When dealing with an enigma such as Gogmagog, it is probably best to start with the earliest written references to this giant. That takes us to Geoffrey of Monmouth, possibly the most controversial historian in British history.
Geoffrey was born in about the year 1100, almost certainly in Monmouth. At an early age he joined the Benedictine monastery in Monmouth as a monk, but soon his wide ranging academic interests and personal ambitions took him far from his birthplace. By 1129 he was in Oxford, studying at the nascent Oxford University. He wrote extensively, taking a deep interest in Welsh folklore, history and legend - it was Geoffrey who brought Arthur, Merlin and other such figures to an audience outside Wales for the first time.
In about 1136 Geoffrey produced the work for which he is best known. This was the Historia Regum Britanniae, or History of the Kings of Britain. It is a monumental 12 volume work that claims to be a serious history of Britain and the British (principally the Welsh) for 2,000 years or more. It makes for compelling reading, even today. Because nobody knew more about Welsh history or legend than did Geoffrey, it was widely believed to be a factual history. It's easy reading style of writing, sensational contents and academic credibility made it a best-seller. More than 215 copies have survived - and there must originally have been many more - all at a time when books had to be copied out by hand since printing had not yet been invented.
Before long doubts began to be raised about the book. Just how reliable it was as genuine history was never very clear. Geoffrey himself claimed to have simply translated a much older book, but even at the time nobody really believed this. Such a claim was a standard method of adding antiquity to one's writings. What Geoffrey had quite clearly done was to draw together history, legend and myth to create a single story. He slotted different stories, people and events into his history where he thought they probably fitted best - on what basis we don't know - and was not shy about simply making things up to help the story bounce along.
We know that Geoffrey did have access to sources that have since been lost. He talks about pre-Roman Celtic monarchs and figures which are today unknown in written sources, but who we know existed as their coins have been found by archaeologists. Where Geoffrey got this information from, we simply do not know. Crucially we have very little idea which of Geoffrey's otherwise uncorroborated stories came from genuine legends (since lost) and which he made up himself.
The other thing to bear in mind when dealing with Geoffrey's writings is that he was writing with a definite purpose: He wanted a job. Ideally he wanted a well-paid job that did not entail too much in the way of hard work. He eventually got what he wanted in 1152 when he was made Bishop of Asaph, but when he wrote he monumental history he was still very much on the scrounge.
His purpose in writing the History of the Kings of Britain was to establish the Welsh as a noble and ancient people. By linking the ancestors of Welsh noble families to the great heroes of old, Geoffrey would be flattering the people in the best position to get him a job. Geoffrey may have been an academic scholar, but he was also a man on the make.
And so we turn to the figure of Gogmagog as he appears in Geoffrey's writings. Gogmagog appears very early in Geoffrey's history, somewhere around the year 1200bc. This does not mean that he really lived at this early date (assuming he lived at all), simply that Geoffrey chose to place him there.
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