Historia Brittonum Some have suggested that attributing the origin of 'Britain' to the Latin 'Brutus' may be ultimately derived from Isidore of Seville's popular 7th-century work Etymologiae (c. 560–636), in which it was speculated that the name of Britain comes from bruti, on the basis that the Britons were, in the eyes of that author, brutes, or savages. A more detailed story, set before the foundation of Rome, follows, in which Brutus is the grandson or great grandson of Aeneas – a legend that was perhaps inspired by Isidore's spurious etymology and blends it with the Christian, pseudo-historical, "Frankish Table of Nations" tradition that emerged in the early medieval European scholarly world (actually of 6th-century AD Byzantine origin, and not Frankish, according to historian Walter Goffart)Goffart, Walter, "The Supposedly 'Frankish' Table of Nations: An Edition and Study", Frühmittelalterliche Studien 17, 1983, pp. 98–130. and attempted to trace the peoples of the known world (as well as legendary figures, such as the Trojan house of Aeneas) back to biblical ancestors.Summerfield, Thea, "Filling the Gap: Brutus in the Historia Brittonum, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle MS F, and Geoffrey of Monmouth", in: Dresvina, Juliana, and Sparks, Nicholas (eds), The Medieval Chronicle VII, Rodopi, Amsterdam/New York, 2011, pp. 85–102Charles-Edwards, T. M., Wales and the Britons, 350-1064, Oxford, 2013, pp. 439; 441; 454.Wadden, Patrick, "The Frankish Table of Nations in Insular historiography", Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 72 (Winter 2016), pp. 1–31.Louis H. Feldman (1984), Josephus and Modern Scholarship (1937–1980), p. 893.
Historia Brittonum Some have suggested that attributing the origin of 'Britain' to the Latin 'Brutus' may be ultimately derived from Isidore of Seville's popular 7th-century work Etymologiae (c. 560–636), in which it was speculated that the name of Britain comes from bruti, on the basis that the Britons were, in the eyes of that author, brutes, or savages. A more detailed story, set before the foundation of Rome, follows, in which Brutus is the grandson or great grandson of Aeneas – a legend that was perhaps inspired by Isidore's spurio,us etymology and blends it with the Christian, pseudo-historical, "Frankish Table of Nations" tradition that emerged in the early medieval European scholarly world (actually of 6th-century AD Byzantine origin, and not Frankish, according to historian Walter Goffart)Goffart, Walter, "The Supposedly 'Frankish' Table of Nations: An Edition and Study", Frühmittelalterliche Studien 17, 1983, pp. 98–130. and attempted to trace the peoples of the known world (as well as legendary figures, such as the Trojan house of Aeneas) back to biblical ancestors.Summerfield, Thea, "Filling the Gap: Brutus in the Historia Brittonum, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle MS F, and Geoffrey of Monmouth", in: Dresvina, Juliana, and Sparks, Nicholas (eds), The Medieval Chronicle VII, Rodopi, Amsterdam/New York, 2011, pp. 85–102Charles-Edwards, T. M., Wales and the Britons 350-1064, Oxford, 2013, pp. 439; 441; 454.Wadden, Patrick, "The Frankish Table of Nations in Insular historiography", Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 72 (Winter 2016), pp. 1–31.Louis H. Feldman (1984), Josephus and Modern Scholarship (1937–1980), p. 893.