The greatest wizard in medieval European legends: Merlin.

Speaking of the name "Merlin, Merlin", I think most people know it through the BBC magic drama "The Legend of Merlin". The Legend of Merlin is based on the legends of Britain's most famous wizards Merlin and King Arthur, and shows the world the extraordinary life of the wizard Merlin. In the TV series, Merlin, as a consultant, magician and prophet of King Arthur, can use his magic to help King Arthur win the war, and can also turn himself into a hunting dog or a stag to retire from the mountains. In addition, he can predict history and even control the fate of mortals. However, unlike the adapted TV series, does the role of Merlin really exist in history? What's the story between him and King Arthur? Today, Huo Yan will lead you to explore a real medieval magical world. Merlin (Welsh: Myrddin) is a legendary figure in the Middle Ages and has been active in the poems of arthurian legend and Wales for a long time. Merlin's description of Merlin first appeared in Historia Regum Britanniae published in A.D. 1 136. The History of the Kings of England is a book written by the author "Jeffrey of Monmouth", which is divided into eight parts, including: Chapter one: brutus's occupation of albion Island; Chapter 2 "Before the arrival of the Romans"; Chapter 3 "The arrival of the Romans"; The fourth "Constantine family"; The fifth chapter "The Prophecy of Merlin"; Chapter VI Constantine family, etc. Merlin the Wizard In this book, Merlin the Wizard combines a large number of early historical figures and legendary stories. -Geoffrey combined the stories of Myrddin Wyllt, a North Brighton prophet who had nothing to do with King Arthur, and Ambrosius Orian, the leader of the Roman British war, to form a synthetic figure he called Merlin Ambrosius. Illustration of Merlin as a Druid in the Rose (1848) Milton (Welsh: Myrddin) is a figure in medieval Welsh legend. He is a prophet and a madman. "Jeffrey of Monmouth" told his legend to the wizard Merlin. Besides, Mading Wilt has an indissoluble bond with Carmarthen Town in South Wales, and he is regarded as an important bard in most poems in central Wales. Ambrosius Orian is a legendary leader, who led the Roman-British people to continue to resist the Anglo-Saxon invasion after the troops of the Western Roman Empire left England in the 5th century. He won many famous battles and effectively slowed down the pace of the Anglo-Saxons. Finally, he was called Aurelius Ambrose in Biography of British Kings compiled by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and became the last British king in Wu Seer, occupying a very important position in the history of English literature. Ambrosius Aurian was immediately welcomed by the public, especially in Wales, because Jeffrey vividly described the role of the wizard "Merlin". Later, writers in France and other places expanded the description of this role, which enriched the image of the wizard Merlin. Merlin's traditional biography described him as a Cambrian: raised by a mortal mother, but with supernatural abilities. In the end, Merlin gradually grew into the most powerful wizard in the Middle Ages, and created the birth of Arthur through magic and conspiracy. From then on, Merlin became King Arthur's adviser and mentor, and he didn't disappear from the story line until he was completely fascinated by love and sealed forever. On the naming of merlin. Some historians believe that the name "Merlin" comes from the Welsh bard "Medine", and he is also one of the main sources of later legends. But Jeffrey of Monmouth latinized the name "Merlin" in his works and changed it to "Merlin". Gaston Paris in the Middle Ages suggested that Geoffrey choose to name Merlin in the form of "Merlinus" instead of the conventional "Merdinus" to avoid the embarrassing meaning of "merde" in Anglo-Norman language. Some scholars believe that because Badmading Wilt's name comes from the place name "caerfyrddin", which is the name of the famous Welsh town in England, Merlin's name should also come from the place name of Wales. But this is in sharp contrast with the relatively popular folk etymology in the early days. Although we don't know how the name "Merlin" came from, it doesn't affect the writer's love for this role. Throughout his life, many vivid and interesting plots were arranged by "good" writers. As mentioned above, Merlin is composed of several historical and legendary figures. -Jeffrey combined the story of Mading Wilt, a prophet and madman in North Brighton, with the story of Ambrosius Orian, the leader of the Roman British War, and created Merlin. Let's talk specifically about what elements are incorporated into the role of Merlin. Ambrosius Aurian, one of the key figures of Merlin, is a historical figure recorded by Ninius (a Welsh monk in the 9th century). His relationship with Merlin began with A Tower. In his early years, King Verdi of England hoped to build a tower that would make him famous in history, but every time the tower was not finished, it was possessed and collapsed. Someone told him that in order to prevent this from happening, he must first spill the blood of a child who lost his father on the ground under the tower. Ambrosius was taken to the king because he was believed to have been born without a father (it is said that he was the son of ordinary women and elves). Ambrosius explained to Wartigan that the tower could not be erected on the foundation because there lived two fighting dragons underneath, representing Saxon and Celtic respectively. Later, Ambrosius persuaded Verdi Gunn that the tower could only be built under the leadership of Ambrosius, who had the ability to solve the struggle between Celtic and Saxon. So, Verdi Gunn willingly gave the tower to Ambrosius and put the whole kingdom under the management of Ambrosius. Since then, the story of abdication has been reshaped in Jeffrey's works: Merlin has become a child without a father, and most of Ambrosius' true character has been preserved. Of course, in Jeffrey's version of the story, there are two other stories about