Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Merlin Ambrosius
MERLIN AMBROSIUS, or MYRDDIN EMRYS, legendary enchanter and bard, is first to be definitely traced in the ‘Historia Brittonum’ ascribed to Nennius, a work which seems to date from the end of the eighth century (Zimmer, Nennius Vindicatus). Nennius relates that the wise men had told Vortigern that he could not build his castle on Snowdon unless the foundations were sprinkled with the blood of a child that had no father. On a search being made a child whose mother swore that he had no father was by accident discovered at a place called ‘Campus Elleti’ (perhaps Maesaleg or Bassaleg in Monmouthshire). The child was brought before the king, and proved himself a match for the wise men. Vortigern inquired his name, and the boy answered, ‘I am called Ambrosius.’ But in response to a further inquiry he added, in manifest contradiction to the first description given of him, ‘My father is one of the consuls of the Roman race.’ Vortigern thereupon surrendered to him the city on the summit of Mount Heremus, in the province of Guenet (Snowdon in North Wales), and all the western part of Britain. The name Ambrosius is explained as being in the British tongue ‘Embries Guletic,’ meaning the King Ambrosius (Nennius, pp. 31–4).
Geoffrey of Monmouth appears to have perceived the incongruity in Nennius's account, but though he makes use of Welsh legends his main authority seems to be Nennius. Geoffrey first supplies the name Merlin, and represents the child playing with his companion Dabutius at Kaermodin or Caermarthen (of which Merlin or Myrddin is the eponymous hero). He is made to describe his mother as a daughter of the king of Demetia, dwelling with the nuns in the church of St. Peter. Merlin, ‘qui et Ambrosius dicebatur,’ is then brought before Vortigern, and foretells the king's death and the triumph of Aurelius Ambrosius. Aurelius, when anxious to erect a memorial of his triumph, is advised to consult Merlin. Merlin bids him send for the stones called ‘Giants' Dance’ out of Ireland, and accordingly the enchanter is despatched with Uther Pendragon [see under Arthur] to fetch them. By Merlin's arts the Irish are defeated and the Dance brought over to be set up at Stonehenge. After this Aurelius dies, and is succeeded by Uther Pendragon, who, with the aid of Merlin, is successful in a love-suit to Igern, and so becomes the father of Arthur (Geoffrey of Monmouth, Hist. Brit. vi. 17, viii. 19).
Giraldus Cambrensis, in the ‘Itinerarium Cambriæ,’ definitely distinguishes between Merlin Ambrosius and another later Merlin Celidonius or Silvester, or Myrddin Wyllt [q. v.] (Opera, vi. 133), but makes no addition to the story.
Geoffrey and Giraldus were no doubt familiar with the ancient national legends of Wales, but the extant references to Merlin in Welsh literature are very much later than Giraldus or Geoffrey. In the ‘Triads’ Merlin Ambrosius, who is distinguished from Myrddin Wyltt (Myvyrian Archaiology, pp. 65, 401), is described as the bard of Aurelius Ambrosius, and is named with Taliesin and Myrddin Wyllt as one of the three Christian bards of Britain. In the ‘Triads’ also figures the legend that Merlin went to sea in a vessel of glass with his nine scientific bards, and was never heard of again. Another Welsh legend, however, represents Merlin as confined with the thirteen treasures of Britain in a glass house in the island of Bardsey, where he lay in an enchanted sleep, from which he was to awake when the time came for the reappearance of Arthur (cf. Rhys, Hibbert Lectures, pp. 155–6). A Breton form, which was adopted in many mediæval romances, represents him as sleeping under the spell of Vivien in an enchanted bower in the forest of Broceliande.
