The Life of Merlin
Also known as: Vita Merlini, Life of Merlin, Merlin's Life
Geoffrey’s Latin Vita Merlini recounts Merlin’s madness after battle, his woodland life, wise sayings, and prophecies, interweaving Welsh seer-lore with Arthurian motifs such as Avalon and its healing queen.
Description
Written in Latin hexameters, The Life of Merlin reimagines the Brittonic seer Myrddin as Geoffrey’s Merlinus, who, after the trauma of battle, withdraws to the Caledonian woods. There he speaks in riddles and wisdom, is tended by his sister Ganieda, and is drawn into courtly tests that reveal hidden truths. The poem stages dialogues on nature, astronomy, and kingship; it sets prophetic scenes beside wonder-lists of islands and marvels, and it situates Merlin within a broader Arthurian world where the wounded Arthur is borne to Avalon and entrusted to Morgen. Part philosophical, part prophetic, and part narrative, Geoffrey’s poem blends Celtic seer traditions with learned Latin poetics.
Historiography
The Vita Merlini survives in a small number of later medieval Latin manuscripts and is generally dated shortly after 1148. It complements Geoffrey’s earlier Historia and Prophetiae, recasting the Welsh Myrddin/Lailoken as Merlin in a contemplative, prophetic mode. Editors note conflations of Welsh material with Arthurian elements and the poem’s learned interest in astronomy and natural lore. Modern reception treats it as a crucial bridge between Brittonic seer traditions and later European Merlin romances.
Date Notes
Latin hexameter poem composed after Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanniae and Prophetiae Merlini; incorporates earlier Welsh traditions about Myrddin/Lailoken.
Major Characters
- Merlin
- Gwenddydd
- Taliesin
- King Rodarch
Myths
- Merlin’s Madness after Battle
- The Wild Man of the Woods and Prophecies
- Healing and Vision at the Fountain
- Counsels to Kings and Seers
Facts
- Composed in Latin hexameters and typically dated to the late 1140s.
- Positions Merlin as a woodland seer after a devastating battle often identified with Arfderydd.
- Introduces Morgen of Avalon as a learned healer who can restore Arthur.
- Blends Brittonic seer traditions with courtly and philosophical dialogues.
- Shows Geoffrey’s interest in astronomy via Ganieda’s observatory motif.
- Includes a wonder-catalogue of western isles, bridging ethnography and myth.
- Taliesin appears as a sage-bard interlocutor, linking Welsh poetic lore to Merlin.
- Functions as a companion to Geoffrey’s Historia and Prophetiae rather than a direct sequel.
- Survives in a limited manuscript tradition from the 13th–15th centuries.
- Frequently cited as a key source for the Avalon healing motif in later Arthurian romance.