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Merlin (Robert de Boron poem)
French epic poem / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Merlin is a partly lost French epic poem written by Robert de Boron in Old French and dating from either the end of the 12th[2] or beginning of the 13th century.[3] The author reworked Geoffrey of Monmouth's material on the legendary Merlin, emphasising Merlin's power to prophesy and linking him to the Holy Grail.[4] The poem tells of his origin and early life as a redeemed Antichrist, his role in the birth of Arthur, and how Arthur became King of Britain. Merlin's story relates to Robert's two other reputed Grail poems, Joseph d'Arimathie [fr] and Perceval.[1] Its motifs became popular in medieval and later Arthuriana, notably the introduction of the sword in the stone, the redefinition of the Grail, and turning the previously peripheral Merlin into a key character in the legend of King Arthur.[1][5]
Merlin | |
---|---|
by Robert de Boron | |
![]() Merlin dictating the story of his life for Blaise to record in a 13th-century illustration for the prose version, Estoire de Merlin | |
Written | Est. 1195–1210[1] |
Country | Kingdom of France |
Language | Old French |
Series | Little Grail Cycle |
Subject(s) | Arthurian legend, Holy Grail |
Preceded by | Joseph of Arimathea |
Followed by | Perceval |
The poem's medieval prose retelling and continuations, collectively the Prose Merlin,[2] became parts of the 13th-century Vulgate and Post-Vulgate cycles of prose chivalric romances. The Prose Merlin was versified into two English poems, Of Arthour and of Merlin and Henry Lovelich's Merlin. Its Post-Vulgate version was one of the major sources for Thomas Malory in writing Le Morte d'Arthur.