Welsh tradition thus recognises two Merlins, Merlin Ambrosius, the bard of Aurelius Ambrosius, and Merlin Silvester, or Myrddin Wyllt, who lived some hundred years later, about 570, in the time of the Cumbrian chief Rhydderch Hael. Stephens, in his ‘Literature of the Kymry,’ argues that in reality there was but one person, pointing out that Merlin Ambrosius was but a boy when he appears before Vortigern, and that therefore he might well be identical in very old age with Myrddin Wyllt, who was in the service of Rhydderch Hael. Mr. Nash maintains the separation, arguing that Myrddin Wyllt is probably an actual person, and that Merlin Ambrosius was in the original form of the legend no other than Aurelius Ambrosius himself (he is called Guletic, or royal, and Vortigern gives him a province to rule). Mr. Nash would accordingly regard Merlin in his rôle of enchanter as a ‘pure work of fiction woven in with the historical threads which belong to the epoch of the Saxon wars in Britain.’ From this legendary Merlin the characteristics of prophet and magician were transferred to Myrddin Wyllt at some period previous to the time when Geoffrey wrote. Professor Rhys finds in Merlin or Myrddin Emrys ‘an adumbration of a personage who was at once a king and warrior, a great magician and a prophet—in a word, a Zeus of Brythonic paganism.’ M. Hersat de la Villemarqué, regarding the whole of the Merlin legends as relating to a single personage, is ready to accept Merlin as a Christian priest and the bard of Aurelius Ambrosius. This last theory, however, depends on giving the extant references in Welsh literature, and especially the ‘Triads,’ an antiquity and importance which they do not possess. In the legend of Merlin Ambrosius as it has come down to us there are certainly no historical incidents, and some such theory as that given by Mr. Nash appears to be the most acceptable (cf. Cymmrodor, xi. 47–9).
Whatever element of reality there may be in the figure of Merlin would seem to be derived from the more genuine personality of Myrddin Wyllt. In the latter we appear to have preserved the tradition of a famous bard of the sixth century, to whom an air of mystery and romance has been imparted from confusion with the wholly legendary Merlin Ambrosius. The ‘Vita Merlini,’ which seems to be a genuine work of Geoffrey of Monmouth, is concerned only with the Caledonian Merlin, or Myrddin Wyllt, his connection with the fatal battle of Arderydd in 573, his subsequent insanity, sojourn in the forest, and vaticination. But though there is nothing in this poem which directly relates to the legend of Merlin Ambrosius, M. Gaston Paris is of opinion that its Merlin is intended to be the same with the one who spoke before Vortigern, and that the two Merlins are an invention of Giraldus Cambrensis (Romania, xii. 376; cf. Vita Merlini, p. 39, ed. Michel). Another suggestion is that the original of Vivien is to be found in the ‘Hwimleian or Chwifleian (the female companion) of Merlinus Silvestris’ (Price, Literary Remains, i. 144).
Professor Rhys suggests that the name Merlin represents a form Moridûnjos, meaning ‘him of moridunum or the sea-fort,’ thus connecting it with Moridunum or Caermarthen (Hibbert Lectures, p. 160). Mr. Nash somewhat improbably interprets Merlin in its original form as meaning the son of a nun (or virgin)—Mableian, Mac-leian, Mab-merchleian, which was latinised as Merlinus, Mellinus, Merclinus. Meller is the form applied to the Cumbrian bard in the ‘Scotichronicon,’ Merlin that of the French romances. In modern Welsh we have Myrddin or Merddin, and in Breton Marzin. This last form M. de la Villemarqué identifies with Marsus the son of Circe, from whom descended, according to fable, a race of magicians. Thus Marzin would signify a wizard, and more particularly one who sprang from the intercourse of a supernatural father with a Christian virgin. This theory does not, however, seem to rest on any sure foundation.
In various forms the Merlin legend is common to Southern Scotland and Cumbria, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany. Attempts have been made to identify it specially with Scotland (cf. ‘The Scottish Origin of the Merlin Myth,’ in the Scottish Review, No. 40). The legends concerning Myrddin Wyllt are specially connected with Cumbria and Scotland, that of Merlin Ambrosius with Wales. In Breton legend and poetry Marzin appears more simply as a magician of supernatural, if not of diabolic, powers. A fanciful theory has endeavoured to find an historical basis for Merlin and his friend Blaise in Germanus and his companion Lupus (Surtees, Merlin and Arthur).
