Merlins Prophecy's
Merlins Prophecy's
Chapter 1
Geoffrey of Monmouth's preface to Merlin's prophecy
I had not got thus far in my history, when the
subject of public discourse happening to be concerning Merlin, I was obliged to publish his prophecies at the request of my
acquaintance, but especially of Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, a prelate of the greatest piety and wisdom. There was not any
person, either among the clergy or laity, that was attended with such a great train of knights and noblemen, whom his settled
piety and great munificence engaged in his service. Out of a desire, therefoe, to gratify him, I translated these prophecies,
and sent them to him with the following letter.
Chapter 2
Geoffrey's letter to Alexander, bishop of Lincoln.
"The regard which I owe to your great worth, most
noble prelate, has obliged me to undertake the translation of Merlin's prophecies out of British into Latin, before I had
made an end of the history which I had begun concerning the acts of the British kings. For my design was to have finished
that first, and afterwards to have taken this work in hand; lest by being engaged on both at once, I should be less capable
of attending with any exactness to either. Notwithstanding, since the deference which is paid to your penetrating judgement
will screen me from censure, I have employed my rude pen, and in a coarse style present you with a translation out of a language
with which you are unacquainted. At the same time, I cannot but wonder at your recommending this matter to one of my low genius,
when you might have caused so many men of greater learning, and a richer vein of intellect, to undertake it; who, with their
sublime strains, would much more agreeably have entertained you. Besides, without any disparagement to all the philosophers
in Britain, I must take the liberty to say, that you yourself, if the business of your high station would give you leisure,
ar capable of furnishing us with loftier productions of this kind than any man living. However, since it was your pleasure
that Geoffrey of Monmouth should be employed in this prophecy, he hopes you will favourably accept of his performance, and
vouchsafe to give a finer turn to whatever you shall find unpolished, or otherwise faulty in it.
Chapter 3
The prophecy of Merlin
As Vortigern, king of Britons, was sitting upon
the bank of the drained pond, the two dragons, one of which was white, the other red, came forth, and, approaching one another,
began a terrible fight, and cast forth fire with their breath. But the white dragon had the advantage, and made the other
fly to the end of the lake. And he, for grief at his flight, renewed the assault upon his pursuer, and forced him to retire.
After this battle of the dragons, the king commanded Ambrose Merlin to tell him what it portended. Upon which he, bursting
into tears, delivered what his prophetical spirit suggested to him as follows:-
"Woe to the red dragon, for his banishment haseneth
on. His lurking holes shall be seized by the white dragon, which signifies the Saxons whom you invited over, but the red denotes
the British nation, which shall be oppressed by the white. Therefore shall its mountains be levelled as the valleys, and the
rivers of the valleys shall run with blood. The execise of religion shall be destroyed, and churches be laid open to ruin.
At last the oppressed shall prevail, and oppose the cruelty of foreigners. For a boar of Cornwall shall give his assistance,
and trample their necks under his feet. The islands of the ocean shall be subject to his power, and he shall possess the forests
of Gaul. The house of Romulus shall dread his courage, and his end shall be doubtful. He shall be celebrated in the mouths
of the people; and his exploits shall be food to those that relate them. Six of his posterity shall sway the sceptre, but
after them shall rise a German worm. He shall be advanced by a sea-wolf, whom the woods of Africa shall accompany. Religion
shall again be abolished, and there shall be a translation of the metropolitan sees. The dignity of London shall adorn Dorobernia,
and the seventh pastor of York shall be restored in the kingdom of Armorica. Menevia shall put on the pall of the City of
Legions, and a preacher of Ireland shall be dumb on account of an infant growing in the womb. It shall rain a shower of blood,
