The Historia Britonum states that "The island of Britain derives its name from Brutus, a Roman consul" who conquered Spain. A more detailed story, set before the foundation of Rome, follows, in which Brutus is the grandson or great grandson of Aeneas.
Following Roman sources such as Livy and Virgil, the Historia tells how Aeneas settled in Italy after the Trojan War, and how his son Ascanius founded Alba Longa, one of the precursors of Rome. Ascanius married, and his wife became pregnant. In a variant version, the father is Silvius, who is identified as either the second son of Aeneas, previously mentioned in the Historia, or as the son of Ascanius. A magician, asked to predict the child's future, said it would be a boy and that he would be the bravest and most beloved in Italy. Enraged, Ascanius had the magician put to death. The mother died in childbirth.
The boy, named Brutus, later accidentally killed his father with an arrow and was banished from Italy. After wandering among the islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea and through Gaul, where he founded the city of Tours, Brutus eventually came to Britain, named it after himself, and filled it with his descendants. His reign is synchronised to the time the High Priest Eli was judge in Israel, and the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Philistines.
A variant version of the Historia Britonum makes Brutus the son of Ascanius's son Silvius, and traces his genealogy back to Ham, son of Noah. Another chapter traces Brutus's genealogy differently, making him the great-grandson of the legendary Roman king Numa Pompilius, who was himself a son of Ascanius, and tracing his descent from Noah's son Japheth. These Christianising traditions conflict with the classical Trojan genealogies, relating the Trojan royal family to Greek gods.
Yet another Brutus, son of Hisicion, son of Alanus the first European, also traced back across many generations to Japheth, is referred to in the Historia Britonum. This Brutus's brothers were Francus, Alamanus and Romanus, also ancestors of significant European nations.
Read more about this topic: Brutus Of Troy