Geoffrey of Monmouth says that he had translated the prophecies of Merlin out of the original Welsh into Latin by request of Alexander, bishop of Lincoln. This was before 1136, for Ordericus Vitalis, writing about that date, quotes the prophecies (Hist. Eccl. xii. 47). Afterwards this work was embodied in the ‘Historia Regum Britanniæ’ as book vii. of that work. It is to it that Giraldus Cambrensis no doubt alludes when he says that the prophecies of Merlin Ambrosius had long since been published (Opera, v. 401). Before 1160 John of Cornwall [q. v.] translated from Cornish into Latin hexameters, at the request of Robert of Warelwast, bishop of Exeter, a ‘Merlini Prophetia de septem regibus,’ and published it, with an exposition. This poem, which relates to the Norman kings, is printed in the ‘Spicilegium Vaticanum’ of Carl Greith (pp. 92–106), and in Villemarqué's ‘Myrdhin’ (pp. 417–22; cf. also Myrdhin, pp. 261–76). About 1180 Alanus de Insulis composed a commentary on the ‘Prophecy’ published by Geoffrey. This treatise was printed at Frankfort 1603, 1608, and 1649. Geoffrey's ‘Prophecy’ is in part reproduced by Wace and Layamon. William of Newburgh, however, comments on the publication of Merlin's prophecies by Geoffrey as a daring falsehood (i. 4–6, Engl. Hist. Soc.). Nevertheless, the Merlin legend as given by Geoffrey is reproduced by sober historians, from Matthew Paris to Higden. In 1208 appeared the ‘Merlínus Spá’ of Gunnlang Leifsson, an Icelandic version of the prophecy, which is printed in the ‘Annales’ of the Society of Northern Antiquaries, Copenhagen, 1849. During the succeeding three centuries there appeared various prophecies under the name of Merlin. Some of these are specifically attributed to Merlin Silvester, but it is no doubt to the legendary fame of Merlin Ambrosius that they owe their alleged author. Among these prophecies may be mentioned the French work of Richard of Ireland, composed about 1250 for Frederick II (Villemarqué, Myrdhin, pp. 343–64). Another common prophecy, which appears both in French and English versions, is on the six kings after John (cf. MS. Univ. Libr. Cambr. Gg. i. i., Cotton. MSS. Julius A. v., and Galba E. ix., and for more exact particulars Ward, Catalogue of Romances, i. 293–324). There is also a collection of Yorkist prophecies of Merlin in Cotton. MS. Vesp. E. iv. Finally may be noticed Thomas Heywood's ‘Life of Merlin, surnamed Ambrosius. His Prophecies and Predictions interpreted, and their truth made good by our English Annalls. Being a Chronographical History of all the Kings and Memorable Passages of this Kingdome from Brute to the reigne of our Royall Sovereigne King Charles,’ London, 1641. The prophecies also form part of the regular romances of Merlin, and the version of Richard of Ireland is indeed a sort of continuation of the romance.
The romance of Merlin owes its origin to Robert de Borron, who founded his work on Geoffrey of Monmouth. Robert's knowledge was, however, probably oral only, and he adds much of his own composition. His romance ends with the coronation of Arthur, and the later portion probably dates from 1230–50. The great French prose romance which was thus created became very popular; one Messer Zorzi translated it into Italian in 1379, and this version was printed at Venice in 1480, and Florence in 1495; as also at Venice many times in the next century and in 1884. In Spain we have ‘El baladro del Sabio Merlin cō suas profecias,’ Burgos, 1498, and ‘Merlin y demanda del Santo Graal,’ Seville, 1500. There was also a German version about 1478, and as it would seem probable a Provençal one. The French romance was printed by Antoine Verard at Paris in 1498 with the prophecies which form the third volume of the romance. Numerous editions appeared during the next thirty years (Graesse, Trésor de Livres, iv. 498). A French version of the romance was edited by M. Gaston Paris for the Société des Anciens Textes Français, 1886. An English version has been published by the Early English Text Society, and Sir Thomas Malory [q. v.] gave the ‘Story of Merlin’ a permanent place in English literature by borrowing much from Borron's romance and the old prophecies of Merlin for his ‘Morte d'Arthur.’ Mention may also be made of ‘A lytel treatys of the Byrth and Prophecye of Merlin,’ printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1510.
[Nennius's Historia Britonum (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniæ; Myvyrian Archaiology; Stephens's Literature of the Kymry; Hersat de la Villemarqué's Myrdhin, ou l'Enchanteur Merlin, son histoire, ses œuvres, son influence, and Romans de la Table Ronde; W. D. Nash's Merlin the Enchanter and Merlin the Bard (Early English Text Society), vol. x.; Rhys's Arthurian Legend, and Hibbert Lectures; San Marte's (A. Schulz) Die Sagen von Merlin mit altwälschen, bretagnischen, schottischen und lateinischen Gedichten und Prophezeiungen Merlins; Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales; Ward's Catalogue of Romances in the British Museum; Michel's Preface to Vita Merlini; M. G. Paris's Preface to Huth Merlin; Romania, xii. 374–6; Revue des questions historiques, v. 559–68, ‘Merlin est-il un personnage réel?’ by M. D'Arbois de Jubainville; on editions of the Vita Merlini and prophecies, see also art. Geoffrey of Monmouth. Leland's Commentarii de Scriptoribus, pp. 42–8, has a long life of Merlin; see also Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. pp. 523–5.]