Brut, << broot, >> was the great-grandson of Aeneas, the mythical Trojan hero and ancestor of the Roman people. Brut is the French form of the Roman name Brutus. According to legend, Brut settled in what is now London with a band of companions and became the first king of Britain. The story of Brut was first told in the History of the Kings of Britain, written in the 1100’s by the Welsh historian Geoffrey of Monmouth. Geoffrey called the king Brutus. The name Brut was used in the title of several adaptations of Geoffrey’s work. One well-known version is Roman de Brut (1155), a verse chronicle by the Norman poet Wace. The English priest Layamon used it as a source for his English version, Brut (about 1205).
