Prose Merlin

This anonymously authored Middle English adaptation of the Old French Vulgate Cycle survives in one manuscript, Cambridge University Library MS Ff.3.11, and was written near the middle of the fifteenth century, making it the single earliest piece of prose Arthuriana in Middle English. A complete account of its titular character’s life, the Prose Merlin follows the sorcerer from birth to final imprisonment by his former apprentice, Nimiane. Although composed not long before Malory’s Arthurian epic Le Morte D’Arthur, the Prose Merlin provides a more focused and optimistic account of the Arthurian court, while also reveling in the supernatural themes of its subjects. This edition, accessible to the reader unfamiliar with Middle English prose, is the first complete edition of the romance published since the nineteenth century, making it a valuable resource for modern scholarship.

1. Introduction

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3. Prose Merlin
   1. The Birth of Merlin
   2. Vortiger's Tower
   3. Vortiger's Demise; The Battle of Salisbury; and The Death of Pendragon
   4. Uther and Ygerne
   5. Arthur and the Sword in the Stone
   6. The Baron's Revolt
   7. The Grand Tournament at Logres
   8. The Battle of Bredigan Forest
   9. The Young Squires
   10. The Deeds of the Young Squires
   11. Arthur at Tamelide
   12. Merlin and the Young Squires
   13. Gawain's Rescue of His Mother
   14. Merlin and Nimiane
   15. Arthur and Gonnore; and The Battle against King Rion
   16. Arthur and Gawain
   17. The Begetting of Lancelot; and Merlin and Nimiane
   18. Merlin and Grisandolus
   19. The Marriage of Arthur and Gonnore
   20. The Banishment of Bertelak; and King Arthur and King Lot
   21. The Tournament at Logres; King Lot and his Sons; and Morgan and Gyomar
   22. King Arthur vs. King Rion
   23. Merlin and Nimiane; and Arthur and the Giant of St. Michael's Mount
   24. The Defeat of Lucius; and Arthur and the Devil Cat
   25. Merlin's Imprisonment; and Gawain and the Dwarf Knight