NIGHTBRINGER | The Arthurian Encyclopedia

Albion


The oldest recorded name for the island of Britain, appearing in Roman documents several centuries before Christ. The term “Albion” was used by the ancient Greeks to describe the island. It appears in the works of ancient writers like Ptolemy and Pliny the Elder. In these early references, “Albion” was used to denote the British Isles, and it was likely derived from a Celtic or pre-Celtic word for the island.

It is often associated with the island’s ancient and mythical history and has been used by poets and writers to evoke a sense of tradition, heritage, and the island’s legendary past.

According to Geoffrey of Monmouth and other chroniclers, Albion was populated by a race of giants, whom Brutus conquered. Brutus then gave the island his own name: Britain.

As for the race of giants, we find in Palamedes that they were descended from Albine, an exiled Syrian princess, after whom the island was named. The fourteenth-century Short Metrical Chronicle credits the name to the giant Albin, who, like Albine, fathered the giant race conquered by Brutus.


Sources
Historia Regum Britanniae | Geoffrey of Monmouth, c. 1138
Roman de Brut | Wace, c. 1155
Palamedes | c. 1240
Short Metrical Chronicle | 1307