"There is no evil in sorcery, only in the hearts of men. My request is that you remember this" Merlin

Gaius: :  Where did you study? Answer me.

Merlin:  I've... I've never studied magic or been taught. 

Gaius:   Are you lying to me, boy?

Merlin: What do you want me to say?

Gaius:  The truth!

Merlin: I was born like this. 

Gaius:  That's impossible!

                                                   (Merlin - The Dragons Call)

If you had not already guessed, I am going to be blogging about Merlin again today.

Last time I was talking about Monmouth and all the wonderful things he did for Merlin. Today, I am going to have a look and see where this fascinating wizard went next.

Robert de Boron was one of those amazing French poets of the 12th Century. He wrote a poem called Merlin. Boron is credited with the great works Prose Merlin as well.                                       

Let us see how he portrayed Merlin in Prose Merlin.

It is said that in between Christ’s horrific crucifixion and joyful resurrection he spent some time in Hell, bringing salvation to all who had died (excluding the damned).                                                                                                         

“Full wrothe and angry was the Devell, whan that oure Lorde hadde ben in helle and had take oute Adam and Eve and other at his plesier” Prose Merlin

 

Christ's Descent into Limbo Andrea Mantegna c.1470 

 

Boron starts the story of Merlin just after Christ’s resurrection. The Council of devils was called in to order. They were angry, enraged by Christ’s Harrowing of Hell and they wanted revenge. Christ and his God would not be allowed to get away with this. They would rue the day they thought to enter into a domain that was never theirs.

They came up with a plan.

They would create a being that would undo everything that Christ had done. They would create an antichrist, who would follow their orders, who would do their bidding and there would be nothing that God or his son could do about it.

Their plan was deceptively simple. If God could beget a child with a virgin maid, then so could they. They found such a woman and begot her with child.

 

 But they did not understand love, or virtue, faith...hope. The woman they had chosen had a close advisor, a holy man called Blaise and she confided in him what had happened. She begged for his help

 

 Blaise tries to reassure the woman. He tells her that they will baptize the child as soon as it is born and they pray with all their might that the demon will be chased away from the babies body.

 

The baby, a boy, is born and Blaise immediately baptizes him and they pray that the demon will not plague the child. It seems that they were successful. They have snatched the child away from Satan’s clutches.

                                                                                                                         

The woman names the child Merlin after her father.

But Merlin is no ordinary child. He may not be under the influence of Satan anymore, but the demon has left him a legacy. He can see things – the past – the present. He can predict future events. He is, in short, a prophet. But he is no ordinary prophet; he has other skills as well. He can shapeshift.

Last time I spoke about Nennius and his story of Vortigern and his struggle building a tower that kept on collapsing? If you missed that post you can check it out here.

In Nennius’s story, the fatherless boy who is brought before Vortigern is Ambrosius.

In Boron’s story the boy is Merlin.

Like Ambrosius in Nennius story, Merlin blames the destruction of the tower on two fighting dragons, but here the story take a sharp turn and veers off on its own course. Instead of the dragons represent the Saxon’s and the Briton’s, Merlin states that the dragons represent Vortigern and two brothers, Pendragon and Uther. Merlin also prophesies Vortigern’s death.

On Vortigern’s death, Pendragon take the throne. Merlin becomes an adviser to this new royal dynasty. He helps them with their struggles with the Saxons.

Merlin foresees a great battle at Salisbury where Pendragon will meet his fate. All that he predicts comes true and the younger of the brothers, Uther, takes the throne as well as his brothers name. He becomes known as Uther Pendragon.

The battle was fierce and many Britons died. Merlin decides that a permanent memorial is needed so this battle would be remembered forever. The memorial still stands – Stonehenge.

Uther needs to be a strong king and Merlin advices that he needs a symbol of the Christian religion. He recommends a replica of the table that was used at the Last Supper and was pinnacle in the story of the Holy Grail - It is said that Joseph of Arimethea used the Grail (A cup) - from the Last Supper - to catch the blood from Jesus's body as he hung from the cross - They did not have the Grail, but they could recreate at least part of the story. What they needed was....

A Round Table.

