Layamon was a poet of the early 13th century, whose Brut (ca. 1200) was a history of England in verse written in Middle English. Although based on an earlier work written in Norman-French by Robert Wace, Layamon's poem is remarkable for its abundant Anglo-Saxon vocabulary; the scholar Roger Loomis counted only 150 Romance words in the 32,200 lines. He describes himself in his poem as a priest, living at Areley Regis near Bewdley in Worcestershire. His poem provided inspiration for later writers, including Sir Thomas Malory.
