The Life of Merlin
(Vita Merlini)
Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed The Life of Merlin, I know I did. I found it quite interesting as this early introduction to Merlin seems to have little to do with the wizard that is well known today.
If you are just coming in now I advise going back to read one of my 1st postings regarding Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) Here! It directly relates to this article and may provide extra insight, even if you read the material later. Let me recap a little on Merlin in his earliest appearances.
Prophetiae Merlini (The Prophecies of Merlin)
The Prophetiae Merlini is the 1st actual appearance of the character we know as Merlin. He was an invention of Geoffrey of Monmouth in order to deliver a set of "political prophesies." This work was created shortly before Geoffrey's influential work, The HRB, sometime between the years 1130 and 1135. This work existed originally as a short piece and in it Merlin, sometimes here called Ambrosius, "prophesized" things that had happened before Geoffrey's time. Geoffrey's use of animal symbolism apparently was a novel style of political prophesy and became popular later as a form of subversive political writing. Merlin here plays no role other than to relay the information but is loosely based on a legendary bard by the name Mryddin Wylt and is blended with the war leader Ambrosius Aurelianus (which leads to some name confusion). This book makes no reference to Arthur but will be inserted into the HRB and will be forever tied to Arthur.
Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain)
Soon after the short "Prophecies" were completed, Geoffrey created his great work, the HRB, around 1136. He took his work and crammed it right in the middle of the Arthur segment with only a few minor changes. Here is where Merlin helps Uther seduce Ygerne (Igraine) and eventually conceive Arthur. This is how Merlin becomes forever linked to the character of Arthur. This is also how Merlin becomes more than a prophet. He creates a magic potion to aid in the seduction of Ygerne. He also, by his arts, moves Stonehenge from Ireland to Britain. He now can foretell the future and perform magic.
Vita Merlini (The Life of Merlin)
Now we come to Geoffrey's final work..... and our assignment. About 12 years after the HRB was published, Geoffrey returns to his character of Merlin and gives him a little more back story. This time he really hammers home the association with Merlin's namesake, Myrddin Wylt. In Myrddin's legend, the bard goes mad after his lord, Gwenddoleu, and his friends perish in battle and so he retreats to the Caledonian forest to live as a wild man. In the Life of Merlin, Merlin goes mad after his comrades die in battle and also retreats to the Caledonian forest to live as a wild man.
Soon we are to learn that Merlin has a sister by the name of Ganeida who is the wife King Rhydderch. She is terribly worried about him and wants him to come home and even has her subjects searching the countryside for him. They find him and are able to lure him back to temporary sanity by playing the lute and singing about Guendolena who we now learn is Merlin's wife. Merlin is led back to the castle and King Rhydderch begs Merlin for his council but Merlin wants nothing more than to return to to woods to live so Rhydderch has him locked up. When the king pulls a leaf from Ganeida's hair, Merlin laughs and so the King promises to free him if only he reveals the reason for the laugh. Merlin announces that the leaf fell into his sisters hair while she was laying with another man. This breaks into a sequence where Ganeida tries to discredit Merlin by having him predict the death of the same boy 3 different times, while wearing different disguises. He predicts 3 different deaths and this is found to be proof of his madness. He is eventually allowed to go (despite the tears of Ganeida and Guendolena. He even permits his wife to remarry so he may live "without the taint of love." He does promise to kill the husband if he ever sees him though. He returns to the woods and, after a time, the boy does die a threefold death proving the prophecy to be true. Guendolena remarries and Merlin marches before him a herd of deer while riding a stag himself; this is to be her wedding gift. When Merlin spots the groom laughing at this wonder, he rips the antlers from the stag and caves the groom's skull in. He flees the scene but is captured. Merlin, after another series of predictions, is once again allowed to return to the woods but is this time granted a request. He asks for a series of buildings in the woods, one of which has 70 doors and 70 windows and a full staff of servants and scribes. This is so he can watch the stars, record his predictions, and eat cooked food in the winter when edible grass and moss is hard to come by. He also expects his sister to visit.
What follows is another series of prophecies. He relays some of what he told Vortigern in the "Prophecies" and "HRB" and even mentions Arthur. He predicts the death of Rhydderch, which comes to pass but ultimately brings the bard Taliesin to Merlin's abode. Taliesin relays some wonders of geography, zoology, and history . He even speaks of Arthur going to Avalon, "the isle of apples" to heal his wounds. Arthur was to be treated by Morgen and her 8 sisters. This is actually the first mention of Morgan le Fay of later Arthurian tradition. When Taliesin asks why Arthur cannot return now, Merlin essentially says that a bigger enemy is coming. After this episode Merlin is cured by a fountain that had sprung from the earth. He also then cures another madman who stumbles upon them later on. Then Ganeida develops the gift of prophecy as well and relays a few prophecies of her own. The book ends with Merlin saying that Ganeida will be the source of prophecy as the spirit has "closed up [Merlin's] mouth and [Merlin's] book."
