Review - Historia Regum Britanniae (The History of the Kings of Britain)

Finally got round to reading some more of the Arthurian stuff I've got. Geoffrey of Monmouth's 'history' is probably 90% total fabrication, but it's interesting to read. I really only read it for Arthur, but ended up liking most of it. This Penguin edition is quite good, with decent footnotes, a timeline, and a translation that isn't a chore to read. The introduction is pretty good, too.

Things I found striking about this version of Arthur:
-No sword legend, just straight succession from Uther.
-Guinevere is still unfaithful, just with Mordred not Lancelot.
-Mordred is not Arthur's son.
-Merlin disappears well before Arthur appears.
-No adoption story.
-Gawain doesn't seem to have any brothers?

There's also obvious stuff like no grail story (that comes with the Arthurian romances), no round table, etc, etc. Interesting to see what themes/ideas came in where.