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היצירה מהווה מקור עניין רב בשל היותה, ככל הנראה, אחת המקורות אשר השפיעו על [[אגדות המלך ארתור]] של ימינו. היצירה היא התעוד הקדום ביותר בו מוזכר [[המלך ארתור]] כאישיות היסטורית, ומתוארים מספר אירועים הקשורים אליו, והמהווים בסיס לאגדות הידועות כיום.
בספר מוזכרים שנים עשר קרבות בהם נלחם המלך ארתור (המכונה בספר "'''dux bellorum''' - "שר צבא" ולא "מלך").
===קרבות המלך ארתור===
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Chapter 56 discusses twelve battles fought and won by [[King Arthur|Arthur]], here called ''dux bellorum'' (war leader) rather than king:
הקרבות התנהלו בין הוולשים לבין הסקסונים. הספר מתאר את אתרי הקרבות, אולם לא ניתן לשייך אתרים אלה לאתרים בני זמננו.
:At that time, the Saxons grew strong by virtue of their large number and increased in power in Britain. Hengist having died, however, his son Octha crossed from the northern part of Britain to the kingdom of Kent and from him are descended the kings of Kent. Then Arthur along with the kings of Britain fought against them in those days, but Arthur himself was the military commander ["dux bellorum"]. His first battle was at the mouth of the river which is called Glein. His second, third, fourth, and fifth battles were above another river which is called Dubglas and is in the region of [[Kingdom of Lindsey|Linnuis]]. The sixth battle was above the river which is called Bassas. The seventh battle was in the forest of Celidon, that is Cat Coit Celidon. The eighth battle was at the fortress of Guinnion, in which Arthur carried the image of holy Mary ever virgin on his shoulders; and the pagans were put to flight on that day. And through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and through the power of the blessed Virgin Mary his mother there was great slaughter among them. The ninth battle was waged in the [[City of the Legion]]. The tenth battle was waged on the banks of a river which is called Tribruit. The eleventh battle was fought on the mountain which is called Agnet. The twelfth battle was on [[Mount Badon]] in which there fell in one day 960 men from one charge by Arthur; and no one struck them down except Arthur himself, and in all the wars he emerged as victor. And while they were being defeated in all the battles, they were seeking assistance from Germany and their numbers were being augmented many times over without interruption. And they brought over kings from Germany that they might reign over them in Britain, right down to the time in which [[Ida of Bernicia|Ida]] reigned, who was son of [[Eoppa of Bernicia|Eobba]]. He was the first king in Bernicia, i.e., in Berneich.<ref>Lupack, Alan (Trans.) [http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/nennius.htm "From: ''The History of the Britons'' (''Historia Brittonum'')]. The Camelot Project. Retrieved July 27, 2008.</ref>
Most of these battle sites are obscure and cannot be identified. Some of the battles appear in other Welsh literature, though not all are connected explicitly with Arthur. Some scholars have proposed that the author took the list from a now-lost Old Welsh poem which listed Arthur's twelve great victories, based on the fact that some of the names appear to rhyme and the suggestion that the odd description of Arthur bearing the image of the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Virgin Mary]] on his shoulders at Guinnion might contain a confusion of the Welsh word ''iscuit'' (shield) for ''iscuid'' (shoulders).<ref>Green, p. 19.</ref> However others reject this as untenable,<ref>Green, p. 19-21.</ref> arguing instead that the author included battles which were not previously associated with Arthur or perhaps made them up entirely. A similar story to that attached to Guinnion also appears in the ''[[Annales Cambriae]]''; here, Arthur is described as carrying "the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ on his shoulders for three days and three nights…," though here the battle is said to be Badon rather than Guinnon.<ref>Green, p. 26.</ref> T. M. Charles-Edwards argues that these accounts both refer to a single source.<ref name="Green, p. 28">Green, p. 28.</ref> Other scholars, however, such as Thomas Jones and N. J. Higham, argue that the ''Annales'' account is based directly on the ''Historia'', in which case the name of the battle would have been switched from the unknown Guinnon to the famous Badon, and the icon Arthur carries replaced with a more common one.<ref name="Green, p. 28"/>
The Battle of Mount Badon is associated with Arthur in several later texts, but not in any that predate the ''Historia''.<ref>Green, p. 41.</ref> It was clearly a historical battle, being described by [[Gildas]], who does not mention the name of the Briton's leader (he does, however, mention Aurelius Ambrosius as a great scourge of the Saxons immediately prior.<ref>Green, p. 31.</ref>) Of the other battles, only the Battle of Tribuit is generally agreed to be associated with Arthur in another early Welsh source.<ref>Green, p. 20.</ref> Tribuit appears as ''Tryfrwyd'' in the Old Welsh poem ''Pa Gur?'', dating to perhaps the mid-9th century. Here it is associated with ''cinbin'', or [[cynocephaly|dogheads]]; Arthur's men fight them in the mountains of ''[[Edinburgh|Eidyn]]'' (Edinburgh) and spar with a character named Garwlwyd (Rough-Gray), who is likely identical with the Gwrgi Garwlwyd (Man-Dog Rough-Grey) who appears in one of the [[Welsh Triads]].<ref>Bromwich, pp. 73–74</ref><ref>See Bromwich p. 385 for the discussion of Gwrgi Garwlwyd as a werewolf.</ref><ref name="Green 84-85">Green, pp. 84-85.</ref> Arthur's main protagonist in the fight is [[Bedivere|Bedwyr]], later known as Sir Bedivere, and an earlier reference in the poem indicates that the euhemerized god [[Manawydan]] is involved as well.<ref name="Green 84-85"/> "The City of the Legion" may be a reference to [[Caerleon]], whose name translates as such, but it might also refer to [[Chester]], the site of a large Roman base.<ref>[[Geoffrey Ashe|Ashe, Geoffrey]] (1991). "Annales Cambriae." In [[Norris J. Lacy|Lacy, Norris J.]] (Ed.), ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia'', p. 65. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.</ref>
''Cat Coit Celidon'' is a reference to the [[Caledonian Forest]] (''Coed Celyddon'') which once covered the [[Southern Uplands]] of Scotland. Scholar Marged Haycock has suggested this battle can be identified with the ''Cad Goddeu'', the "Battle of the Trees," best known from the 10th-century poem ''[[Cad Goddeu]]''.<ref>Bromwich, pp. 218–219</ref><ref>Green, p. 64.</ref> Arthur is mentioned towards the end of this poem, and a fragment of a story about the battle preserved in manuscript Peniarth 98B states that the battle had an alternate name, ''Cad Achren'', which suggests a connection with the ''Caer Ochren'' raided by Arthur in the earlier poem ''[[Preiddeu Annwfn]]''.<ref>Green, pp. 62–64.</ref>
Various writers have asserted that this chapter supports a [[historical basis for King Arthur]] and have tried to identify the twelve battles with historical feuds or locales (see [[Sites and places associated with Arthurian legend]]). However, scholar Thomas Green argues that the fact that the only identifiable battles linked explicitly with Arthur in Old Welsh sources are exclusively mythological undermines any claims that the battles had a basis in history.<ref>Green, p. 67.</ref>
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===פלאי בריטניה===
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