Libellus Merlini

"Libellus Merlini" ("The Little Book of Merlin") is a Latin tract on the subject of the prophecies of Merlin written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in about 1135.

Geoffrey prefaced his account of the prophecies with one concerning the deeds of a supernatural youth named Ambrosius whom he deliberately confounded with Merlin.

Vortigern, king of the Britons, asked Ambrose Merlin the meaning of a vision in which two dragons, one red and one white, engaged in combat. Merlin replied that the Red Dragon signified the British race, which would be conquered by the Saxon, represented by the White Dragon.

A long prophetic rhapsody follows, relating chiefly to the Saxon wars, which concludes in the Seventh Book of Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanniae. The story was known in Iceland before 1218 in a form independent of the Historia. This tract must not be confused with the Vita Merlini (1145 or 1148) generally attributed to Geoffrey.[1]

See also

Merlin
Historia Regum Britanniae
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Libellus De Arte Coquinaria

References

  1. ^ "Libellus Merlini" (Little Book of Merlin)." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2010 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.