Merlin. First, Jeffery explained that Stonehenge-Merlin used magic to transport these strange stones from southwest Wales and Presher, Ireland, and used them as the burial place of AureliusAmbrosius for people to worship. Then, Jeffrey created King Arthur-Merlin's magic made the New England King Joe Uther put into the Castle of TinTagel, and gave birth to his son Arthur with his enemy's wife Iglian. Since then, these classic plots have repeatedly appeared in various literary works and have been largely adapted. As LewisThorpe pointed out, in Jeffrey's works, the real Merlin has long since disappeared. He didn't guide and advise Arthur to grow up like later versions. However, it is undeniable that the role of Merlin soon became popular, especially in Wales. Literary giants tend to portray Merlin as King Arthur's mentor, thus establishing the title of "the greatest wizard of the Middle Ages" in one fell swoop. Many years after Geoffrey's History of the Kings of England was published, Robert de Bor wrote a poem called Merlin. Robert de Boron Robert de Boron was a French poet at the end of12nd century13rd century. The most famous poems are Joseph de Arimat and Merlin. Although people don't know much about him outside his poems, his works and subsequent essays have influenced the legend of King Arthur and his subsequent development, especially the Christian background he founded for Merlin. Although Robert's Merlin and Jeffrey's Merlin have the same origin, Luo's version particularly emphasizes Merlin's deformability, religious connection with the Holy Grail, and his playful personality. In addition, Robert also joined the story line of Bryce, the owner of Merlin, which made Merlin's role come alive at once. Later, Robert's poem was rewritten as "Estoire de Merlin" in the form of prose, which also made people pay more attention to Merlin's deformability. However, there seems to be no exact statement about Merlin's image positioning. For many years, the role of Merlin has been interspersed in arthurian legend. Some books pay attention to Merlin as Arthur's mentor, while others selectively ignore Merlin. Moreover, in some stories, Merlin is regarded as an evil character, which did not bring any benefits to the world in his Middle Ages. In other stories, he is regarded as King Arthur's teacher and mentor, devoted to national development and people's happiness. "Lancelot-Holy Grail" However, no matter which writer, how to write it, Merlin's ending is surprisingly consistent-he died for love. In Lancelot-Holy Grail and later literary works, the great wizard Merlin died at the hands of Nevivian, the daughter of King northumberland. King Arthur persuaded Connie Vayne to stay in his castle because his teacher Merlin fell in love with Connie Vayne. However, Nivian is worried that Merlin will use his magic to use her. She swore that she would never fall in love with Merlin unless Merlin taught her all the magic he knew. As a result, Merlin foolishly agreed. After that, Merlin and Nivian left the castle and returned to Northumberland to study magic. When they were called back to help King Arthur again, Nivian laid hands on Merlin in a stone room on his way back-when Merlin fell asleep that night, Nivian secretly read him a spell and sealed Merlin in a stone grave. As for the ending of this story, in another chapter of Lancelot's Holy Grail, the author once described such a touching scene, "Nivian calmly imprisoned Merlin in a stone grave with an air wall, which was as visible as fog to others, but it was a beautiful but unbreakable tower to Merlin. He stroked the wall and looked at Nivian affectionately, but he stopped talking. Perhaps Merlin never realized that his desire for Nivian and his willingness to teach her magical love would eventually lead to his premature death. In fact, Merlin not only often appears in ancient literature, but also has a great influence on modern literature. Allen Lupak believes that since the Renaissance, many novels, poems and plays have been centered on Merlin. In American literature and popular culture, Merlin is probably the person who is most often described as having the character of King Arthur. For example, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a novel written by American humorist Mark Twain in 1889. The original name of this book is Yankee in King Arthur's Court. " A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court In this book, Mark Twain borrows the image of Merlin and tells the legendary story of an engineer named Hank Morgan from Connecticut. Hank Morgan lost his illusion of time and space because of a head injury and returned to ancient England, where he was captured by a knight of King Arthur in the initial chaos. Hank soon realized that he had traveled back in time, so he used modern knowledge to convince people that he was a powerful magician. He tried to modernize human beings in the past and make people's lives better. But in the end, he failed to stop Arthur's death and the blockade of the Catholic church at that time, which made him more and more afraid of his own strength. In fact, this book expresses Mark Twain's satire on feudalism and monarchy. While questioning the capitalist ideal and the achievements of the industrial revolution, he also advocated simple originality and democratic values. Therefore, the wizard Merlin is not only a legendary magician imagined by people in the Middle Ages, but also endowed with profound social significance in the works of modern writers. And who doesn't like such a "wizard" who is affectionate and righteous, dares to love and hate, and can also promote social change? Reference 1. The True History of Magician Merlin-Guardian. Available from:://The Guardian. /Books/2065438+03/DEC/1/Truth-History-Merlin-Anne-Lawrence-Mathers-Comment 2. Magician Merlin-King Arthur & Knight of the Round Table. Available from::///kingarthursnights. /other/merlin.asp3. The multifaceted nature of Merlin-an eternal myth. Available from:: //timeles *** yths. /king Arthur/merlin.html4. Merlin-Camelot project. Available from:://d.lib.rochester.edu/camel/theme/merlin.