Merlin


    1. Merlin
      Bryn Myrddin, Marlyn, Melior, Mellin, Mellins, Merdhin, Merlin Ambrosius, Merlin Sylvester, Merlino, Merlins, Merlion, Merlinus, Merlun, Merlyn, Merlyng, Myrddin, Myrrdin

      Merlin... the very name conjures up images of magic and mystery. And what a mystery. Perhaps even more than King Arthur, the real character and person of Merlin remains obscure, lost in fifteen centuries of tales retold. But as a creature of the imagination Merlin lives on, and will forever. We all love to dream, and in Merlin we have the forefather of all our dreams, the master of enchantments, the prophet and kingmaker. To Merlin, the all-seeing, the all-knowing, nothing was impossible. Merlin is the root and branch of all that is magic and wonder in the world.

    2. Merlin's Bed

      For obscure purposes, Merlin made a bed to lie in which caused madness. Possibly there is some confusion here with the bed in the Castle Adventurous of Carbonek, sleeping on which insured a person visions of more or less peril. A marvel encountered by Gawain at the Island of Marvels. Laying on the bed made a man temporarily lose "mind and memory".


      See also
      Meliot | The Legend of King Arthur
      Perilous Bed | The Legend of King Arthur



    3. Merlin's Cave

      According to legend, the local people say that the ghost of Merlin wanders around in the huge echoing cave on it's shoreline, but as mentioned earlier, Tintagel in Cornwall, and the connection directly to Arthur does not hold-up to close investigation. The cave lies under the promontory atop which Tintagel Castle rests.

      It is unlikely that Merlin actually lived in the cave, but we are still left with the legend that it was where Arthur was conceived by his believed mother Igerna (Ygerne/Igraine) and father Uther Pendragon. As to the evidence surrounding whether his ghost exists, perhaps only a personal visit can answer this question.


    4. Merlin, Castel
      Merlin's Castle

      Despite the name, I found no evidence to connect this stronghold with the great enchanter. Conceivably it may have been connected with the minor King Merlan le Dyable, but more likely it was in or near Galehodin's teritory (in Norgales?), perhaps being one of Galehodin's own castles. Here Ywaine left Mordred after the tournament at Peningue Castle.


    5. Merlin's County

      Geoffrey calls Gwent Merlin's County, where he lived for a time at the fountain of Galabes.


    6. Merlin's Hill
      Bryn Myrddin

      A hill, three miles east of Carmarthen in Dyfed (southwest Wales), at the summit of which there is a rock resembling a chair. Said to be Merlin's birthplace.

      Legend says that this was where Merlin (Myrddin) sat to deliver his various prophecies. It is also the alleged site of a cave where Merlin was buried, but this cave has yet to be found, and it is said that a careful listener can hear him groaning within.

      However, there is a cave situated under an overhang behind a waterfall in the upper reaches of the Afon Pib that is sometimes locally referred to as Ogof Myrddin.


    7. Merlin's County

      Geoffrey calls Gwent Merlin's County, where he lived for a time at the fountain of Galabes.




      Artist: Unknown

    8. Merlin's Hill Cave

      A Carmarthen cave where Merlin is said to be buried, not yet found though.


    9. Merlin's House
      Rocher Merlin

      A craig in Brittany with a cave, called Rocher Merlin.


    10. Merlin's Island

      The island where Balin and Balan killed each other. Merlin created many marvels on the island, including the second Sword-in-the-Stone, which floated up to Camelot before the Grail Quest.

      The island was also known as the Island of Marvels.


    11. Merlin's Mount

      An earthen mound in the grounds of Marlborough College (Wiltshire), under which Merlin is said to lie buried.


    12. Merlin's Precinct

      An early name for Britain, which appears in the Welsh Trioedd ynys Prydein (Triads) and has been taken by some to indicate that Myrddin was, in origin, a deity with territorial rights.


