De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae

*De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae*
De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae
On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain
	A ninth-century manuscript containing De Excidio, displayed at the Reims Municipal Library
Full title	De excidio et conquestu Britanniae ac flebili castigatione in reges, principes et sacerdotes
Author(s)	Gildas
Language	British Latin
Date	Disputed (fifth to sixth century AD)
Manuscript(s)	five extant manuscripts British Library, Cotton MS Vitellius A. VI; (c. tenth century AD); Reims Municipal Library, MS 414; (c. ninth century AD); Avranches Public Library, MS 162; (c. twelfth century AD); Cambridge University Library, Ff. i.27; (c. thirteenth century AD); Cambridge University Library, MS. Dd. I. 17; (c. fifteenth century AD);
First printed edition	1525 by Polidoro Virgili
Genre	Sermon
Text	De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae at Wikisource

De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (English: On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain) is a work written in Latin in the late fifth or sixth century by the British religious polemicist Gildas. It is a sermon in three parts condemning the acts of Gildas' contemporaries, both secular and religious, whom he blames for the dire state of affairs in sub-Roman Britain. It is one of the most important sources for the history of Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries, as it is the only significant historical source for the period written by a near contemporary of the people and events described.

Part I contains a narrative of British history from the Roman conquest to Gildas' time; it includes references to Ambrosius Aurelianus and the Britons' victory against the Saxons at the Battle of Mons Badonicus. Part II is a condemnation of five kings for their various sins, including both obscure figures and relatively well-documented ones such as Maelgwn Gwynedd. Part III is a similar attack upon the British clergy of the age.

De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae
On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain
A ninth-century manuscript containing De Excidio, displayed at the Reims Municipal Library
Full title	De excidio et conquestu Britanniae ac flebili castigatione in reges, principes et sacerdotes
Author(s)	Gildas
Language	British Latin
Date	Disputed (fifth to sixth century AD)
Manuscript(s)	five extant manuscripts British Library, Cotton MS Vitellius A. VI (c. tenth century AD) Reims Municipal Library, MS 414 (c. ninth century AD) Avranches Public Library, MS 162 (c. twelfth century AD) Cambridge University Library, Ff. i.27 (c. thirteenth century AD) Cambridge University Library, MS. Dd. I. 17 (c. fifteenth century AD)
First printed edition	1525 by Polidoro Virgili
Genre	Sermon
Text	De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae at Wikisource