Geoffrey had this individual in mind when he wrote his earliest surviving work, the Prophetiae Merlini Prophecies of Merlin , which he claimed were the actual words of the legendary madman. Medievalist Gaston Paris suggested he altered the name to "Merlinus" rather than the standard romanization "Merdinus" to avoid a resemblance to a vulgar French word for excrement. Geoffrey's Prophetiae do not reveal much about Merlin's background. When he included the prophet in his next work, Historia Regum Britanniae , he supplemented the characterization by attributing to him stories about Aurelius Ambrosius, taken from Nennius's Historia Brittonum.
According to so-called Nennius, Ambrosius was discovered when the British king Vortigern was trying to erect a tower. The tower always collapsed before completion, and his wise men told him the only solution was to sprinkle the foundation with the blood of a child born without a father. Ambrosius was rumored to be such a child, but when brought before the king, he revealed the real reason for the tower's collapse: below the foundation was a lake containing two dragons or badgers, depending on the translation who destroyed the tower by fighting.
He keeps this new figure separate from Aurelius Ambrosius, and to disguise his changing of Nennius, he simply states that Ambrosius was another name for Merlin, or Merlinus Ambrosius.
Geoffrey goes on to add new episodes that tie Merlin into the story of King Arthur and his predecessors. He adds his own embellishments to the tale, which he sets in Carmarthen, Wales Welsh: Caerfyrddin. While Nennius's Ambrosius eventually reveals himself to be the son of a Roman consul, Geoffrey's Merlin was begotten on a king's daughter by an incubus.
The story of Vortigern 's tower is essentially the same; the underground creatures, one white and one red, represent the Saxons and the British, and their final battle is a portent of things to come. At this point Geoffrey inserts a long section of Merlin's prophecies, taken from his earlier ''Prophetiae Merlini''.
He tells only two further tales of the character; in the first, Merlin creates Stonehenge as a burial place for Aurelius Ambrosius. In the second, Merlin's magic enables Uther Pendragon to enter into Tintagel in disguise and father his son Arthur on his enemy's wife, Igraine. These episodes appear in many later adaptations of Geoffrey's account, and in verse and prose romances. After Arthur's birth Geoffrey has Merlin disappear from the narrative; the wizard does not tutor and advise Arthur as in later versions.
Geoffrey dealt with Merlin again in his third work, Vita Merlini. He based the Vita on stories of the original 6th-century Myrddin and another, similar figure, Lailoken. Though the historical Myrrdin and legendary Lailoken lived or were portrayed as living some hundred years after the Arthurian period, Geoffrey tries to assert the character is one in the same, with references to King Arthur and his death as told in the Historia Regum Britanniae.
Several decades later the French poet Robert de Boron retold this material in his poem Merlin. Only a few lines of the poem have survived, but a prose retelling became popular and was later incorporated into two other romances. In Robert's account Merlin is begotten by a devil on a virgin as an intended Antichrist.
This plot is thwarted when the expectant mother informs her confessor Blaise of her predicament; they immediately baptize the boy at birth, thus freeing him from the power of Satan. The demonic legacy invests Merlin with a preternatural knowledge of the past and present, which is supplemented by God, who gives the boy a prophetic knowledge of the future. All the judges were amazed that the boy could talk at this age.
But the judge stubbornly insisted Merlin to prove to him, who is his real father. She thought Merlin was the devil. Merlin also mentioned that she had continued to have her long, secret affair with the priest to this present day, because she had most recently slept with priest, as late as last night.
The judge realised that everything Merlin had told them was the truth. For this reason, Merlin had a great deal of power, which included ability to see everything of the past. God also gave Merlin the power to see into the future.
The priest would fear the judge and flee into the woods, before drowning in a pond. The judge did what Merlin advised him to do, sending two men to secretly follow his mother, who went to the priest. As Merlin had predicted, the priest thought that now the secret was out, the judge would probably have him tried and executed, so the priest fled from his home, into the woods. Rather than go through the ignoble execution that he thought he would receive from his own son, the priest leaped into the lake.
The judge now believed all that Merlin had claimed, naming him wise. When Merlin departed with his mother, Blaise decided to accompany the prodigy.
It was said that Blaise was the chronicler of the reign of Arthur and the high adventure of the Holy Grail. Blaise otherwise known as Bleheris was also said to be either Welsh or Breton poet, who composed the lost archetype legend of Tristan , which the poet Beroul and Thomas may have used as their source for their own poems.
House of Constantine , Grail Legend. When Uther died it was Merlin who informed the barons of Logres that only a person, who could draw the sword from the stone, would be the rightful king. Some lords were discontent when only Arthur could draw the sword. Merlin was also involved with Arthur, providing strategy to win the war against the rebel barons. When Arthur broke this sword that had named him king in a fight with King Pellinor Pellehen , Merlin brought Arthur to the lake where he received a new sword from the Lady of the Lake.
