“Merlin of the Forest” is a Youtube video on the Brythonic-Celtic origins of the Merlin legends, by one Kris Hughes. Kris is an independent creator with a deep interest in Celtic mythology, based in America. I actually set about watching it with some trepidation; I am not naturally a watcher of videos, and prefer to read, for speed, accuracy and ease of reference-checks. It is also the case that I don’t always find the standard of video material on Celtic matters up to much; many are too dumbed down to have anything of real interest to say. This is something that applies just as much to large-budget television documentaries as to independent work – and independent works are all too often plagued by poor production, a lack of good images, and a tendency to descend into cheesiness.
I’m pleased to be able to say, however, that in this instance my concerns were unwarranted. Kris’s video is well-constructed, with good audio and an excellent selection of images – there are no garish fairy pictures anywhere to be seen, nor a single unicorn! Kris’s commentary works too, with a good flow; though her manner isn’t that of a high-energy TV presenter, she is measured and precise, which ensures a high level of clarity in the material delivered. Too much energy can feel contrived, or cartoonish; Kris is very genuine. Her clarity extends to the interplay between words and images; she shows on screen the correct Welsh spellings for the words and names she uses as she pronounces them, which is an excellent way of helping general viewers to get their heads round the intricacies of Welsh pronunciation.
When it comes to the content of Kris’s narrative, the academic standards are high. The pool of source material discussed is similar to that used in Tim Clarkson’s book “Scotland’s Merlin” – an excellent source tor more detail on the topic, though I disagree with his key conclusions! This means a focus on early Welsh literature connected to the former Old-Welsh/Cumbric speaking areas in southern Scotland and northern England. This is a reasonable dataset on which to draw; it has a clear connection to the earliest versions of the legends, and is narrow enough to allow the video to last only 30 minutes. Wading into the later and far vaster Arthurian literatures requires a great more room for discussion, and would inevitably deliver a less cogent piece.
The content Kris delivers focusses on the facts – limited as they are – and steers clear of theories. This does inevitably mean the viewer will depart with more questions than answers; the texts that remain are so limited and ambiguous that some measure of interpretation is necessary in order to render them meaningful. Seeking such interpretations leads into something of a maze, though – and Kris chooses not to lead the viewer down that rabbit hole on this particular piece. The viewer will leave this video armed with the key information, free to interpret that as they will.
The standard of educational material included is impressively high. The only major point with which I would disagree comes towards the end. Here, Kris discusses Geoffrey of Monmouth; the medieval author of a number of mytho-historical texts on the history of the Celtic Britons. Kris dismisses Geoffrey’s texts as the creation of an alien interloper, and assumes that features in his “Vita Merlini” not replicated in the earlier Welsh literature are his inventions. This is a position consistent with that of the majority of scholars – but one which may have served to obscure important data contained within Geoffrey’s texts.
The characterisation of Geoffrey as a Norman outsider may well be flawed. William the Conqueror’s armies were not solely drawn from Normandy, but also contained a very sizeable Breton component; in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s time, some 20% of England was in the hands of Breton lords. One such place was Monmouth, and there was therefore a very substantial Breton presence in the region; Geoffrey may well himself have been of Breton descent (1). This would explain his obvious interest in the history of the Britons, and the sympathy towards their cause exhibited in his writing; both Welsh and Bretons descend from the Britons, and so alternative versions of the legendary history of Britain were present in Brittany from an early date. Rather than tampering with someone else’s traditions to further his own career, as Kris suggests, Geoffrey may in fact have been attempting to present the best possible version of his own people’s history.
There is no doubt – whatever his motives – that Geoffrey did get creative with his material. He switches characters around, and manipulates elements of legends to deliver a consistent narrative where no consistency was previously to be found. He does, however, also go to great pains to incorporate as many items of older legend and history as he can – and in my view, it is inevitable that some genuine elements are included in Geoffrey’s version, the sources of which have subsequently been lost to us.
In the case of the “Vita Merlini”, Kris dismisses a list of plot elements as inventions of Geoffrey’s. On some of them Kris is certainly correct; but there are a number which I feel should not be dismissed so lightly. These include;
- Merlin’s return from the wilds to his former wife’s wedding, and the associated motif of him riding on a stag at the head of a host of animals
- The notion of a reconciliation between king Ryderch and Merlin, leading to the creation of a forest observatory
- The sanity-restoring spring beside which Merlin retires with his two companions, Taliesin and Maeldin
- Merlin’s prophecy of the triple death. Kris takes Geoffrey’s account to be the doctored one, and that given in an alternative text, the “Vita Merlini Silvestris” to be authentic; my view, however, is that the latter represents a northern Christian tradition whose purpose was to denigrate older, pagan-influenced legends concerning Merlin, and which is as thoroughly doctored as anything Geoffrey wrote
These points of disagreement are, however, very limited – “Merlin of the Forest” is excellent, and well-researched. I’d recommend it as an introduction to the topic for anyone looking for something more intellectually sophisticated than the standard TV documentary – and saying an independent creator’s work has succeeded in topping that of the BBC is high praise indeed! I enjoyed “Merlin of the Forest” very much, and look forward to seeing more from Kris in future. Her channel is available here, and the video below;
(1) Koch, JT “Celtic Culture, a Historical Encyclopaedia”, ABC Clio, Oxford, pg. 927
Be First to Comment