| |
| | Legends - King Arthur - Merlin (Site not responding. Last check: ) |
 | | In Geoffrey's conception, Merlin is the son of a nun of royal birth, engendered by a demon; this half-human origin becomes over time the source of Merlin's prophetic powers. |
 | | In Robert de Boron's old French verse Merlin, he "plays a redemptive role as mediator between earthy chivalry and the heavenly plan of salvation: he oversees the conception of Arthur, creates the symbolism of the Round Table, and prepares Perceval for the Grail quest" (William W. Kibler, The Arthurian Encyclopedia, Garland Press 1986). |
 | | Merlin's position in the popular imagination as a great seer was secure from Geoffrey's time onward; political "prophecies of Merlin", tuned to the times, were still being published well into the seventeenth century, the best known perhaps being The Life of Merlin, Sirnamed Ambrosius. |
| www.legends.dm.net /kingarthur/merlin.html (616 words) |
|