We are often told that Geoffrey was one of the most popular writers of the middle ages. How do we put this in context? There are two rough rules of thumb to judge the influence of a medieval writer - how often he is referenced or quoted and the number of manuscripts that have survived of his works.
The latter method can be used to provide a sort of crude medieval best seller list which makes for very interesting reading indeed. (This list is an ongoing project which I will be updating.)
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Historia 215 manuscripts [a third of these found in continental Europe].
Historians
Martin of Opava, Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum, c. 1260 over 400 manuscripts
Bede, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum - around 150 copies
William of Malmesbury, De gestis regum Anglorum - 35 copies c. 1125
popular and frequently quoted from both in England on the continent
Henry of Huntingdon 25 copies ms ( Later edition includes account of Geoffrey's history after 1139)
Robert de Torigni chronicle 18 copies (Quoted Henry of Huntingdon account of Geoffrey's history in his chronicle.)
William of Newburgh 9 copies (later influenced Augustian and Cisterican chroniclers)
[Geoffrey's only real critic for a long period William's criticisms of Geoffrey are frequrently quoted as if they mean something - in fact as the manuscript count shows William was in terms of influence and reputation completely irrelevant in the medieval period. His attack on Geoffrey is more to do with credulity walking dead English Bede ]
Gildas, De excidio et conquestu Britanniae. Four full manuscripts,
Pseudo, Nennius, Historia Brittonum
Placed aside these contemporary chronicles Geoffrey's success becomes even more apparent. What makes it more interesting is to compare Geoffrey to other works.
Arthurian Romances
Vulgate cycle more than 100 manuscripts
Chretien de Troyes - forty-four surviving manuscripts of his works (ten of them illuminated)
32 complete 12 fragmentary
Marie de france, Lays - 4 manuscripts 1 complete
Medieval Literature in general
[I selected works generally seen as being fairly popular in the period.]
Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend) c 1267 around 900-1000 manuscripts
Dante, Divine Comedy (1308- 1321) more than 825 ms
Guillaume de Lorris (circa 1230) ‘Roman de la Rose’ over 300 manuscripts
Travels of Sir John Mandeville , eleven languages , least three hundred manuscripts in various versions (around 1371)
Navigatio Brendani around 120 manuscripts
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales - eighty manuscripts survive, of which fifty-five are complete
Conclusion
Geoffrey is not just the most successful historian of his generation, and the originator of much Arthurian tales to follow, but is perhaps the most successful British writer of the medieval period whose work was summarized in many other later historians and passed into popular thought.
Obviously chance plays a large part in the survival of medieval manuscripts it has been guessed the survival rate of manuscripts is around one in 5 or one in 7.
Data from:
Historical Writing in England by Antonia Gransden
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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