Margaret Denslow Kissam the Characterlzation of MERLIN
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Margaret Denslow Kissam THE CHARACTERlZATION OF MERLIN IN THE MIDDLE AGES Submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Arts Department of English McGill University August l, 1967 :: (ê) Margaret Dens10w Kissam 1968 Margaret Denslow Kissam THE CHARACTERlZATION OF MERLIN IN THE MIDDLE AGES Submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Arts Department of English MeGill University August l, 1967 Merlin is an dien character who helps Arthur and the fellowship of the Round Table towards a great achievement, in which he will never partake, when they would not have seen the possibility or succeeded in the undertaking without his direction. A study of the development of the legend of Merlin from the ~ ~ of Carmarthen and certain chronicles through the Arthurian romances shows that Merlin is a significant archetypal figure who is able to survive and benefit from the conceptual transitions through which he passes in the Middle Ages. CONTENTS Table of Contents i 1. Before the Romances 1 2. Robert de Boron 15 3. The Vulgate Continuations 21 4. The Huth Continuation 36 5. Sir Thomas Ma10ry 48 6. Conclusion 54 Bibliography 59 CHAPTER ONE Before the Romances In this study l should like to examine the development of Merlin as he is known in Medieval literature, his character as distinct from the prophecies attributed to him. l shall not attempt to speculate . on who Merlin really was, but on what he became through tradition, imagination, and rhetoric. Merlin has been warrior, madman, prophet, Antichrist, shape-changer, counsellor, enchanter, and foolish lover. It was he who made possible a noble reign and a sacred quest, attempts to fulfil man's highest ideals. By examining him in these different lights, l hope to show how Merlin was developed into his rnost noted form, in Malory, and to suggest why. To this end, l am going to review the accounts of Merlin which existed before the character found its way into the Medieval romances, and then go on to consider at greater length his r6le in the French and English versions of the early history of King Arthur, and in Malory's ~ Morte Darthur. To begin with, it will be useful to give an outline of the story of Merlin as it appears in the Huth Merlin,l which will serve as a point of reference. After the death of Christ the devils decide that in order to reconquer mankind they must create a man endowed with their powers. Merlin is duly engendered by an incubus on a virgin, lGaston Paris and Jacob Ulrich, editors, Merlin, edi ted from the Huth manuscript, Paris 1886. Two volumes. 2 but he is saved from evil by Blaise, the girl's confessor, who baptizes· him immediately after birth. Because he is the son of a devil, he knows aIl that is past, and to reward his mother for her repentance, God bestows on him knowledge of the future. At this time, there is a king in England named Constant, who has three sons, Moine, Pendragon, anù Uther. Moine succeeds his father, but is a weak ruler, and his senechal Vortigern (Vertigier)2 usurps the throne. Vortigern makes an alliance with the Saisnes, a pagan enemy, that includes marrying the daughter of their leader Hengist (Hangus), and allowing them to come to England. Understandably, Vortigern tries to build a strong tower, but the walls will not stand. His advisors read in the stars that a fatherless boy will be responsible for their ruin, so they tell Vortigern that his problem will be solved if he has such a boy killed without seeing him, and his blood sprinkled on the foundations. Merlin is able to convince the men sent to kill him that he can help the king, so they take him back to cou~t. On the way, he impresses the guards by laughing at a man bargaining for a pair of shoes, because he knows he will not live to wear them. This prophecy is confirmed. Merlin explains to Vortigern that under the tower site is a body of water, and under it are two dragons, one red, one white. When the stones of the foundation are laid, they disturb the dragons, and when the dragons stir, the foundation collapses. Merlin predicts that once the dragons are brought to light they will fight, and the white dragon will kill the red one, which he afterwards interprets to Mean that Vortigern 2To lessen the confusion of the multiple spellings of each name, the Most prevalent English spelling of the name is used throughout. Alternatives are given in parentheses. 