Chroniclers such as
Bede (672/3–735), with his , and
Gildas (c. 500–570), with his
De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, were figures in the development of indigenous
Latin literature, mostly ecclesiastical, in the centuries following the withdrawal of the
Roman Empire around the year 410. The (–705) is the first piece of Northumbrian Latin writing and the earliest piece of English Latin hagiography. The
Historia Brittonum composed in the 9th century is traditionally ascribed to
Nennius. It is the earliest source which presents
King Arthur as a historical figure, and is the source of several stories which were repeated and amplified by later authors. In the 10th century the
hermeneutic style became dominant, but post-
Norman Conquest writers such as
William of Malmesbury condemned it as barbarous. ==See also==