Geoffrey claims to have translated it from an ancient book written in Welsh, although few take this claim seriously. It purports to relate the history of Britain, from its first settlement by Brutus, a descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, to the death of Cadwallader in the 7th century, taking in Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain, two kings, Leir and Cymbeline, later immortalised by Shakespeare, and one of the earliest developed narratives of King Arthur. Next was Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), the work best known to modern readers. The first work about this legendary prophet in a language other than Welsh, it was widely read - and believed - much as the prophecies of Nostradamus were centuries later John Jay Parry and Robert Caldwell note that the Prophetiae Merlini "were taken most seriously, even by the learned and worldly wise, in many nations", and list examples of this credulity as late as 1445. Geoffrey presented a series of apocalyptic narratives as the work of the earlier Merlin who, until Geoffrey's book came out, was known as "Myrddin". The earliest one to appear was Prophetiae Merlini ("The Prophecies of Merlin"), which he wrote at some point before 1135. Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote several works of interest.
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