The Rise of Merlin

What an enigma this man is. Druid? Priest? Noble? Base? Bastard? Magician? Wise? When the records are obscure, there is really very little that can be known for sure. We have two early records, “Nennius History of the Bretons” and “The History of Great Briton” by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Geoffrey obviously takes much of his account of Merlin from Nennius, for they tell similar stories, but in the earlier “Nennius” the lad is called Ambrose. Geoffrey of Monmouth is the first to call him Merlin.

Merlin - the most famous magician of our western civilization.

Last time we left off with the usurpation of Vortigern to the kingship of the Bretons. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, he had made himself quite unpopular. According to Nennius, the man was just plain disgusting. However, the most dastardly thing this king did was to invite a Germanic tribe to the island as mercenaries: the notorious Saxons. If you are of English parentage, then you are of the Anglo Saxon race. The Saxon’s were German and they were pagan and they were devastatingly greedy. Once they started coming to the island, they came and they came and they came.

This was the number-one reason Vortigern was so unpopular with the locals. Vortigern consults his twelve wise men, or magicians as to what to do about the situation. They direct him to find a certain mountain and build a citadel there to protect himself. Vortigern thinks this is a great idea, finds a suitable situation and calls the builders to start. They don’t get very far. They build a wall and the next day, it’s gone – vanished! Or it’s tumbled down. Whatever, they can’t get the walls to stay up. Vortigern consults his magicians again. Now they sound like true pagan magicians. They tell him they have to find a boy without a father, kill him and mix his blood in the mortar. Only this way will the walls stand. The king sends messengers throughout the land seeking a boy born with no father. A couple of the searchers comes to a town and hears two boys arguing. One of the boys says to the other, “O boy without a father, no good will ever happen to you!” The messengers find the mother and she confesses she doesn’t know who the father of the boy is, so he’s taken to the citadel with the plan to slay him and sprinkle his blood on the foundations.

A few interesting points here:

1. Vortigern has twelve wise men he consults with. This is interesting because Arthur’s Round Table knights number twelve and sometimes twenty-four depending on who you are reading.
2. The twelve wise men do not appear to be fighting men, but priests of some kind, counselors. In Vortigern’s case, they are obviously pagan.
3. In the book of Mormon, the wicked king Noah has twenty-four priests as his counselors. We also know that good king Mosiah had priests as his counselors.

This is an interesting pattern found on two separate continents. Why would you have priests as counselors? Because in those days governments were sacred and you ruled by the will of God. Therefore, you had to know God’s law. Priests were schooled in the law.

Our young Ambrose/Merlin is not cowed in the least by the shenanigans going on. He’s very direct in asking what’s going on and why. He then demands the wise men be brought to him. In very forceful language he tells them all that killing him will not solve the problem. In fact, there is a pool under the citadel and this is what is causing the problem. He goes on and gives very specific information about what is in the pool – two sleeping serpents, one white and one red – and what it all means. “I will now unfold to you the meaning of this mystery! The pool is the emblem of this world, and the tent that of your kingdom: the two serpents are two dragons; the red serpent is your dragon, but the white serpent is the dragon of the people who occupy several provinces and districts of Britain…however, our people shall rise and drive away the Saxon race.…”

According to Nennius, the young boy knows exactly who he is, his name is Ambrose and his father was a Roman Consul. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, his mother was the daughter of a king.

The origins of Merlin are most compelling to me. I think it is interesting that the wise men say the citadel can only be completed if:

1. They find a boy without a father.
2. Shed his blood.

Many of the great prophets of antiquity have had miracle births. Noah’s father had been injured and so, supposedly could father no child. But he fathered Noah. Isaac, the son of Abraham, was born to his parents in their extreme old age. It was twenty years before Rebekah finally gave birth to Esau and Jacob. Samuel’s mother was barren until she prayed before the door of the tabernacle. Zachariah and Elizabeth were old when John, known as the Baptist, was born. They all reflect the miracle birth of the Messiah.

This deepens the mystery of this greatest magician of all time. Was he really just a magician? Or was he something more? Mage is another word for Wise, which is another word for Sage. It was wise men from the east that bore gifts to the Christ child, and they are known as the Magi. O how twisted everything gets through the centuries of dust and decay.

Geoffrey of Monmouth picks up the narrative. He says, “I had not yet reached this point in my story when Merlin began to be talked about very much, and from all sorts of places people of my own generation kept urging me to publish his Prophecies.”


Next time: The Prophecies of Merlin