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Merlin
Enchanter, Wizard and Prophet Welcome!
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GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH
Geoffrey of Monmouth was born sometime around 1100, perhaps in Monmouth in southeast Wales. His father was named Arthur. Geoffrey was appointed archdeacon of Llandsaff in 1140 and was consecrated bishop of St. Asaph in 1152. He died c. 1155.
Geoffrey is one of the most significant authors in the development of the Arthurian legends. It was Geoffrey who, in his Historia Regum Britanniae (completed in 1138) located Arthur in the line of British kings. Such an action not only asserted the historicity of Arthur but also gave him an authoritative history which included many events familiar from later romance. Geoffrey also introduced the character of Merlin as we know him into the legends. Geoffrey's Merlin, a combination of the young and prophetic Ambrosius in Nennius's history and the prophet Myrddin who figures in several Welsh poems, first appears in a book known as the Prophetiae Merlini (The Prophecies of Merlin), which was written about 1135 but then incorporated as Book VII of the Historia. This book contains the prophecies made by Merlin to Vortigern, which foreshadow not only the downfall of Vortigern but also the rise and fall of Arthur, events subsequent to the end of the Historia, and events of the obscure future.
The Historia proper begins in the legendary past and traces the origin of Britain to its eponymous founder Brut, the great-grandson of Aeneas. (Because of this purported origin, histories of Britain were known as "Bruts.") Subsequent chapters tell of legendary and actual events in British history, including the story of Lear and his daughters, the offer of tribute from Rome to Belinus and Brennius, Julius Caesar's unsuccessful attempt at conquest, and the invitation of the Saxons to Britain.
The Arthurian portion of the story tells of Arthur's conquests on the continent, his slaying of the giant of St. Michael's Mount, a prominent role by Gawain in the Roman wars, the slaying of the Emperor Lucius, the treachery of Mordred, the entry of the nunnery by Guinevere, and the final battle between Mordred, who is killed, and Arthur, who is borne to the Isle of Avallon for the healing of his wounds.
Over 200 manuscripts of the Historia survive (for a list of which see: Julia C. Crick, The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth III: A Summary Catalogue of the Manuscripts [Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1989]). In addition, it influenced numerous vernacular works, including translations into Welsh, Old Norse, and the French and English verse versions by Wace (the Roman de Brut) and Layamon (the Brut).
Geoffrey also wrote a Vita Merlini (Life of Merlin) in verse in about 1150.
A convenient bibliography of works by and about Geoffrey can be found in Michael J. Curley's Geoffrey of Monmouth (New York: Twayne, 1994).
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MERLIN, Arthur's adviser
MERLIN, Arthur's adviser, prophet and magician, is basically the creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth, who in his twelfth-century History of the Kings of Britain combined the Welsh traditions about a bard and prophet named Myrddin with the story that the ninth-century chronicler Nennius tells about Ambrosius (that he had no human father and that he prophesied the defeat of the British by the Saxons). Geoffrey gave his character the name Merlinus rather than Merdinus (the normal Latinization of Myrddin) because the latter might have suggested to his Anglo-Norman audience the vulgar word "merde." In Geoffrey's book, Merlin assists Uther Pendragon and is responsible for transporting the stones of Stonehenge from Ireland, but he is not associated with Arthur. Geoffrey also wrote a book of "Prophecies of Merlin" before his History. The Prophecies were then incorporated into the History as its seventh book. These led to a tradition that is manifested in other medieval works, in eighteenth-century almanac writers who made predictions under such names as Merlinus Anglicus, and in the presentaion of Merlin in later literature. Merlin became very popular in the Middle Ages. He is central to a major text of the thirteenth-century French Vulgate cycle, and he figures in a number of other French and English romances. Sir Thomas Malory, in the Morte d'Arthur presents him as the adviser and guide to Arthur. In the modern period Merlin's popularity has remained constant. He figures in works from the Renaissance to the modern period. In The Idylls of the King, Tennyson makes him the architect of Camelot. Mark Twain, parodying Tennyson's Arthurian world, makes Merlin a villain, and in one of the illustrations to the first edition of Twain's work illustrator Dan Beard's Merlin has Tennyson's face. Numerous novels, poems and plays center around Merlin. In American literature and popular culture, Merlin is perhaps the most frequently portrayed Arthurian character.
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