https://doi.org/10.31261/SPiP.2026.22.11
De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae by Gildas is the oldest extant source concerning the history of early medieval Britain. This article seeks to analyse how and why British rulers are portrayed in this work as tyrants. The study focuses on the second part of the text, The Complaint against the Kings, in which Gildas presents a depiction of five rulers of Britain. This section provides valuable material for examining how the author deliberately constructs monarchs as embodiments of sin and the moral decline of his homeland. To achieve this, he employs elaborate metaphors, animal symbolism, and numerous biblical references, particularly to the Book of Daniel and the prophetic tradition. Previous historiography has rarely approached the rulers described in this work from an interpretative perspective, focusing instead on attempts to identify them with historical figures. The article emphasises that the negative portrayal of these tyrants is not merely a reflection of reality, but above all a rhetorical device aimed at admonishing the political and religious elites. Through a dramatic and moralising narrative, Gildas seeks to provoke reflection and encourage a change in the rulers’ behaviour, warning them of inevitable punishment and the downfall of the country. Their actions are situated within a broader vision of British history as a process of moral degeneration. Of particular importance is Gildas’s parallel between the fate of the Britons and the history of ancient Israel, which allows him to assume the role of a prophet calling for repentance. As a result, De Excidio emerges not only as a historical source, but also as a deliberately constructed didactic text that combines historiography with prophetic discourse.
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2026
Published: 2022-11-23
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