In his book, Quest For Merlin, Nikolai Tolstoy asserted that "Merlin was indeed a historical figure who lived in the lowlands of Scotland at the end of the sixth century A.D." He was called a prophet but was probably a druid living in a pagan enclave in the north.
The Historical Merlin
Merlin is the stuff of legends and stories but some scholars propose that this character has been drawn from from two people, Myrddin Emrys and Myrddin Wylt. The legendary Merlin lived during Vortigern's reign frojm 420 CE to the reign of Riderch Hael in 580 CE. He had several names: Emrys, Myrddin, Merlin, and Taliesin, among others. Early writers such as Nennius in the ninth century, described him as a bastard without a human father but gifted with prophesy. Later in the twelfth century, the historian, Sir Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote about Merlin, and contributed many of the stories which were supposed to be based on fact.
The Merlin Saga
As stories go, Merlin was the illegitimate son of a nun, the Royal Princess of Dyfed. As befitted a devout royal nun, Merlin had no human father. His mother said his sire was an angel who appeared to her in her solitary cell at the nunnery, but left her as soon as he learned that she was pregnant.
When Merlin had grown into a young man shortly after the Romans fled Britain, King Vortigern was on the run to Wales with Saxons in hot pursuit. Vortigern desperately wanted to build a mountain fortress in Snowdonia, but had problems in the construction of the foundation. The building kept collapsing and wouldn't stand. Vortigern grew frantic and asked his royal wizards to find out what the problem was. Their only advice was to sacrifice a fatherless child to the gods. The only such person Vortigern knew was Merlin, and he hated to kill such a talented bard, engineer, and magician. But if he had to do it, he would.
However Merlin had other ideas. He was a Roman-trained engineer. When he explored the structure of the fortress foundation, he discovered a subterranean pool with two dragons living in it. The pool was the source of the differential settlement that caused the foundations to fail. As for the dragons, the engineer-prophet predicted that the red dragon represented the Britons and the white one symbolized the Saxons. As he watched, they fought and the white dragon won out. The Saxons would defeat Vortigern. The King didn't like this prophesy but when he checked out the foundation and saw that the pool really existed, he decided that Merlin may be right. At any rate he was more valuable alive than dead.
After Vortigern's death, Merlin withdrew to the forest and lived as a hermit for some time. Later the new King Uther requested Merlin's magical engineering skill in the construction of the Giant's Ring, also known as Stonehenge.
When Uther ascended the throne, he fell in love with another man's wife, Igraine. Uther just had to have this woman for himself. So he turned to Merlin for help. Merlin responded by enchanting Uther so that he resembled Gorlois, her husband. Uther and Igraine became lovers and Uther took her as his own wife when Gorlois conveniently died in battle. This set the stage for Merlin to engineer Arthur's birth. The offshoot of this union and conspiracy was the also legendary King Arthur of the Round Table fame.
Merlin tutored Arthur as he grew up and set up the sword in the stone episode so that Arthur could validate his own claim to the throne. After Arthur won the sword, Excaliber, Merlin helped him create the Round Table. There are a multitude of convoluted stories about Arthur, Merlin, Guinivere who was Arthur's wife, Sir Lancelot, who was her lover and the Knights of the Round Table that come into play here. Merlin also showed up in various royal intrigues concerning Camelot and the Holy Grail. At the end of Arthur's life, Merlin accompanied the dying King to Avalon, where he peacefully passed on.
One version says that eventually Merlin fell in love with the Lady of the Lake in Avalon. She learned all his magic and imprisoned him in order to remove him as a magical competitor. Some stories claim that Merlin was held in a crystal cave, a glass cage or a tree for the rest of his life. Others have it that he escaped and fled to the forest to live out his life as a wild man in the woods.
Merlin is supposed to be buried at any of several sites located in Scotland, Wales, England or Brittany. No one knows where his body is, but some versions of the Merlin-Arthur saga say that they both will return some day when Britain needs them.
Sources:
On The Trail of Merlin by Deike Rich and Ean Begg; Thorsons Publications: August 1991
The Quest for Merlin by Nikolai Tolstoy; Little Brown & Co.: February, 1988
The Arthurian Tradition by John Matthews; Element Books: January, 1997
Diane Evans - I am a retired civil engineer as well as a member of Sisters in Crime and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
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