MERLIN.
As Saintsbury so ably expressed it, "The origin of the legends of King
Arthur, of the Round Table, of the Holy Grail, and of all the adventures
and traditions connected with these centers, is one of the most intricate
questions in the history of mediaeval literature." Owing to the loss of
many ancient manuscripts, the real origin of all these tales may never be
discovered; and whether the legends owe their birth to Celtic, Breton, or
Welsh poetry we may never know, as the authorities fail to agree. These
tales, apparently almost unknown before the twelfth century, soon became so
popular that in the course of the next two centuries they had given birth
to more than a dozen poems and prose romances, whence Malory drew the
materials for his version of the story of King Arthur. Nennius, Geoffrey of
Monmouth, Walter Map, Chrestien de Troyes, Robert de Borron, Gottfried von
Strassburg, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Hartmann von Aue, Tennyson, Matthew
Arnold, Swinburne, and Wagner have all written of these legends in turn,
and to these writers we owe the most noted versions of the tales forming
the Arthurian cycle. They include, besides the story of Arthur himself, an
account of Merlin, of Lancelot, of Parzival, of the love of Tristan and
Iseult, and of the quest of the Holy Grail.
The majority of these works were written in French, which was the court
language of England in the mediaeval ages; but the story was "Englished" by
Malory in the fourteenth century. In every European language there are
versions of these stories, which interested all hearers alike, and which
exerted a softening influence upon the rude customs of the age,
"communicated a romantic spirit to literature," and taught all men
courtesy.
[The Real Merlin] The first of these romances is that of Merlin the
enchanter, in very old French, ascribed to Robert de Borron. The following
outline of the story is modified and supplemented from other sources. The
real Merlin is said to have been a bard of the fifth century, and is
supposed to have served the British chief Ambrosius Aurelianus, and then
King Arthur. This Merlin lost his reason after the battle of Solway Firth,
broke his sword, and retired into the forest, where he was soon after found
dead by a river bank.
The mythical Merlin had a more exciting and interesting career, however.
King Constans, who drove Hengist from England, was the father of three
sons,--Constantine, Aurelius Ambrosius, and Uther Pendragon. When dying he
left the throne to his eldest son, Constantine, who chose Vortigern as his
prime minister. Shortly after Constantine's accession, Hengist again
invaded England, and Constantine, deserted by his minister, was
treacherously slain. In reward for his defection at this critical moment,
Vortigern was offered the crown, which he accepted, and which he hoped to
retain, although Constans's two other sons, who, according to another
version of the story, were called Uther and Pendragon, were still in
existence.
To defend himself against any army which might try to deprive him of the
throne, Vortigern resolved to build a great fortress on the Salisbury
plains. But, although the masons worked diligently by day, and built walls
wide and thick, they always found them overturned in the morning. The
astrologers, when consulted in reference to this strange occurrence,
declared that the walls would not stand until the ground had been watered
with the blood of a child who could claim no human father.
Five years previous to this prediction, the demons, seeing that so many
souls escaped them owing to the redemption procured by a child of divine
origin, thought that they could regain lost ground by engendering a demon
child upon a human virgin. A beautiful, pious maiden was chosen for this
purpose; and as she daily went to confess her every deed and thought to a
holy man, Blaise, he soon discovered the plot of the demons, and resolved
to frustrate it.
[Sidenote: Birth of the mythical Merlin.] By his advice the girl, instead
of being immediately put to death, as the law required, was locked up in a
tower, where she gave birth to her son. Blaise, the priest, more watchful
than the demons, no sooner heard of the child's birth than he hastened to
baptize him, giving him the name of Merlin. The holy rite annulled the evil
purpose of the demons, but, owing to his uncanny origin, the child was
gifted with all manner of strange powers, of which he made use on sundry
occasions.
"To him
Great light from God gave sight of all things dim,
And wisdom of all wondrous things, to say
What root should bear what fruit of night or day;
And sovereign speech and counsel above man:
Wherefore his youth like age was wise and wan,
And his age sorrowful and fain to sleep."
SWINBURNE, _Tristram of Lyonesse_.
The child thus baptized soon gave the first proof of his marvelous power;
for, when his mother embraced him and declared that she must soon die, he
comforted her by speaking aloud and promising to prove her innocent of all
crime. The trial took place soon after this occurrence, and although Merlin
was but a few days old, he sat up boldly in his mother's lap and spoke so
forcibly to the judges that he soon secured her acquittal. Once when he was
five years old, while playing in the street, he saw the messengers of
Vortigern. Warned by his prophetic instinct that they were seeking him, he
ran to meet them, and offered to accompany them to the king. On the way
thither he saw a youth buying shoes, and laughed aloud. When questioned
concerning the cause of his mirth, he predicted that the youth would die
within a few hours.
"Then said Merlin, 'See ye nought
That young man, that hath shoon bought,
And strong leather to do hem clout [patch],
And grease to smear hem all about?
He weeneth to live hem to wear:
But, by my soul, I dare well swear,
His wretched life he shall for-let [lose],
Ere he come to his own gate.'"