A glorious Round Table was commissioned and it came to represent not only the Grail and the last supper, but also chivalry and the knightly code of honour.

But not everything Merlin does is for the good. When Uther is overcome with lust for the Duke of Cornwall’s wife. Merlin casts a spell, so Uther’s appearance is changed to that of the Duke. Igrain, the Dukes wife, is deceived into thinking that she is sharing her body with her husband. That night, Arthur is conceived.

The Duke dies that night in battle and Uther and Igrain marry soon after.

When Arthur is born he is fostered and is raised by Antor (Ector). Arthur grows up and as we all know he draws a sword from a stone.

 References

University of Rochester - Middle English Text Series

http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/conlee-prose-merlin-introduction 

If you would like to read Prose Merlin, then check out this link. 

What does King Arthur, King Edward III and Windsor Castle have in common?

"His like had not been seen since the days of King Arthur." 

                                                                                                                                            Jean Froissart's on King Edward III 

During the Middle Ages, Arthur and his knights really captured the imagination of the nobility. There was something appealing about the idea of Arthur, his brave and loyal knights, and the knightly code of honour. He certainly caught the imagination of one young King, Edward III (1312 -1377). 

Edward III as head of the Order of the Garter, drawing c. 1430–40 in the Bruges Garter Book.

Edward had some very grand ideas when he inherited the crown. He wanted to model himself and his court on the legendary King Arthur.  He would have knights, just like Arthur did. They would be worthy men who would stand with him, brave men... men he had chosen - It was not surprise that his reign saw the creation of many Earls and Dukes.

Edward's reign was going to be as magnificent as Arthur's was. Nothing was going to stop him.


Notable points of Edward III reign.

At first, Edward III was incredibly popular, despite the expensive wars with Scotland and France. But his reign was far from easy - a great many challenges where thrown his way, most notably The Black Death. The Black Death reduced the population of Britain drastically and also claimed the life of Edward's daughter.

The plague dealt industry a devastating blow - there was a shortage of skilled workmen and those who had survived the plague could charge whatever they wanted for their labours - Laws had to be introduced to fix wages and prices.

The first ever speaker to the Commons was appointed during his reign and for once, this Plantagenet king, seemed to get on really well with his children.

Edward founded the Order of the Garter c.1344. It is said, he got the idea for the name after an incident at a ball when the Countess of Surrey, Catherine Montacute, dropped her garter and Edward picked it up.

To this very day the Order of the Garter is the highest order of chivalry and the third most prestigious honour that the Queen can bestow.


So where does Windsor Castle fit in to all this?

Have you ever heard of a television program called Time Team?

If you are from the UK then chances are you have. For those who don't know, Time Team was an archaeological dig program, where archaeologists and historians do what they do - in a short space of time - whilst being filmed.

Time Team was hosted by Sir Tony Robinson - he is the man standing on one leg! (who is famous for his role as Baldrick in Blackadder)... who, incidentally, I once met at a music festival when I was a teen - When I say met, I mean my friend and I were stood next to him at a vegetarian burger wagon whispering, "That is Tony Robinson," to each other. Anyway, I digress...

In 2006, in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II, 80th Birthday, Oxford Archaeology and Time Team were given permission to excavate three royal sites over four days. These sites were at Buckingham Palace, Palace of Holyroodhouse and Windsor Castle. It was Windsor Castle, and what they found there, that sparked my interest.

 

 The South Wing of the Upper Ward - Windsor Castle.

In the Upper Ward, of Windsor Castle, the archaeologists found the foundations of the Round Table Building that was erected in 1344 by Edward III - I told you he wanted to recreate Camelot.

Edward ordered the construction of this building in 1344, he wanted somewhere he could host his new Order of the Round Table. The building was going to be used for feasting, festivals and theatrical re- enactments of stories from Arthurian legends.
Chroniclers tell of a large round building, 200 ft (61m) across. But for reasons unknown he never finished it. He later abandoned this order and created the Order of the Garter instead.

So there we have it - be it rather briefly!

This is what King Arthur, King Edward III and Windsor Castle have in common!

King Arthur's Round Table.

