Saint Goeznovius/Gwyddno was a 6th century Cornish-born monk. He was a disciple of St Paul-Aurélian and later became Bishop of Léon. He founded a monastery at Langoeznou (now Gouesnou) in Finist ère and his name also appears at Saint-Gouéno in C ôtes d'Armor . Recently he has become famous because his ‘Life’ has an extraordinary Preface which outlines the career of King Arthur . This is one of the earliest recorded mentions of King Arthur. It comes from the Preface to the 'Life of Saint Goeznovius', written by William, Chaplain to Bishop Eudo of L éon. It was written in 1019, over 100 years before Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain"), the book which really fired up the King Arthur Legend [see also: King Arthur Lived in Brittany ]. William claimed ' Ystoria Britannia' was the source of his information - a book which is now lost. Geoffrey's book too claimed to be based on '...
The Origins and Place Names of Brittany