and a raging famine shall afflict mankind. When these thing happen, the red one shall be grieved; but when the fatigue is
over, shall grow strong. Then shall misfortunes hasten upon the white one, and the buildings of his gardens shall be pulled
down. Seven that sway the sceptre shall be killed, one of whom shall become a saint. The wombs of mothers shall be ripped
up, and infants be abortive. There shall be a most grievous punishment of men, that the natives may be restored. He that shall
do these things shall put on the brazen man, and upon a brazen horse shall for a long time guard the gates of London. After
this, shall the red dragon return to its proper manners and turn his rage upon himself. Therefore shall the revenge of the
Thunderer show itself, for every field shall disappoint the husbandmen. Mortality shall snatch away the people, and make a
desolation over all countries. The remainder shall quit their native soil, and make foreign plantations. A blessed king shall
prepare a fleet, and shall be reckoned the twelth in the court among the saints. There shall be miserable desolation of the
kingdom, and the the floors of the harvests shall return to the fruitful forests. The white dragon shall rise again, and invite
over a daughter of Germany. Our gardens shall be again replenished with a foreign seed, and the red one shall pine away at
the end of the pond. After that, shall the German worm be crowned, and the brazen prince buried. He has his bounds assigned
him, which he shall not be able to pass. For a hundred and fifty years he shall continue in trouble and subjection, but shall
bear sway three hundred. Then shall the north wind rise against him, and shall snatch away the flowers which the west wind
produced. There shall be gilding in the temples, nor shall the edge of the sword cease. The German dragon shall hardly get
to his holes, because the revenge of his treason shall overtake him. At last he shall flourish for a little time, but the
decimation of Neustria shall hurt him. For a people in wood and in iron coats shall come, and revenge upon him his wickedness.
They shall restore the ancient inhabitants to their dwellings, and there shall be an open destruction of foreigners. The seed
of the white dragon shall be swept out of our gardens, and the remainder of his generation shall be decimated. They shall
bear the yoke of slavery, and wound their mother with spades and ploughs. After this shall succeed two dragons, whereof one
shall be killed with the sting of envy, but the other shall return under the shadow of a name. Then shall succeed a lion of
justice, at whose roar the Gallican towers and the island dragons shall tremble. In those days gold shall be squeezed from
the lily and the nettle, and silver shall flow from the hoofs of bellowing cattle. The frizzled shall put on various fleeces,
and the outward habit denote the inward parts. The feet of barkers shall be cut off; wild beasts shall enjoy peace; mankind
shall be grieved at their punishment; the form of commerce shall be divided; the half shall be round. The ravenousness of
kites shall be destroyed, and the teeth of wolves blunted. The lion's whelps shall be transformed into sea-fishes; and an
eagle shall build her nest upon Mount Aravius. Venedotia shall grow red with the blood of mothers, and the house of Corineus
kill six brethren. The island wet with night tears; so that all shall be provoked to all things. Woe to thee, Neustria, because
the lion's brain shall be poured upon thee: and he shall be banished with shattered limbs from his native soil. Posterity
shall endeavour to fly above the highest places; but the favour of new comers shall be exalted. Piety shall hurt the possessor
of things got by impiety, till he shall have put on his Father: therefore, being armed with the teeth of a boar, he shall
ascend above the tops of mountains, and the shadow of him that wears a helmet. Albania shall be enraged, and, assembling her
neighbours, shall be employed in shedding blood. There shall be put into her jaws a bridle that shall be made on the coast
of Armorica. The eagle of the broken covenant shall gild it over, and rejoice in her third nest. The roaring whelps shall
watch, and, leaving the woods, shall hunt within the walls of cities. They shall make no small slaughter of those that oppose
them, and shall cut of the tongues of bulls. They shall the necks of roaring lions with chains, and restore the times of their