"This table belonged to the ancient kings of Camelot. A round table afforded no man more importance than any other. They believed in equality in all things. So, it seems fitting that we revive this tradition now."

                                                                                                         Merlin : The Coming of Arthur - Part 2

King Arthur had a Round Table - we are all familiar with that theme...am I right?

But what was the significance of a Round Table and is there any truth in it? Let's see, shall we...

 King Arthur presides at the Round Table with all of his Knights.

The origins of the Round Table came from a Norman poet ( who was actually born in Jersey, but who cares about the details) who went by the name of Wace. Wace wrote Roman de Brut - when I say wrote, I mean he adapted Geoffrey Monmouth History of the Kings of Britain.

In Wace's version of events, Arthur was having a difficult time with his Barons, they were proud and arrogant and were full of self-importance, and when it came to sitting around the table together, well...they all thought they should be close to the King.

It gave Arthur an enormous headache! He was trying to rule a kingdom not pacify egos.

Arthur had a proverbial light-bulb moment - he commissioned a Round Table to be built, so all who sat around it were of equal importance. That shut those Barons up for a while, at least.

Not to be outdone, in the 13th Century Layamon adapted Wace's work into the Middle English work Brut. In Layamon's version of events there was a violent fight during one of Arthur's famous Christmas Feasts - arguing, yet again, over who should sit where - politicians, they never change do they?!

Arthur commissioned a Cornish carpenter to build a portable round table - I like to think of it as the ultimate picnic table - so where ever Arthur went, the table went and such violent outbursts could be avoided in the future.

But, is there any truth in these stories of a Round Table?

According to Wace and Layamon, yes. They both stated that they had heard of such a table from the tribes of Breton (Brittany) - this reminds me a little bit of Monmouth and his mysteriously lost manuscript - perhaps that is something to bear in mind for the future...no one can argue if I state my historical fiction is based on facts I read in a lost manuscript - which I will then conveniently lose, a bit like my purse - which I seem to misplace everytime my teen asks for money. Although I think he might be on to me by now, because he is like one of those sniffer dogs - he always seems to find it, even when I hid it in a sausepan with the lid on! Which turned out to be the first place he looked...who looks in a sausepan?!  Am I really that predictable? And here I was thinking that was a good hiding place. Go figure.

However, there was a tale from the Celtic tribes of Britain - where the Breton's, it is said, originally came from - that it was common practice for a king and his warriors to sit in a circle when they wanted to air their grievances - not around an actual table though.

It has been argued that perhaps Wace actually got his idea of a Round Table from the stories of the famous court of Charlemagne, the King of the Franks (c.742 - 814). It is said that Charlemagne had a round table, in which was carved a map of Rome.

It is an interesting point that there is no mention of a Round Table in any of the Welsh and Celtic stories before Wace's work. Arthur had a find and noble court, but no Round Table.

 

  

Nevertheless, the idea of a Round Table was appealing. Robert de Boron (1190) romanticised the table.

Boron credited Merlin for the Round Table. It is Merlin's idea, and it was suppose to represent the Last Supper. There were 12 seats around Boron's, Round Table - representing the 12 apostles of Jesus. The seat Judas occupied was to remain empty, waiting for the most honorable of knights - the one who would find the Grail - to come to court and claim his rightful place. Boron also states that Merlin  gave the table to Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father.

Didot Percival (The Romance of Percival) takes up the story. It is Percival, who to the shock of everyone else at court that day, sits on the chair - that thou shall not sit on - and from here on in, Percival's fate is sealed. It is he that initialised the quest to find the Holy Grail.

This story is adapted yet again in the 13th Century French story, Lancelot-Grail. The table, was a gift to Uther -that stays the same - but there is a keeper of the table, King Leodegrance of Cameliard, Guinveres father. Leodegrance allows Arthur his rightful inheritance of the table when he marries his daughter.

In Lancelot-Grail we are told that it is Galahad that sits on the chair - that thou shall not sit on - not Percival, and it is Galahad that sparks off the quest for the Grail. Ironically, it is also signifies the last days of Arthur's reign.
 

And there is the story of the Round Table. Was it what you thought it was?