Editing Merlin (section)

=== Geoffrey and his sources ===
{{see also|Historicity of King Arthur}}

{{multiple image
| width = 180
| align =
| image1 = Cotton Claudius B VII f.224 Merlin Vortigern.jpg
| image2 = Merlin commenting on lunar eclipse.png
| direction = vertical
| caption1 = The young Merlin reading his prophecies to [[King Vortigern]] in an illustration for Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''[[Prophetiae Merlini]]'' (British Library MS Cotton Claudius B VII f.224, c. 1250)
| caption2 = An older Merlin as portrayed in [[Alfonso the Wise]]'s compilation of texts of astronomy (c. 1400)
}}

Geoffrey's composite Merlin is based mostly on the [[Hen Ogledd|North Brythonic]] poet and seer [[Myrddin Wyllt]], that is Myrddin the Wild (known as ''Merlinus Caledonensis'' or ''Merlin Sylvestris'' in later texts influenced by Geoffrey), appearing in 12th-century poems such as "Afallennau Myrddin" ("Myrddin's Apple Trees") or "Yr Oianau" ("The Piglet").<ref name=bnf/> Myrddin's legend has parallels with a northern Welsh and southern Scottish story of the mad prophet [[Lailoken]] (''Laleocen''), probably the same as Myrddin son of Morfryn (''Myrddin map Morfryn'') mentioned in the Welsh Triads,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1ooDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT58|title=Merlin and the Discovery of Avalon in the New World|first=Graham|last=Phillips|date=12 October 2005|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781591439011|via=Google Books|access-date=16 March 2023|archive-date=16 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316044042/https://books.google.com/books?id=H1ooDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT58|url-status=live}}</ref> and with ''[[Buile Shuibhne]]'', an Irish tale of the wandering insane king Suibihne mac Colmáin (often Anglicised to ''Sweeney'').<ref name="MPN">Markale, J (1995). Belle N. Burke (trans) ''Merlin: Priest of Nature''. Inner Traditions. {{ISBN|978-0-89281-517-3}}. (Originally ''Merlin L'Enchanteur'', 1981.l)</ref>{{rp|58}}

In Welsh poetry, Myrddin was a bard who was driven mad after witnessing the horrors of war and subsequently fled civilization to become a [[wild man|wild man of the wood]] in the 6th century.<ref name=dames/> He roamed the [[Caledonian Forest]] until he was cured of his madness by Kentigern, also known as [[Saint Mungo]]. Geoffrey had Myrddin in mind when he wrote his earliest surviving work, the ''[[Prophetiae Merlini]]'' ("Prophecies of Merlin", c. 1130), which he claimed were the actual words of the legendary poet (including some distinctively apocalyptic<ref name="ab">{{Cite book |last=Berthelot |first=Anne |url=http://books.openedition.org/pup/3362 |title=Magie et illusion au Moyen Âge |date=17 January 2014 |publisher=Presses universitaires de Provence |isbn=9782821836143 |series=Senefiance |pages=51–64 |chapter=Merlin magicien ? |access-date=2 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602152937/https://books.openedition.org/pup/3362 |archive-date=2 June 2023 |url-status=live |via=OpenEdition Books}}</ref> prophecies for Geoffrey's contemporary 12th century); however, the work reveals little about Merlin's background.

Geoffrey was further inspired by Emrys ([[Old Welsh]]: ''Embreis''), a character based in part on the 5th-century historical figure of the [[Romano-British]] war leader [[Ambrosius Aurelianus]] (Welsh name ''Emrys Wledig'', also known as ''Myrddin Emrys'').<ref>Ashe, Geoffrey. ''The Discovery of Arthur'', Owl Books, 1987.</ref> When Geoffrey included Merlin in his next work, ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'' (c. 1136), he supplemented his characterisation of Merlin by attributing stories of Ambrosius to Merlin. These stories were taken from one of Geoffrey's primary sources, the early 9th-century ''[[Historia Brittonum]]'' attributed to [[Nennius]]. In this source, Ambrosius was discovered when the [[King of the Britons]], Vortigern, attempted to erect a tower at [[Dinas Emrys]] (City of Emrys). More than once, the tower collapsed before completion. Vortigen's wise men advised him that the only solution was to sprinkle the foundation with the blood of a child born without a father. Ambrosius was rumoured to be such a child. When he was brought before the king, Ambrosius revealed that below the foundation of the tower was a lake containing two dragons battling into each other, representing the struggle between the invading [[Saxons]] (the white dragon) and the native [[Celtic Britons]] (the red dragon). Geoffrey retold the story in his ''Historia Regum Britanniæ'', adding new episodes that tie Merlin with King Arthur and his predecessors. Geoffrey stated that this Ambrosius was also called "Merlin", hence Ambrosius Merlinus.