ancestors. Then from the first to the fourth, from the fourth to the third, from the third to the second, the thumb shall
roll in oil. The sixth shall overturn the walls of Ireland, and change the woods into a plain. He shall reduce several parts
to one, and be crowned with the head of a lion. His beginning shall lay open to wandering affection, but his end shall carry
him up to the blessed, who are above. For he shall restore the seats of saints in their countries, and settle pastors in convenient
places. Two cities he shall invest with two palls, and shall bestow virgin-present upon virgins. He shall merit by this the
favour of the Thunderer, and shall be placed among the saints. From him shall proceed a lynx penetrating all things, who shall
be bent upon the ruin of his own nation; for, through him, Neustria shall lose both islands, and be deprived of its ancient
dignity. Then shall the natives resturn back to the island; for there shall arise a dissension among foreigners. Also a hoary
old man, sitting upon a snow-whote horse, shall turn the course of the river Periron, and shall measure out a mill upon it
with a white rod. Cadwallader shall call upon Conan, and take Albania into alliance. Then shall there be a slaughter of foreigners;
then shall the rivers run with blood. Then shall break forth the fountains of Armorica, and they shall be crowned with the
diadem of Brutus. Cambria shall be filled with joy; and the oaks of Cornwall shall flourish. The island shall be called by
the name of Brutus: and the name given it by foreigners shall be abolished. From Conan shall proceed a warlike boar, that
shall exercise the sharpness of his tusks within the Gallic woods. For he shall cut down all the larger oaks, and shall be
a defence to the smaller. The Arabians and Africans shall dread him; for he shall pursue his furious course to the father
part of Spain. There he shall succeed the goat of the Veneral castle, having golden horns and a silver beard, who shall breathe
such a cloud out of his nostrils, as shall darken the whole surface of the island. There shall be peace in his time; and corn
shall abound by reason of the fruitfulness of the soil. Women shall become serpents in their gait, and all their motions shall
be full of pride. The camp of Venus shall be restored; nor shall the arrows of Cupid cease to wound. The fountain of a river
shall be turned into blood; and two kings shall fight a duel at Stafford for a lioness. Luxury shall overspread the whole
ground; and fornication not cease to debauch mankind. All these things shall three ages see; till the buried kings shall be
exposed to public veiw in the city of London. Famine shall again return; mortality shall return; and the inhabitants shall
grieve for the destruction of their cities. Then shall come the board of commerce, who shall recall the scattered flocks to
the pasture they had lost. His breast shall be food to the hungry, and his tongue drink to the thirsty. Out of his mouth shall
flow rivers, that shall water the parched jaws of men. After this shall be produced a tree upon the Tower of London, which,
having no more than three branches, shall overshadow the surface of the whole island with the breadth of its leaves. Its adversary,
the north wind, shall come upon it, and with its noxious blast snatch away the third branch; but the two remaining ones shall
possess its place, till they shall destroy one another by the multitude of their leaves; and then shall it obtain the place
of those two, and shall give sutenance to birds of foreign nations. It shall be esteemed hurtful to native fowls; for they
shall not be able to fly freely for fear of its shadow. There shall succeed the ass of wickedness, swift against the goldsmiths,
but slow against the ravenousness of wolves. In those days the oaks of the forests shall burn, and acorns grow upon the branches
of tell trees. The Severn sea shall discharge itself through seven mouths, and the river Uske burn seven months. Fishes shall
die with the heat thereof; and of them shall be engendered serpents. The baths of Badon shall grow cold, and their salubrious
waters engender death. London shall mourn for the death of twenty thousand; and the river Thames shall be turned into blood.
The monks in their cowls shall be forced to marry, and their cry shall be heard upon the mountains of the Alps."
Chapter 4
The Continuation of the Prophecy.