ELLIS, _Merlin_.
[Sidenote: Merlin as a prophet.] A few more predictions of an equally
uncanny and unpleasant nature firmly established his reputation as a
prophet even before he reached court. There he boldly told the king that
the astrologers, wishing to destroy the demon's offspring, who was wiser
than they, had demanded his blood under pretext that the walls of Salisbury
would stand were it only shed. When asked why the walls continually fell
during the night, Merlin attributed it to the nightly conflict of a red and
a white dragon concealed underground. In obedience to his instructions,
search was made for these monsters, and the assembled court soon saw a
frightful struggle between them. This battle finally resulted in the death
of the red dragon and the triumph of the white.
"With long tailis, fele [many] fold,
And found right as Merlin told.
That one dragon was red as fire,
With eyen bright, as basin clear;
His tail was great and nothing small;
His body was a rood withal.
His shaft may no man tell;
He looked as a fiend from hell.
The white dragon lay him by,
Stern of look, and griesly.
His mouth and throat yawned wide;
The fire brast [burst] out on ilka [each] side.
His tail was ragged as a fiend,
And, upon his tail's end,
There was y-shaped a griesly head,
To fight with the dragon red."
ELLIS, _Merlin_.
The white dragon soon disappeared also, and the work of the castle now
proceeded without further hindrance. Vortigern, however, was very uneasy,
because Merlin had not only said that the struggle of the red and the white
dragon represented his coming conflict with Constans's sons, but further
added that he would suffer defeat. This prediction was soon fulfilled.
Uther and his brother Pendragon landed in Britain with the army they had
assembled, and Vortigern was burned in the castle he had just completed.
Shortly after this victory a war arose between the Britons under Uther and
Pendragon, and the Saxons under Hengist. Merlin, who had by this time
become the prime minister and chief adviser of the British kings, predicted
that they would win the victory, but that one would be slain. This
prediction was soon verified, and Uther, adding his brother's name to his
own, remained sole king. His first care was to bury his brother, and he
implored Merlin to erect a suitable monument to his memory; so the
enchanter conveyed great stones from Ireland to England in the course of a
single night, and set them up at Stonehenge, where they can still be seen.
"How Merlin by his skill, and magic's wondrous might,
From Ireland hither brought the Stonendge in a night."
DRAYTON, _Polyolbion_.
[Sidenote: Round Table established by Merlin.] Proceeding now to Carduel
(Carlisle), Merlin, who is represented as a great architect and
wonder-worker, built Uther Pendragon a beautiful castle, and established
the Round Table, in imitation of the one which Joseph of Arimathea had once
instituted. There were places for a large number of knights around this
board (the number varying greatly with different writers), and a special
place was reserved for the Holy Grail, which, having vanished from Britain
because of the sinfulness of the people, the knights still hoped to have
restored when they became sufficiently pure.
"This table gan [began] Uther the wight;
Ac [but] it to ende had he no might.
For, theygh [though] alle the kinges under our lord
Hadde y-sitten [sat] at that bord,
Knight by knight, ich you telle,
The table might nought fulfille,
Till they were born that should do all
Fulfill the mervaile of the Greal."
ELLIS, _Merlin_.
A great festival was announced for the institution of the Round Table, and
all the knights came to Carduel, accompanied by their wives. Among the
latter the fairest was Yguerne, wife of Gorlois, Lord of Tintagel in
Cornwall, and with her Uther fell desperately in love.
"This fest was noble ynow, and nobliche y-do [done];
For mony was the faire ledy, that y-come was thereto.
Yguerne, Gorloys wyf, was fairest of echon [each one],
That was contasse of Cornewail, for so fair was there non."
ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER.
Yguerne had already three or four daughters, famous in the Arthurian
legends as mothers of the knights Gawain, Gravain, Ywain, and others. One
of the king's councilors, Ulfin, revealed the king's passion to Yguerne,
and she told her husband. Indignant at the insult offered him, Gorlois
promptly left court, locked his wife up in the impregnable fortress of
Tintagel, and, gathering together an army, began to fight against Uther
Pendragon.
The day before the battle, Merlin changed Uther into the form of Gorlois,
and himself and Ulfin into those of the squires of the Duke of Cornwall.
Thus disguised, the three went to Tintagel, where Yguerne threw the gates
open at their call and received Uther as her husband, without suspecting
the deception practiced upon her.
[Sidenote: Birth of Arthur.] On the morrow the battle took place. Gorlois
was slain. Shortly after, Uther married Yguerne, who never suspected that
the child which was soon born, and which Uther immediately confided to
Merlin, was not a son of Gorlois. Arthur, the child who had thus come into
the world, was intrusted to the care of Sir Hector, who brought him up with
his own son, Sir Kay, little suspecting his royal descent. This child grew
up rapidly, and when but fifteen years of age was handsome, accomplished,
and dearly loved by all around him.
"He was fair, and well agré [agreeable],
And was a thild [child] of gret noblay.
He was curteys, faire and gent,
And wight [brave], and hardi, veramen [truly].