[[File:BLEgerton3028Fol30rStonehengeCropped.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Giants help the young Merlin build [[Stonehenge]] in an illustration for a circa 1325—1350 manuscript of [[Wace]]'s ''[[Roman de Brut]]'', an expanded adaptation of Geoffrey's ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'']]

Geoffrey's account of Merlin's early life is based on the story from the ''Historia Brittonum''. At the same time, however, Geoffrey also turned Ambrosius Aurelianus into the separate character of [[Uther Pendragon]]'s brother Aurelius Ambrosius. Geoffrey added his own embellishments to the tale, which he set in [[Carmarthen]], Wales (Welsh: Caerfyrddin). While Nennius' "fatherless" Ambrosius eventually reveals himself to be the son of a Roman [[consul]], Geoffrey's Merlin is fathered by an [[incubus]] demon through a nun, daughter of the [[Kingdom of Dyfed|King of Dyfed]] ([[Demetae]], today's [[South West Wales]]). Usually, the name of Merlin's mother is not stated, but it is given as Adhan in the oldest version of the [[Brut Chronicle|Prose ''Brut'']],<ref>''Bibliographical Bulletin of the Arthurian Society'' Vol. LIX (2007). Page 108, item 302.</ref> the text also naming his grandfather as King [[Aurelius Conanus|Conaan]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fJaNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT612|title = Merlin: A Casebook|isbn = 1135583390|last1 = Goodrich|first1 = Peter H.|date = June 2004| publisher=Routledge }}</ref>

Merlin is born all hairy and already able to speak like an adult, as well as possessing supernatural knowledge that he uses to save his mother. The story of Vortigern's tower is the same; the underground dragons, one white and one red, represent the Saxons and the Britons, and their final battle is a portent of things to come. At this point Geoffrey inserted a long section of Merlin's prophecies, taken from his earlier ''Prophetiae Merlini''. Geoffrey also told two further tales of the character. In the first, Merlin creates [[Stonehenge]] as a burial place for Aurelius Ambrosius, bringing the stones from Ireland.{{#tag:ref|The stones, in actuality, came from the [[Preseli Hills]] in south-west Wales.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history-and-stories/building-stonehenge/|title=Building Stonehenge|website=English Heritage|access-date=2020-01-12|archive-date=2020-03-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200331104957/https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history-and-stories/building-stonehenge/|url-status=live}}</ref> Unlike in the later accounts since [[Layamon's Brut|Layamon's ''Brut'']],<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ORhdEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA40 | title=Magic in Merlin's Realm: A History of Occult Politics in Britain | isbn=9781316512401 | last1=Young | first1=Francis | date=3 March 2022 | publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> Geoffrey's Merlin actually does not use magic in this episode.|group="note"}} In the second, Merlin's magic enables the new British king, Uther Pendragon, to enter into [[Tintagel Castle]] in disguise and to father Arthur with his enemy's wife, Igerna ([[Igraine]]). These episodes appear in many later adaptations of Geoffrey's account. Merlin subsequently disappears from the narrative. He does not tutor or advise Arthur as in later versions.<ref name="thorpe" />

Geoffrey dealt with Merlin again in his third work, ''[[Vita Merlini]]'' (1150). He based it on stories of the original 6th-century Myrddin, set long after his time frame for the life of Merlin Ambrosius. Nevertheless, Geoffrey asserts that the characters and events of ''Vita Merlini'' are the same as told in the ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. Here, Merlin survives the reign of Arthur, whose fall he is told about by [[Taliesin]]. Merlin spends a part of his life as a madman in the woods and marries a woman named Guendoloena (a character inspired by the historic king [[Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio]]).<ref name="thorpe"/>{{rp|44}} He eventually retires to observing stars from his house with seventy windows in the remote woods of [[Rhydderch Hael|Rhydderch]]. There, he is often visited by Taliesin and by his own sister Ganieda (a Latinized name of Myrddin's sister [[Gwenddydd]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G4oEEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA134|title=The Arthur of the Welsh: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature|date=15 October 2020|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=9781786837349|via=Google Books|access-date=16 March 2023|archive-date=16 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316045559/https://books.google.com/books?id=G4oEEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA134|url-status=live}}</ref>), who has become queen of the [[Cumbrians]] and is also endowed with prophetic powers. Compared to Geoffrey's ''Historia'', his ''Vita'' seems to have little influence on the later portrayals of Merlin.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goodrich |first=Peter H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CpWNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA348 |title=Merlin: A Casebook |date=June 2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-58340-8 |language=en |access-date=2023-07-07 |archive-date=2023-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230707163847/https://books.google.com/books?id=CpWNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA348 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Merlin and the Knight.png|thumb|upright|An illustration of Merlin as a druid in ''The Rose'' (1848)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marshall |first=Emily |url=https://archive.org/stream/roseoraffections1848mars#page/134/mode/2up |title=The Rose, or Affection's Gift |date=1848 |publisher=New York, N.Y. : D. Appleton & Co. |others=Boston Public Library}}</ref> ]]

Mark Chorvinsky hypothesized that Merlin is based on a historical person, probably a 5th and/or 6th-century [[druid]] living in southern Scotland.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2020/10/when-i-interviewed-mark-chorvinsky.html |title=WHEN I INTERVIEWED MARK CHORVINSKY - REMEMBERING A MUCH-MISSED FORTEAN AND FRIEND |date=17 October 2020 |access-date=2023-10-11 |archive-date=2023-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105054607/https://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2020/10/when-i-interviewed-mark-chorvinsky.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Nikolai Tolstoy]] makes a similar argument based on the fact that early references to Merlin describe him as possessing characteristics which modern scholarship would recognize as druidical (but that sources of the time would not have recognized), the inference being that those characteristics were not invented by the early chroniclers but belonged to a real person.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lloyd-Morgan |first1=Ceridwen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w-yVDwAAQBAJ&dq=%2522Tolstoy%2522%252B%2522merlin%2522%252B%25226%2522%252B%2522century%2522&pg=PA46 |title=Arthur in the Celtic Languages: The Arthurian Legend in Celtic Literatures and Traditions |last2=Poppe |first2=Erich |date=2019 |publisher=University of Wales Press |isbn=978-1-78683-344-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=tolstoy>{{cite book |last1=Tolstoy |first1=Nikolai |title=The Quest for Merlin |date=1985 |publisher=Hamish Hamilton|isbn=0-241-11356-3}}{{page needed|date=October 2023}}</ref> If so, the hypothetical proto-Merlin would have lived about a century after the hypothetical historical Arthur.

A late version of the ''[[Annales Cambriae]]'' (dubbed the "B-text", written at the end of the 13th century) and influenced by Geoffrey,<ref>Curley, Michael, ''Geoffrey of Monmouth'', Cengage Gale, 1994, p. 115.</ref> records that in the year 573 after "the [[battle of Arfderydd]], between the sons of Eliffer and Gwenddolau son of Ceidio; in which battle Gwenddolau fell; Myrddin went mad." The earliest version of the same entry in ''Annales Cambriae'' (in the "A-text", written c. 1100), as well as a later copy (the "C-text", written towards the end of the 13th century) do not mention Myrddin.<ref>Gough-Cooper, Henry (2012). "[http://www.heroicage.org/issues/15/gough-cooper.php Annales Cambriae, from Saint Patrick to AD 682: Texts A, B & C in Parallel] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515221958/http://www.heroicage.org/issues/15/gough-cooper.php |date=2013-05-15 }}". ''The Heroic Age'', Issue 15 (October 2012).</ref> Myrddin furthermore shares similarities with the shamanic bard figure of Taliesin, alongside whom he appears in the Welsh Triads and in ''Vita Merlini'', as well as in the poem "Ymddiddan Myrddin a Thaliesin" ("The Conversation between Myrddin and Taliesin") from ''[[The Black Book of Carmarthen]]'', which was dated by [[Rachel Bromwich]] as "certainly" before 1100, that is predating ''Vita Merlini'' by at least half century while telling a different version of the same story.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K2euBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA458|title=Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain|first=Rachel|last=Bromwich|date=15 November 2014|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=9781783161461|via=Google Books}}</ref> According to Villemarqué, the origin of the legend of Merlin lies with the Roman story of Marsus, a son of [[Circe]], which eventually influenced the Breton and Welsh tales of a supernaturally-born bard or enchanter named Marzin or Marddin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=roOLfgWbIccC&pg=PR5|title=Merlin; Or, The Early History of King Arthur: A Prose Romance (about 1450-1460 A.D.).|first=Henry Benjamin|last=Wheatley|date=15 March 1865|publisher=Early English Text Society|via=Google Books|access-date=15 March 2023|archive-date=16 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316035907/https://books.google.com/books?id=roOLfgWbIccC&pg=PR5|url-status=live}}</ref> {{clear left}}