Category: Merlin

Skimble-skamble stuff

Merlinus, from the Nuremburg Chronicles (the same woodcut was used for other prophets)

The dreamer Merlin

In Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I Hotspur refers irritably to Owen Glendower’s tales “of the dreamer Merlin and his prophecies … and such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff”. He leaves us in no doubt that Welsh divination is all “rambling” and “worthless” nonsense (as Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable interprets it). Prophecies attributed to Merlin have had mixed reviews over the centuries, largely depending on the mindset of the audience. Have they any relevance now?

Trying to divine the future has been a human activity that long predates press horoscopes. The Old Testament had its prophets and its interpreters of dreams such as Joseph, and Insular Celts were no less keen on divination than other cultures. However, unlike the personal divination familiar to folk practices, most foretelling that has been recorded historically relates to the political fates of societies, peoples and their rulers. To this latter class belongs the tradition of Merlin’s prophecies.

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The Devil’s Son

Aubrey Beardsley’s ‘Merlin’ (1893-4)

Geoffrey of Monmouth presented his figure of Merlin in two 12th-century books, The History of the Kings of Britain and The Life of Merlin, and it largely determined our view of Merlin today.

Yet ‘Merlin’ was not a historical figure but a character knocked together from various sources; early critics even distinguished at least two Merlins – one called Ambrosius, the other Merlin Sylvester or Merlinus Celidonius.

And though we may all have an image of who or what Merlin was or is – a bearded absent-minded wizard in a pointy hat, a dreamy gifted young man, or perhaps a seemingly powerful magus or druid destined to be entombed by an enchantress – it’s as well to look at some of the early sources that he appears to have sprung from.

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The evolution of Merlin

Aubrey Beardsley’s ‘Merlin’ 1893-4

Merlin: the Prophet and His History
by Geoffrey Ashe.
The History Press, 2008.

The late Geoffrey Ashe produced his first book on the Arthurian legends – King Arthur’s Avalon – in 1957, and over half a century later he still returned to the Matter of Britain, as in this overview of Merlin (first published in 2006 as a hardback by Sutton, now subsumed into The History Press).

In his own words Ashe “traces the evolution of the legend, the growth of Merlin as a character, his possible historical aspect, and the principal treatments of him in literature,” and adds a supplementary list of modern transformations.

There is a select group of illustrations which reflect different aspects of Merlin’s developing story, and a useful bibliography (would, however, that it had been divided up into fiction and non-fiction).

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