"Three springs shall
break forth in the city of Wincester, whose rivulets shall divide the island into three parts. Whoever shall drink of the
first, shall enjoy long life, and shall never be afflicted with sickness. He that shall drink of the second, shall die of
hunger, and paleness and horror shall sit in his contenance. He that shall drink of the third, shall be surprised with sudden
death, neither shall his body be capable of burial. Those that are willing to escape so great a surfeit, will endeavour to
hide it with several coverings: but whatever bulk shall be laid upon it, shall recieve the form of another body. For earth
shall be turned into stones; stones into water; wood into ashes; ashes into water, if cast over it. Also a damsel shall be
sent from the city of the forest fo Canute to administer a cure, who, after she shall have practised her arts, shall dry up
the noxious fountains only with her breath. Afterwards, as soon as she shall have refreshed herself with the wholesome liquor,
she shall bear in her right hand the wood of Caledon, and in her left the forts of the walls of London. Wherever she shall
go, she shall make sulphurous steps, which will smoke with a double flame. That smoke shall rouse up the city of Ruteni, and
shall make food for the inhabitants of the deep. She shall overflow with rueful tears, and shall fill the island with her
dreadful cry. She shall be killed by a hart with ten branches, four of which shall bear golden diadems; but the other six
shall be turned into buffalo's horns, whose hideous sound shall astonish the three islands of Britain. The Daneian wood shall
be stirred up, and braking forth into a human voice, shall cry: Come, O Cambria, and join Cornwall to thy side, and say to
Winchester, the earth shall swallow thee up. Translate the seat of thy pastor to the place where ships come to harbour, and
the rest of the members will follow the head. For the day hasteneth, in which thy citizens shall perish on account of the
guilt of perjury. The whiteness of wool has been hurtful to thee, and the variety of its tinctures. Woe to the perjured nation,
for whose sake the reknowned city shall come to ruin. The ships shall rejoice at so great an augmentation, and one shall be
made out of two. It shall be rebuilt by Eric, loaden with apples, to the smell whereof the birds of several woods shall flock
together. He shall add to it a vast palace, and a wall round it with six hundred towers. Therefore shall London envy it, and
triply increase her walls. The river Thames shall encompass it round, and the fame of the work shall pass beyond the Alps.
Eric shall hide his apples within it, and shall make subterraneous passages. At that time shall the stones speak, and the
sea towards the Gallic coast be contracted into a narrow space. On each bank shall one man hear another, and the soil of the
island shall be enlarged. The secrets of the deep shall be revealed, and Gaul shall tremble for fear. After these things shall
come forth a hern from the forest of Calaterium, which shall fly round the island for two years together. With her nocturnal
cry she shall call together the winged kind, and assemble to her all sorts of fowls. They shall invade the tillage of husbandmen,
and devour all the grain of the harvests. Then shall follow a famine upon the people, and a grievous mortality upon the famine.
But when this calamity shall be over, a detestable bird shall go to the valley of Galabes, and shall raise it to be a high
mountain. Upon the top thereof it shall also plant an oak, and build its nest in its branches. Three eggs shall be produced
in the nest, from whence shall come forth a fox, a wolf, and a bear. The fox shall devour her mother, and bear the head of
an ass. In this monstrous form shall she frighten her brothers, and make them fly to Neustria. But they shall stir up the
tusky boar, and returning in a fleet shall encounter with the fox; who at the begining of the fight shall feign herself dead,
and move the boar to compassion. Then shall the boar approach her carcass, and standing over her, shall breathe upon her face
and eyes. But she, not forgetting her cunning, shall bite his left foot, and pluck it off from his body. Then shall she leap
upon him, and snatch away his right ear and tail, and hide herself in the caverns of the mountains. Therefore shall the deluded
boar require the wolf and bear to restore him his members; who, as soon as they shall enter into the cause, shall promise
two feet of the fox, together with the ear and tail, and of these they shall make up the members of a hog. With this he shall
be satisfied, and expect the promised restitution. In the meantime shall the fox descend from the mountains, and change herself
into a wolf, and under presence of holding a conference with the boar, she shall go to him, and craftily devour him. After
that she shall transform herself into a boar, and feigning a loss of some members, shalll wait for her brothers; but as soon
as they are come, she shall suddenly kill them with her tusks, and shall be crowned with the head of a lion. In her days shall
a serpent be brought forth, which shall be a destroyer of mankind. Wit its length it shall encompass London, and devour all
that pass by it. The mountain ox shall take the head of a wolf, and whiten his teeth in the Severn. He shall gather to him
the flocks of Albania and Cambria, which shall drink the river Thames dry. The ass shall call the goat with the long beard,
and shall borrow his shape. Therefore shall the mountain ox be incensed, and having called the wolf, shall become a horned
bull against them. In the excecise of his cruelty he shall devour their flesh and bones, but shall be burned upon the top
of Urian. The ashes of his funeral-pile shall be turned into swans, that shall swim on dry ground as on a river. They shall
devour fishes in fishes, and swallow up men in men. But when old age shall come upon them, they shall become sea-wolves, and
practise their frauds in the deep. They shall drown ships, and collect no small quantity of silver. The Thames shall again
flow, and assembling together the rivers, shall pass beyond the bounds of its channel. It shall cover the adjacent cities,
and overturn the mountains that oppose its course. Being full of deceit and wickedness, it shall make use of the fountain
Galabes. Hence shall arise factions provoking the Venedotians to war. The oaks of the forest shall meet together, and encounter
the rocks of the Gewisseans. A raven shall attend with the kites, and devour the carcasses of the slain. An owl shall build
her nest upon the walls of Gloucester, and in her nest shall be brought forth an ass. The serpent of Malvernia shall bring
him up, and put him upon many fraudulent practices. Having taken the crown, he shall ascend on high, and frighten the people
of the country with his hideous braying. In his days shall the Pachaian mountains tremble, and the provinces be deprived of
their woods. For there shall come a worm with firey breath, and with the vapour it sends forth shall burn up the trees. Out
of it shall proceed seven lions deformed with the heads of goats. With the stench of their nostrils they shall corrupt women,
and make wives turn common prostitutes. The father shall not know his own son, because they shall grow wanton like brute beasts.