    13. 'Merlin's Rock'

      A rock where Merlin killed two enchanters. It is named only in the Vulgate Lancelot, although the episode itself occurs in the Post-Vulgate Suite du Merlin. It is probably somewhere in Cornwall, this is where Nimue imprisoned Merlin.


    14. Merlin's Songs

      There have been a number of traditional songs passed down through the generations, often still sung on occasion although their original meanings have been lost. Many of them were gathered by the Vicompte Hensart de La Villemarqué for his collection of traditional songs called the Barzaz-Breiz, known in French as the Chants Populaires de la Bretagne. de la Villemarqué, to whom we owe the Breton original of the March of Arthur (Bale Arzur), which he obtained from the recitation from an old mountaineer of Leuhan, called Mikel Floc'h, informs us that these triplets were sung in chorus, as late as the Chouan war, by the Breton peasants, as they marched to battle against the Republican soldiers.

      The belief in the appearance of Arthur's host on the mountains, headed by their mystic chief, who awakens from his charmed sleep in the Valley of Avalon whenever war impends over his beloved Cymry, is common to all the Celtic races, and may be compared with a similar faith as to Holger among the Danes, Barbarossa among the Germans, and Marco among the Servians.

      Sir Walter Scott has recorded the belief entertained in the Highlands of the apparition of mounted warriors riding along the precipitous flanks of the mountains, where no living horse could keep his footing. The apparition of this ghostly troop is always held to portend war; and it is no doubt the same which the Celtic bard has here described as arrayed under Arthur. The ancient air to which the triplets are sung is a wild and warlike march; and the peasant who chanted it to de la Villemarque, told him it was always sung three times over. The composition is an ancient one, and contains many words now obsolete in Brittany, though still found in the Cymric in Wales. The last triplet is a late addition.

      - Marzin - Divinour    /    Merlin - Soothsayer
      - Marzin enn he gavel    /    Merlin in the Cradle
      - Bale Arzur    /    The March of Arthur


    15. Merlin's Spring

      At Barenton, Brittany, where Merlin and Vivian met and fell in love. This site of pilgrimages until 1853, when they were stopped by the Vatican.


    16. Merlin's Stone

      The stone from which Arthur drew the Sword in the Stone.


    17. Merlin's Stones

      Six stones erected by Merlin across Britain. Each had a series of prophecies written on it.

      The first was in Lyonesse; the second in Cornwall, where Tristan and Lancelot battled; the third in Logres, in which the sword drawn by Galahad at the beginning of the Grail Quest was fixed; the fourth in the Perilous Valley; the fifth in the Dark Valley, where Tristan and Lancelot fought again; and the sixth in North Wales, where Lancelot and Tristan had a third combat. One of these latter stones appears in an Italian cantare as the Rock of Merlin.


    18. Merlin's Tomb

      See Merlin's Tomb.


    19. Merlin's Tower

      An enchanted tower between the White Castle and the town of Gasan. It was prophesied that only Lancelot would end the enchantments.


    20. Merlin's Tower

      A tower on the Turning Isle once inhabited by Merlin.


    21. Merlin's Treasure

      Merlin resided at Dinas Emrys between the time he encountered Vortigern and the time of his departure with Ambrosius Aurelius. Before he left he concealed his treasure in a cave, to be discovered in the future by a yellow-haired, blue-eyed youth. On this youth's approach, a bell will ring and the cave will open.


    22. Merlin's Tree

      A tree, also called Priory Oak, in Carmarthen.

      It was believed to maintain the good fortune of Carmarthen, for it was believed that if it fell so would the city. The tree was removed by the local authority in 1978 because it constituted a traffic hazard, and, to date, Myrddin's prophecy of the destruction of Carmarthen has not been fulfilled.


    23. Merlin's Wilderness

      According to La Tavola Ritonda, the original name of the Forest of Darnantes, an enchanted wood where Arthur's knights could find numerous adventures.


See also
Le Harpeor | The Legend of King Arthur