line

One could happily claim Nennius was the first native Geographer of Britain. While the first native geographical work by a Briton we have is probably the start of Gildas' (Biography) De Excidio Britann(i)ae liber querulus ("the Fall/Ruin/Capture of Britain, a book of whining": see Other Works), which describes the chief features of Britain (See Giles'* translation of Chapter 3), this is entirely derived from non-native sources, mainly Orosius*, though ultimately the source is probably Caesar's De Bellum Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War, especially caes.gal.5.13) which is potentially based in turn on the work of Pytheas (Other Works). Gildas' work is used in Bede (Biography; Other Works), but, again, with nothing very original. Nennius' compilation of Wonders would certainly seem to be the first native Geographical description, and, more than the others, Nennius actually goes beyond a mere introduction to the layout of the land, to look at the manner in which it works. The earliest suggested native geographical work would be the measuring of the land by Dyfnwal "Moelmut" ("the bald and silent"; elsewhere given responsiblity for the first British "Molmutine" Laws), which is suggested in some versions of the Welsh Laws [*note for line 254].