"Layamon's Brut is a landmark in English literature; the first major work in English after the Norman Conquest, and the precursor of a rich Arthurian literature, from Malory to Tennyson and on to our own time." "Written c1200-1220, the Brut develops the themes of its principal source, Robert Wace's Roman de Brut, itself a version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's bestseller, the Historia Regum Britanniae, in a metre and idiom reminiscent of Old English. It demonstrates the fundamental strength of a native culture which survived two centuries of French dominance to re-emerge as a fusion of national tradition and continental influences." This edition combines a fully edited version of the original text of the Arthurian section of the Brut with a close parallel prose translation and includes textual notes and a commentary. In their revised Introduction, Ray Barron and Carole Weinberg take account of scholarship since their edition first appeared in 1989; they also extend and update the Bibliography.