The gate of the year

Illustration from a French manuscript of the Histoire de Merlin, about 1280-1290, in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris (BnF. Man. Fr. 95 fol. 113v), in which the birth of Merlin is described. The figure of the well-known Merlin the Magician, who had prophetic and thaumaturgic qualities, was created by Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Welsh cleric of the XII century, author of the Historia Regum Britanniae, and afterwards became one of the central characters in the story of King Arthur and his knights. Geoffrey, however, based himself upon some pre-existing traditions, in particular upon the Welsh figure of Myrddin Wyllt. The latter, after having assisted to a tremendous and bloody battle, went crazy and run away into the forest, where he lived for years like a wild beast, surrounded by animals: here he obtained, however, the gift of prophecy. In the story offered by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Merlin is begotten by a demon, who joined with a virgin at night (in the shape of an incubus), with the purpose of generate an Anti-Christ. The intervention of the priest Blaise, who baptized the child at the moment of his birth, neutralized the demonic intent. But the newborn obtained, from his supernatural origin, the power of foresight and wisdom. In an illustration of the Ystoire de Merlin, of the XV century, the child at birth is represented hairy and dark like a bear (Gaignebet-Lajoux 1985, p. 293). Merlin’s characteristics, both for his therianthropic elements and for his foresight qualities, are comparable to those of two figures permeating the medieval imaginary: the Wild Man and the Fool.

[Image: http://jonathangreenauthor.blogspot.it/2013/08/short-story-saturday-merlins-mother.html]




Wild Men

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Illustration from a French manuscript of the Histoire de Merlin, about 1280-1290, in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris (BnF. Man. Fr. 95 fol. 113v), in which the birth of Merlin is described. The figure of the well-known Merlin the Magician, who had prophetic and thaumaturgic qualities, was created by Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Welsh cleric of the XII century, author of the Historia Regum Britanniae, and afterwards became one of the central characters in the story of King Arthur and his knights. Geoffrey, however, based himself upon some pre-existing traditions, in particular upon the Welsh figure of Myrddin Wyllt. The latter, after having assisted to a tremendous and bloody battle, went crazy and run away into the forest, where he lived for years like a wild beast, surrounded by animals: here he obtained, however, the gift of prophecy. In the story offered by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Merlin is begotten by a demon, who joined with a virgin at night (in the shape of an incubus), with the purpose of generate an Anti-Christ. The intervention of the priest Blaise, who baptized the child at the moment of his birth, neutralized the demonic intent. But the newborn obtained, from his supernatural origin, the power of foresight and wisdom. In an illustration of the Ystoire de Merlin, of the XV century, the child at birth is represented hairy and dark like a bear (Gaignebet-Lajoux 1985, p. 293). Merlin’s characteristics, both for his therianthropic elements and for his foresight qualities, are comparable to those of two figures permeating the medieval imaginary: the Wild Man and the Fool. [Image: http://jonathangreenauthor.blogspot.it/2013/08/short-story-saturday-merlins-mother.html]