Merlin told the young king that the scabbard was better than the sword, because it would prevent him from bleeding from his wounds. In the Didot Perceval , he aided Perceval in several adventures. Merlin foretold of the greatness of Lancelot and Tristan, though Merlin had died shortly after Lancelot was born.
According to the legend, Blaise was responsible for the chronicle of Arthur and the Grail. This seat was called Siege Perilous. Only the pure and best knight in the world could sit on the Siege Perilous.
The knight who sat on the Siege Perilous would also be the eventual champion of the quest for the Holy Grail. Merlin continued his usual role in the later legend as a prophet. The wounding of the Grail King was known as the Dolorous Stroke.
The Dolorous Stroke not only maimed the king loved by God, but had devastated and lay waste to the kingdom of Listinois, and placed a great enchantment upon Logres Britain. Merlin foretold particular events surrounding the Grail quests. Apart from that, Merlin had foretold the greatness of Lancelot and Tristan , the two greatest lovers of the ages, as well as their great duel they would fight. Merlin had foreseen that Arthur desire to marry Guinevere would one day bring ruin to Arthur and the kingdom, yet he was powerless to dissuade Arthur from the love match.
Merlin also foretold the treachery of Morgan le Fay, who stole Excalibur from her brother Arthur. Merlin foretold the death of Balin, Pellinor and Arthur. Last of all, Merlin foretold his own death, at the hand of the Lady of the Lake. Dido Perceval was written in In most later tales, Merlin was still alive when Arthur became king. It was he who guided Perceval in the final stage of the quest for the Holy Grail. Merlin told Perceval that he would not die until the end of the world.
In a few tales, a maiden or a fay had trapped Merlin in an enchantment. The most famous was the Lady of the Lake. Again, there are few versions involving his death at the hand of the Lady of the Lake.
The Lady of the Lake was a powerful sorceress and the lady of Otherworldly realm, hidden by the illusionary lake. Further confusion resulted when some author listed several women with title the Lady of the Lake. The variation of names depends on the authors, but whatever her name was, the most important one was foster-mother of Lancelot and sorceress who had trapped Merlin in a enchantment.
She was amazed by the power of Merlin. She promised to love him if Merlin would teach her all his crafts. Years later, Merlin met Niniane again. Through subterfuge, Niniane seduced and used her magic to confine in a enchanted tower in which Merlin was powerless to leave, while the Lady could visit and leave the tower at will.
Niniane did not like Merlin at all, because she thought that the wizard was the son of a devil. In return, for the lessons in magic, Niniane offered to return his love, was nothing more than a subterfuge to gain power to trap the wizard. Merlin had also built her home at Lake of Diana, within the forest of Broceliande, probably in Brittany.
With his power, he hid her domain from mortal eyes, so that anyone who travelled by, would only see the lake instead of her home. Related Information. Contact us. One of the most fascinating figures in the Welsh mythology and the Arthurian legend is Merlin, the great wizard , prophet and adviser to several kings, including King Arthur. Merlin is a man of mystery and magic; contradiction and controversy surrounded his life.
Looking for someone or something in particular? Search for:. Follow us on: Facebook Twitter Contact us. Merlin is one of the most fascinating figures in the Welsh literature and the Arthurian legend. Vortigern , Arthur. Merlin Julek Heller Illustration, Merlin was probably born in the town of Carmarthen. Because of his link with a demon and God, Merlin had great wisdom and powers from the two opposing forces. Merlin falls victim to the spells of his own apprentice, Vivien, who may have been the Lady of the Lake.
Merlin the Magician. The king subsequently assigned the fortress to Ambrosius, together with all the western provinces of Britain. Uther was thus able to trick his way into the castle and to Ygerna. Thinking he was her husband, she allowed King Uther into her bed, and Arthur was conceived. Geoffrey also credits Merlin with the transportation of of the stones of Stonehenge from Ireland to England.
It appears that Geoffrey had become better acquainted with the folkloric tradition of Myrddin as the wild man who gained his prophetic powers but also went mad with grief after seeing the defeat of his lord, Gwenddolau, in the battle of Arfderydd, fought around AD a similar version of this distinctly non-Arthurian Merlin legend is, incidentally, preserved in a fifteenth century manuscript, in the story of Lailoken and Kentigern.
Pendragon becomes the British king and, with Uther, is assisted by Merlin in their struggles against the invading Saxons. The prose could be regarded as the heyday of the Merlin legend in Arthurian literature. Here, Merlin is the ever-present central character in the great triumvirate he makes up with Arthur and, in this case, Gawain.
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