvelle%20Troie.pdf.
2. Avery, William T. “Augustus and the ‘Aeneid.’” The Classical Journal 52, no. 5 (1957): 225–29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3295204.
3. Bell, Kimberly. “Merlin as Historian in ‘Historia Regum Britannie.’” Arthuriana 10, no. 1 (2000): 14–26. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27869518.
4. Blacker, Jean. “Will the Real Brut Please Stand Up? Wace’s Roman de Brut in AngloNorman and Continental Manuscripts.” Text 9 (1996): 175–86. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20698018.
5. Blacker, Jean, Georgia Henley, and Joshua Byron Smith. “The Anglo-Norman and Continental French Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Corpus from the 12th to the 15th Centuries.” In A Companion to Geoffrey of Monmouth, 454–66. Brill, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctv2gjwzx0.29.
6. Caesar, Gaius Iulius. De Bello Gallico / Der Gallische Krieg. Translated by Marieluise Deißmann. Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam, 2006.
7. Cary, Earnest, çev. Dionysius of Halicarnassus: Roman Antiquities. Harvard University Press, 1978. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/home.html.
8. Clarke, Basil, ed. The Life of Merlin by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Edited and translated by Basil Clarke. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1973. Erişim tarihi 02.06.2025. http://www.theheartofmerlin.com/pdf/merliniclarke.pdf.

9. D’Halicarnasse, Denys. Les Antiquites Romaines de Denys D’Halicarnasse. Paris: Philippe-Nicholas Lottin, 1723. https://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/denys/livreIgrec.htm.
10. Dalton, Paul. “The Topical Concerns of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britannie: History, Prophecy, Peacemaking, and English Identity in the Twelfth Century.” Journal of British Studies 44, no. 4 (2005): 688–712. https://doi.org/10.1086/431937.
11. Faletra, Michael A. “Narrating the Matter of Britain: Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Norman Colonization of Wales.” The Chaucer Review 35, no. 1 (2000): 60–85. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25096117.
12. Fitzpatrick-Matthews, Keith J., ed. Genealogia Brittonum: The Complete Historia Brittonum, 2020. http://kmatthews.org.uk/history/hb/Genealogia%20Brittonum%20complete%20text%20and%20translation%20A4.pdf.
13. Grebe, Sabine. “Augustus’ Divine Authority and Vergil’s ‘Aeneid.’” Vergilius (1959) 50 (2004): 35–62. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41587284.
14. Gunn, W., and J. A. Giles, çev. Nennius’ “Historia Brittonum.” heroofcamelot.com, 1842. Erişim tarihi 09.06.2025. https://www.heroofcamelot.com/docs/Nennius-Historia-Brittonum.pdf.
15. Hammer, Jacob. “Les Sources de Geoffrey de Monmouth: Historia Regum Britanniae, IV, 2.” Latomus 5, no. 1/2 (1946): 79–82. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41516514.
16. Hill, H. “Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the Origins of Rome.” The Journal of Roman Studies 51 (1961): 88–93. https://doi.org/10.2307/298840.
17. Homer. Iliad, Homeri Opera. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1920. http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-grc1:18.22-18.64.
18. Homer. The Iliad. Translated by E. V. Rieu. Penguin Books, 2003.
19. Homer. The Iliad. Translated by A. S. Kline. Poetry In Translation, 2009. Erişim tarihi 16.07.2025. https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Greek/Ilhome.php.
20. Ingledew, Francis. “The Book of Troy and the Genealogical Construction of History: The Case of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae.” Speculum 69, no. 3 (1994): 665–704. https://doi.org/10.2307/3040847.
21. Johnson, Ashley C. “Merlin’s Role as Nationalist in Monmouth and Malory.” Pdf, 2018. https://scholarworks.uttyler.edu/english_grad/16/.
22. Linderski, Jerzy. “Vergil and Dionysius.” Vergilius 38 (1992): 3–11. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41592188. Mommsen, Theodore, ed. Historia Brittonum. Erişim tarihi 22.09.2025. https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/histbrit.html, 1898.
23. Monemutensis, Galfridus. Historia Regum Britanniae. New York: B. Franklin, 1967. https://archive.org/details/galfredimonumete00geof/.
24. Monmouth, Geoffrey. Historia Regum Britanniæ. Edited and translated by J. A. Giles. Six Old English Chronicles. London: Bohn’s Antiquarian Library, 1848. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Six_Old_English_Chronicles/Geoffrey%27s_British_History
25. Murphy, Mabel Gant. “Vergil as a Propagandist.” The Classical Weekly 19, no. 21 (1926): 169–74. https://doi.org/10.2307/4388771.
26. Parry, John Jay. The Vita Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Translated by John Jay Parry. Vol. X, no. 3. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Studies in Language and Literature, 1926. https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/vm/vmtitle.htm.
27. Quint, David. “Repetition and Ideology in the Aeneid.” Materiali E Discussioni per l’Analisi Dei Testi Classici, no. 23 (1989): 9–54. https://doi.org/10.2307/40235939.
28. Rider, Jeff. “The Fictional Margin: The Merlin of the ‘Brut.’” Modern Philology 87, no. 1 (1989): 1–12. http://www.jstor.org/stable/438525.
29. “Spinof.” In Cambridge Dictionary. England: Cambridge Publishing, 2025. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/spinoff.
30. Tatlock. “Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Vita Merlini.” Speculum 18, no. 3 (1943): 265–87. https://doi.org/10.2307/2853704.
31. Thomas, NEIL. “The Celtic Wild Man Tradition and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s ‘Vita Merlini’: Madness or ‘Contemptus Mundi?’” Arthuriana 10, no. 1 (2000): 27–42. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27869519.
32. Vergil. The Aeneid. Translated by A. S. Kline. Roman Roads Media, 2015. https://files.romanroadsstatic.com/materials/romans/Aeneid-RRM-etext_v1.0.pdf.