The Prophecy of Merlin

Geoffrey of Monmouth

Written by Geoffrey of Monmouth to Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln in 1134. It appears, among other places, in The History of the Kings of Britain (Historia Ragum Britanniae) written by Geoffrey in Latin (Oxford, England c1134).

Must remember that, the story Merlin says will come, has already come by the time Geoffrey writes the Prophecy.

Merlin almost never mentions names

• Uses clan names or symbols
• Dark Ages readers would have known symbols [fuzzy notion]
• Some not easily recongizable: fox could = fox, wolf, dog

Early texts claim Merlin delivered the Prophecy in one breath at the age of seven:

sat on boulder near Edinburgh, Scotland or on the promontory of Great Orme's Head in North Wales and spoke it to King Vortigern.

Language of Merlin's Prophecy:

Not strictly literary Latin, often technical Latin, litigious, legalistic language.

Goodrich, Norma, Merlin, Ch5, New York: Harper & Row, 1988