3 will be destroyed by the sons of Constant. This also comes true. Alter visiting Blaise in Northumberland, Me~lin helps Pen dragon and Uther to rid the country of the Saisnes. The Saisnes return, and Pendragon is killed. Merlin imports huge stones (Stonehenge) from Ireland for his sepulchre. Uther becomes king under the name Uther Pendragon. Merlin rev~Rls to him the great secret of the two sacred tables of Christ and Joseph off Ârimathea, and is charged with making a third, at which there is an empty seat for the Grail knight. Merlin brings about the conception of Arthur by changing Uther to look like the Duke of Tintagel, so that he can visit the duke's wife, Igraine (Ygerne), with whom he is very much in love. Once the duke has been killed in e raid, Uther is able tG marry Igraine. When Arthur (Artus) is bOirn, Merlin ghes him to Ector (Auctor) to bring up with his own son Kay (Keu). On Uther's death, Merlin tells the nobles that they should wait until Christmas, when God will reveal the rightful heir to the throne. The sword-in-the-stone episode puts Arthur on the throne by Pentecost, and aU rejoice when Merlin later reveals Arthur's parentage. Merlin arranges for Arthur to get his sword and scabbard from a magic lake. From then on, Merlin serves chiefly as a counsellor, both in his natural and assumed forms, helping Arthur and his knights with their first wars and adventures until Arthur is able to manage without him. During this time,Merlin witnesses Arthur's marriage to Gwenivere (Gonnore) and the establishment of the Round Table at Arthur's court. At last Merlin is ensnared by Niviene (Viviane, Nimiane, Nimue) and disappears, as she uses the enchantments he has taught her to shut him in a tomb in the forest. This is the basic plot of the two fully developed versions of the tale. 4 There has been a good de al of speculation about Merlin as a descendant from pre-Christian tradition. Mucb ofthis speculation has been of an imaginary or wishful stamp. Nevertheless, there are attributes and circumstances involved of a distinctly archetypal nature, testified to by the many analogues to episodes in the story from the Orient, continental Europe, Scotland, and Ireland. The beginning of the version in the Ruth manuscript is derived from the legend of the Antichrist. The Vortigern episode reflects a very old worldwide tradition in which a king, attempting but failing to construct an important building, is aided by a supernatural being who discovers the source of the trouble in floods or dragons beneath the foundations. The supernatural being's foreknowledge is vindicated by future events. 3 4 The laughter motif is also widespread. Merlin's control of nature, as seen in his shape-shifting, supernatural knowledge, and prophetie ability have filtered down from analogues in Scotland (Lailoken), Ireland (Suibhne Ge ilt), and Wales (Myrddin). S The r81e of an old man or magician with both good and evil potential helping a young man to start a meaningful career is, according to Jung, an archetype for the spirit that induces self-reflection and moral force, and gives the necessary talisman for later success.6 The Welsh tradition is ~1. Gaster, "The Lege.nd of Merlin", ~ ~ XVI (1905), page 424. 4For a discussion of the laughter motif, see A.H. Krappe, "Le Rire du Prophète", in Studies ~ English Philology ~ ~ ot:, E. Klaeber, edited by K. Malone and M.B. Ruud (Minneapolis, 1929), pages 340 - 361. SFor a resumé of these analogues, see John J. Parry, "Celtic Tradi tion in the Vi ta Merlini", Philological Quarterly IV (192S), 193 - 207. 6 C.G. Jung, ~ ArchetYpes ~~ Collective Unconscious (New York, 1959), page 220. 5 responsible for Merlin's association with the north and for the theme of Merlin as a rejected lover. These ancient roots help to explain the aura of mystery that surrounds Merlin everywhere. In medieval literary history, before he is taken up by the romancers, Merlin appears in Welsh poetry and in various chronicles, at first separately as two distinct characters, and later on with some of the attributes of both these early figures. The earlier character is found in the chronicles in connection with Vox-tigern, who was active around 450 A.D. The second figure is the Myrddin of Welsh tradition. He is supposed to have fought with the North Welsh against a pagan faction in the Battle of Ardderyd in 573, and fifty years later he speaks of wandering mad in the woods. It must be emphasized, as usual, that the distinction between history and legend was not an important one in the Middle Ages, and that, in consequence, the information surrounding t,hese dates is chiefly important in sofar as it backs up the analogues, which suggest that Merlin was not the creation of a single man. In the Welsh tradition two poems survive in the ~ ~ of Carmarthen, parts of which seem to date from a much earlier period than the manuscript itself, written down about 1200.