As you can tell, this book has quite an interesting structure. The 1st part reads like a short story or a fable then it breaks into a tedious exchange of prophecy and pseudo-science between Merlin and the bard Taliesin, who apparently is also a prophet. They go for pages talking about history, islands, fish, and birds. They break into a hiccup of an interlude to cure a madman who Merlin remembers from his past. It is about 2 pages long and seems to have no relation to the story. Merlin, Taliesin, and this former madman named Maeldinus decide to all live together in the palace in the woods and forsake all earthly things (except the fully staffed forest palace with 70 doors and other buildings). Lets not forget Ganeida who (oh yeah) was suddenly blessed with prophesy when her spirits were high. She is also going to live in the woods now. The End. This abrupt end has the feeling of being rushed. However, the conventions of modern storytelling don't really exist yet so it's hard to say what his intentions were other than experimenting with some more political prophecy. It is also interesting that there seems to be no repercussions regarding Ganeida's proven infidelity to the King or Merlin's murder of Guendolena's future husband on their wedding day.
There are a few things you can take away from this small work:
Soon we are to learn that Merlin has a sister by the name of Ganeida who is the wife King Rhydderch. She is terribly worried about him and wants him to come home and even has her subjects searching the countryside for him. They find him and are able to lure him back to temporary sanity by playing the lute and singing about Guendolena who we now learn is Merlin's wife. Merlin is led back to the castle and King Rhydderch begs Merlin for his council but Merlin wants nothing more than to return to to woods to live so Rhydderch has him locked up. When the king pulls a leaf from Ganeida's hair, Merlin laughs and so the King promises to free him if only he reveals the reason for the laugh. Merlin announces that the leaf fell into his sisters hair while she was laying with another man. This breaks into a sequence where Ganeida tries to discredit Merlin by having him predict the death of the same boy 3 different times, while wearing different disguises. He predicts 3 different deaths and this is found to be proof of his madness. He is eventually allowed to go (despite the tears of Ganeida and Guendolena. He even permits his wife to remarry so he may live "without the taint of love." He does promise to kill the husband if he ever sees him though. He returns to the woods and, after a time, the boy does die a threefold death proving the prophecy to be true. Guendolena remarries and Merlin marches before him a herd of deer while riding a stag himself; this is to be her wedding gift. When Merlin spots the groom laughing at this wonder, he rips the antlers from the stag and caves the groom's skull in. He flees the scene but is captured. Merlin, after another series of predictions, is once again allowed to return to the woods but is this time granted a request. He asks for a series of buildings in the woods, one of which has 70 doors and 70 windows and a full staff of servants and scribes. This is so he can watch the stars, record his predictions, and eat cooked food in the winter when edible grass and moss is hard to come by. He also expects his sister to visit.
What follows is another series of prophecies. He relays some of what he told Vortigern in the "Prophecies" and "HRB" and even mentions Arthur. He predicts the death of Rhydderch, which comes to pass but ultimately brings the bard Taliesin to Merlin's abode. Taliesin relays some wonders of geography, zoology, and history . He even speaks of Arthur going to Avalon, "the isle of apples" to heal his wounds. Arthur was to be treated by Morgen and her 8 sisters. This is actually the first mention of Morgan le Fay of later Arthurian tradition. When Taliesin asks why Arthur cannot return now, Merlin essentially says that a bigger enemy is coming. After this episode Merlin is cured by a fountain that had sprung from the earth. He also then cures another madman who stumbles upon them later on. Then Ganeida develops the gift of prophecy as well and relays a few prophecies of her own. The book ends with Merlin saying that Ganeida will be the source of prophecy as the spirit has "closed up [Merlin's] mouth and [Merlin's] book."
As you can tell, this book has quite an interesting structure. The 1st part reads like a short story or a fable then it breaks into a tedious exchange of prophecy and pseudo-science between Merlin and the bard Taliesin, who apparently is also a prophet. They go for pages talking about history, islands, fish, and birds. They break into a hiccup of an interlude to cure a madman who Merlin remembers from his past. It is about 2 pages long and seems to have no relation to the story. Merlin, Taliesin, and this former madman named Maeldinus decide to all live together in the palace in the woods and forsake all earthly things (except the fully staffed forest palace with 70 doors and other buildings). Lets not forget Ganeida who (oh yeah) was suddenly blessed with prophesy when her spirits were high. She is also going to live in the woods now. The End. This abrupt end has the feeling of being rushed. However, the conventions of modern storytelling don't really exist yet so it's hard to say what his intentions were other than experimenting with some more political prophecy. It is also interesting that there seems to be no repercussions regarding Ganeida's proven infidelity to the King or Merlin's murder of Guendolena's future husband on their wedding day.
There are a few things you can take away from this small work:
- We see some background information on Merlin (though Merlin will become a flexible character and will change often)
- Morgan is introduced into the story and will later develop into Morgan Le Fay. We also see her association with Avalon.
- Merlin's wife Guendolena and sister Ganeida never appear in Arthurian legend again.
- This work seems to have had little influence on the development of the Merlin story aside from his name and his function as a prophet.
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