'I have made a heap of all that I have found . . .' Nennius, History of the British

'Thou Genesis of the place (this most renowned Ile) / Which livedst long before the All-drowning Flood, / While yet the world did swarme with her Gigantick brood; / Go thou before me still thy circling shores about, / And in this wandering Maze help to conduct me out.' Michael Drayton, Polyolbion

'Britain, the best of islands, is situated in the Western Ocean between France and Ireland. (It) is inhabited by five races of people, the Norman-French, the Britons, the Saxons, the Picts and the Scots.' Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain