Merlin () is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a prophet and a magician, along with several other main roles. The familiar depiction of Merlin, based on an amalgamation of historical and legendary figures, was introduced by the 12th-century Catholic cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth and then built on by the French poet Robert de Boron and prose successors in the 13th century. Geoffrey's account presented Merlin as a prophet and royal advisor to Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon.
Geoffrey seems to have combined earlier Welsh tales of Myrddin and Emrys (Ambrosius), two legendary Briton prophets with no connection to Arthur, to form the composite figure that he called Merlinus Ambrosius. His rendering of the character became immediately popular, especially in Wales.Lloyd-Morgan, Ceridwen. "Narratives and Non-Narratives: Aspects of Welsh Arthurian Tradition." Arthurian Literature. 21. (2004): 115–136. Later chronicle and romance writers in France and elsewhere expanded the account to produce a more full, multifaceted character, creating one of the most important figures in the imagination and literature of the Middle Ages. Today, he continues to be highly popular in the modern era (see also the article fiction featuring Merlin).
Merlin's traditional biography casts him as an often-mad cambion, born of a mortal woman and an incubus, from whom he inherits his supernatural powers and abilities.Katharine Mary Briggs (1976). An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, p.440. New York: Pantheon Books. His most notable abilities commonly include prophecy and shapeshifting. Merlin matures into an ascendant sage and engineers Arthur's birth through magic and intrigue. Later stories have Merlin as an advisor and mentor to the young king until he disappears from the tale, leaving behind a series of prophecies foretelling events to come. A popular version from the French prose cycles tells of Merlin being bewitched and forever sealed up or killed by his student, Lady of the Lake, after having fallen in love with her. Other texts variously describe his retirement, at times supernatural, or death.
Name
The name Merlin is derived from the Welsh name of the legendary bard that Geoffrey of Monmouth Latinised to in his works. Medievalist Gaston Paris suggests that Geoffrey chose the form rather than the expected *Merdinus to avoid a resemblance to the Anglo-Norman word (from Latin ) for feces.Walter 2000, p. 66. Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville reduced it to the result of the "tendency of d to change into l in Indo-European languages."Vade 2008, p. 45.
'Merlin' may also be an adjective, in which case he should be called "The Merlin", from the French meaning common blackbird (Turdus merula).Markale, J (1995). Belle N. Burke (trans) Merlin: Priest of Nature. Inner Traditions. . (Originally Merlin L'Enchanteur, 1981.) An association with this bird in French was deemed logical by Philippe Walter.Berthet & Walter 1999, p.12. According to Martin Aurell, the Latin form Merlinus is a euphony of the Welsh form Myrddin to bring him closer to the white blackbird (merle blanc) into which he could metamorphose through his shamanic powers, as was notably the case for Merlin's Irish counterpart.Walther 1999, p. 15. Folklorist Jean Markale proposed that the name of Merlin is of French origin and means 'little blackbird', an allusion to the mocking and provocative personality usually attributed to him in medieval stories. According to Jean-Charles Berthet, however, the analogies between Merlin and the blackbird are more akin to a later establishment than to a real etymology, since the French name of Merlin is later than the other forms.Berthet & Walter 1999, p. 15.
Myrddin may be a combination of *mer (mad) and the Welsh (man), to mean 'madman'.Brian Frykenberg (2006). "Myrddin". In John T. Koch (ed.) Celtic Culture, p. 1326. It may also mean '[of] many names' if it was derived from the Welsh , myriad.Dames, Michael. Merlin and Wales: A Magician's Landscape, 2004. Thames & Hudson. In his (1868), La Villemarqué derived Marz[h]in, which he considered the original form of Merlin's name, from the Breton word (wonder) to mean 'wonder man'. or Merlin's Enclosure is an early name for Great Britain as stated in the third series of Welsh Triads.Rhys, John. Hibbert Lectures. p. 168.
Celticist Alfred Owen Hughes Jarman suggested that the Welsh name () was derived from the toponym , the Welsh name for the town known in English as Carmarthen.Koch 2006, p. 321. This contrasts with the popular folk etymology that the town was named after the bard (Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville, who questioned the historical origins of Merlin, concluded that the legend was fabricated to retroactively explain the name of the townCited in Berthet & Walter 1999, p 8.). The name Carmarthen is derived from the town's previous Roman name Moridunum, which was in turn derived from the Celtic Brittonic moridunon, 'sea fort[ress]'.Delamarre, Xavier (2021), , Errance, Paris (in French). Eric P. Hamp proposed a similar etymology: Morij:n, 'the maritime' or 'born of the sea'.Berthet & Walter 1999, p. 27. There is no obvious connection between Merlin and the sea in the texts about him, but Claude Sterckx has suggested that Merlin's father in the Welsh texts, Morfryn, might have been a sea spirit.Claude Sterckx, Dieux d'eau : Apollons celtes et gaulois. Bruxelles, Société belge d'études celtiques, 1996 (), p. 44.
The Welsh Myrddin could also be phonetically connected to the name Martin.Berthet & Walter 1999, p. 32. Some of the powers and other attributes of the 4th-century French saint Martin of Tours (and his disciple Saint Hilaire) in hagiography and folklore are similar to these of Merlin (albeit coming from GodBerthet & Walter 1999, p. 16.). If a relationship between the two figures does exist, however, it may rather be a reverse one in which the Merlin tradition inspired the later accounts of the saint's miracles and life.Jean-Charles Berthet, "Merlin et saint Martin ou les chemins qui ne mènent pas à Rome". Mémoire de maîtrise de littérature du Moyen Âge sous la direction de Philippe Walter, Université Stendhal, Bibliothèque de Lettres, 1992.
Legend
Overview
+ Select stories and the earliest known sources Episode TextVortigern seeks a "fatherless child" for a blood sacrifice to strengthen his castle's tower. Historia Brittonum (c. 828)The first mention of Merlin's Welsh prototype, Myrddin the Wild.Annales Cambriae (est. 10th century)Merlin's birth from a union of a virgin and a demon. Merlin organises the construction of Stonehenge. Uther Pendragon takes on the appearance of the Duke of Cornwall through a spell by Merlin and conceives Arthur with Igraine.Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136)Blaise's intervention redeems Merlin from his intended role of the Antichrist. Merlin selects the fifty original knights of Uther's Round Table. Merlin-directed Excalibur-pulling contest proves the young Arthur's divine right to the throne of King of the Britons.Merlin (c. 1200)Merlin sets up the search for the Holy Grail by Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. (c. after 1200)Merlin aids and advises the young King Arthur in his early wars and adventures. Merlin associates with Arthur's sister Morgan and tutors her in magic. Blaise writes down the story of Merlin.Vulgate Merlin Continuation (c. before 1235) Arthur is warned by Merlin of Mordred's birth and the coming fall of his kingdom. Entrapment of Merlin by the fairy Viviane.Post-Vulgate Merlin Continuation (c. 1235)
Commonly in his medieval appearances, Merlin guides, helps, saves, predicts, and judges through his great wisdom.Knight 2009, p. XII. According to Gaëlle Zussa, "Merlin's literary legend presents itself as a sort of great dump in which pieces of the myth are scattered. Contemporary authors come to draw their ideas and recycle this debris to recreate an ever-new Merlin, in motion." For Berthet and Walter, the legend was constructed in stages as the ancient Celtic character was continuously reinterpreted and reinvented by Christianity, with Merlin's messianism testifying to this religious influence.Berthet & Walter 1999, p. 7—10. Villemarqué attempted to synthesize the known information around Merlin, beginning as a figure of bard gifted with prophecy. While Merlin's prototypes were originally those of both poet and warrior king, the familiar character from the French romances became the master of amazing magical knowledge.Berthet & Walter 1999, p. 21. According to a summary of the legend by Danielle Quéruel of the Bibliothèque nationale de France,
R. Howard Bloch described Merlin's character throughout the legend:
Geoffrey and his sources
Geoffrey of Manmouth's composite Merlin, imagined primarily as a prophet, is fundamentally based on the 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), in turn inspired by either real or legendaryVade 2008, p. 38. figure from the Welsh oral tradition that appears in 12th-century written poems such as "Afallennau Myrddin" ("Myrddin's Apple Trees") or "Yr Oianau" ("The Piglet"). 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, and with Buile Shuibhne, an Irish tale of the wandering insane king Suibihne mac Colmáin (often Anglicised to Sweeney),Markale, J (1995). Belle N. Burke (trans) Merlin: Priest of Nature. Inner Traditions. . (Originally Merlin L'Enchanteur, 1981.l) set after the 637 Battle of Moira.
In Welsh poetry, Myrddin was a bard who was driven mad after witnessing the horrors of war and subsequently fled civilisation to become a wild man of the wood in the 6th century. 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), a collection of prophecies consist of a long series of predictions concerning the reign of the Saxons and the independence of Britain,Zumthor 2000, p. 21. which he claimed were the actual words of the legendary poet (including some distinctively apocalyptic prophecies for Geoffrey's contemporary 12th century). However, the work reveals little about Merlin's background.