The wizard Merlin first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain as a fatherless boy, a stock character from Celtic folklore who crops up in many stories. Later in the Middle Ages this was interpreted to mean that Merlin was the offspring of a demon. This illustration from a 13th-century manuscript of Geoffrey's Historia shows Merlin's father as an incubus, visiting his mother in her dreams to conceive their famous son.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Merlin's Parents
The wizard Merlin first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain as a fatherless boy, a stock character from Celtic folklore who crops up in many stories. Later in the Middle Ages this was interpreted to mean that Merlin was the offspring of a demon. This illustration from a 13th-century manuscript of Geoffrey's Historia shows Merlin's father as an incubus, visiting his mother in her dreams to conceive their famous son.
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