Curteyslich [courteously] and fair he spac [spake].
With him was none evil lack [fault]."
ELLIS, _Merlin_.
When Uther died without leaving any heir, there was an interregnum, for
Merlin had promised that the true king should be revealed by a miracle.
This prophecy was duly fulfilled, as will be shown hereafter. Merlin became
the royal adviser as soon as Arthur ascended the throne, helped him win
signal victories over twelve kings, and in the course of a single night
conveyed armies over from France to help him.
As Merlin could assume any shape he pleased, Arthur often used him as
messenger; and one of the romances relates that the magician, in the guise
of a stag, once went to Rome to bear the king's challenge to Julius Caesar
(not the conqueror of Gaul but the mythical father of Oberon) to single
combat. Merlin was also renowned for the good advice which he gave, not
only to Vortigern and Uther Pendragon, but also to Arthur, and for his
numerous predictions concerning the glorious future of England, all of
which, if we are to believe tradition, have been fulfilled.
"O goodly River! near unto thy sacred spring
Prophetic Merlin sate, when to the British King
The changes long to come, auspiciously he told."
DRAYTON, _Polyolbion_.
[Sidenote: Palace at Camelot.] Merlin also won great renown as a builder
and architect. Besides the construction of Stonehenge, and of the castle
for Uther Pendragon, he is said to have built Arthur's beautiful palace at
Camelot. He also devised sundry magic fountains, which are mentioned in
other mediaeval romances. One of these is referred to by Spenser in the
"Faerie Queene," and another by Ariosto in his "Orlando Furioso."
"This Spring was one of those four fountains rare,
Of those in France produced by Merlin's sleight,
Encompassed round about with marble fair,
Shining and polished, and than milk more white.
There in the stones choice figures chiseled were,
By that magician's god-like labour dight;
Some voice was wanting, these you might have thought
Were living, and with nerve and spirit fraught."
ARIOSTO, _Orlando Furioso_ (Rose's tr.).
Merlin was also supposed to have made all kinds of magic objects, among
which the poets often mention a cup. This would, reveal whether the drinker
had led a pure life, for it always overflowed when touched by polluted
lips. He was also the artificer of Arthur's armor, which no weapon could
pierce, and of a magic mirror in which one could see whatever one wished.
"It Merlin was, which whylome did excel
All living wightes in might of magicke spell:
Both shield, and sword, and armour all he wrought
For this young Prince, when first to armes he fell."
SPENSER, _Faerie Queene_.
[Sidenote: Merlin and Vivian.] Merlin, in spite of all his knowledge and
skill, yielded often to the entreaties of his fair mistress, Vivian, the
Lady of the Lake. She followed him wherever he went, and made countless
efforts to learn all his arts and to discover all his magic spells. In
order to beguile the aged Merlin into telling her all she wished to know,
Vivian pretended great devotion, which is admirably related in Tennyson's
"Idylls of the King," one of which treats exclusively of Merlin and Vivian.
This enchantress even went with him to the fairy-haunted forest of
Broceliande, in Brittany, where she finally beguiled him into revealing a
magic spell whereby a human being could be inclosed in a hawthorn tree,
where he must dwell forever.
"And then she follow'd Merlin all the way,
E'en to the wild woods of Broceliande.
For Merlin once had told her of a charm,
The which if any wrought on any one
With woven paces and with waving arms,
The man so wrought on ever seem'd to lie
Closed in the four walls of a hollow tower,
From which was no escape for evermore;
And none could find that man for evermore,
Nor could he see but him who wrought the charm
Coming and going; and he lay as dead
And lost to life and use and name and fame."
TENNYSON, _Merlin and Vivien_.
This charm having been duly revealed, the Lady of the Lake, weary of her
aged lover, and wishing to rid herself of him forever now that she had
learned all he could teach her, lured him into the depths of the forest.
There, by aid of the spell, she imprisoned him in a thorn bush, whence, if
the tales of the Breton peasants can be believed, his voice can be heard to
issue from time to time.
"They sate them down together, and a sleep
Fell upon Merlin, more like death, so deep.
Her finger on her lips, then Vivian rose,
And from her brown-lock'd head the wimple throws,
And takes it in her hand, and waves it over
The blossom'd thorn tree and her sleeping lover.
Nine times she waved the fluttering wimple round,
And made a little plot of magic ground.
And in that daised circle, as men say,
Is Merlin prisoner till the judgment day;
But she herself whither she will can rove--
For she was passing weary of his love."
MATTHEW ARNOLD, _Tristram and Iseult_.
[Illustration: THE BEGUILING OF MERLIN.--Burne-Jones.]
According to another version of the tale, Merlin, having grown very old
indeed, once sat down on the "Siege Perilous," forgetting that none but a
sinless man could occupy it with impunity. He was immediately swallowed up
by the earth, which yawned wide beneath his feet, and he never visited the
earth again.
A third version says that Vivian through love imprisoned Merlin in an
underground palace, where she alone could visit him. There he dwells,
unchanged by the flight of time, and daily increasing the store of
knowledge for which he was noted.