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Merlin
Alternatively Merlynum.
An
ancient magician of Britain, who supposedly
dwelt at the court of King Arthur. His origin is obscure,
but early legends pertaining to him concur that he was the offspring of
an incubus,
or
Satan, but it is also suggested that he was an early Celtic god
or sky deity, who with the passage of time ended up being regarded as a
great wizard.
There appears to have existed more than
just one Merlin, the welshman who became a bard of King Arthur and supposedly died after
a terrible battle between Britons and their Romanized compatriots circa AD 570
and the warlock
Merlin Caledonius, a northern Britain madman with no connection to
King Arthur, also known as Myrddin Wyllt or Merlinus Caledonensis. A probability is
that both characters sprung from the same origin or idea.
The 'Seal of Merlin' the letter V with a crown over it is
thought to stand for an association with the Roman Legions or the Dux
Bellorum (Roman War Duke, a
military appointment by the Emperor).
Merlin owe most of his notoriety to
Geoffrey of Monmouth and his
Historia Regum
Britanniae, published circa 1139. Geoffrey's version of the
character was immediately popular, and later writers expanded the account to
produce a fuller image of the wizard. In the Arthurian legend Merlin was
the offspring of an unholy union between an incubus
from whom he inherited his supernatural abilities and an unsuspecting, sleeping human
female.
A zealous priest succeeded in baptizing him before his infernal parent could
carry him off, thus freeing him from the power of
Satan and his evil nature.
Merlin matured into a powerful sorcerer,
and assisted Pendragon, the British king who was slain in a battle with the
Saxons. He
then became a counselor to the kings brother, Uther Pendragon, and
eventually to Uther's son,
Arthur. It was on Merlin's advice that Uther established the Round Table and found his
true heir through the sword-in-the-stone test.
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