Then shall come the giant of wickedness, and terrify all with the sharpness of his eyes. Against him shall arise the dragon
of Worcester, and shall endeavour to banish him..But in the engagement the dragon shall be worsted, and oppressed by the wickedness
of the conqueror. For he shall mount upon the dragon, and putting off his garment sit upon him naked. The dragon shall bear
him up on high, and beat his naked rider with his tail erected. Upon this the giant rousing up his whole strength, shall break
his jaws with his sword. At last the dragon shall fold itself up under its tail, and die of poison. After him shall succeed
the boar of Totness, and oppress the people with grievous tyranny. Gloucester shall send forth a lion, and shall disturb him
in his cruelty, in several battles. He shall trample him under his feet, and terrify him with open jaws. At last the lion
shall quarrel with the kingdom, and get upon the backs of the nobility. A bull shall come into the quarrel, and strike the
lion with his right foot. He shall drive him through all the inns in the kingdom, but shall break his horns against the walls
of Oxford. The fox of Kaerdubalem shall take revenge on the lion, and destroy him entirely with her teeth. She shall be encompassed
by the adder of Lincoln who with a horrible hiss shall give notice of his presence to a multitude of dragons. Then shall the
dragons encounter, and tear one another to pieces. The winged shall oppress that which wants wings, and fasten its claws into
the poisonous cheeks. Others shall come into the quarrel, and kill one another. A fifth shall succeed those that are slain,
and by various stratagems shall destroy the rest. He shall get upon the back of one with his sword, and sever his head from
his body. Then throwing off his garment, he shall get upon another, and put his right and left hand upon his tail. Thus being
naked shall he overcome him, whom when clothed he was not able to deal with. The rest he shall gall in their flight, and drive
them round the kingdom. Upon this shall come a roaring lion dreadful for his monstrous cruelty. Fifteen parts shall reduce
to one, and shall alone possess the people. The giant of the snow-white colour shall shine, and cause the white people to
flourish. Pleasures shall effeminate the princes, and they shall suddenly be changed into beasts. Among them shall rise a
lion swelled with human gore. Under him shall a reaper be placed in the standing corn, who, while he is reaping, shall be
oppressed by him. A charitoeer of York shall appease them, and having banished his lord, shall mount upon the chariot which
he shall drive. With his sword unsheathed shall he threaten the East, and fill the tracks of his wheels with blood. Afterwards
he shall become a sea-fish, who, being roused up with the hissing of a serpent, shall engender with him. From hence shall
be produced three thundering bulls, who having eaten up their pastures shall be turned into trees. The first shall carry a
whip of vipers, and turn his back upon the next. He shall endeavour to snatch away the whip, but shall be taken by the last.
They shall turn away their faces from one another, till they have thrown away the poisened cup. To him shall succeed a husbandman
of Albania, at whose back shall be a serpent. He shall be employed in ploughing the ground, that the country may become white
with corn. The serpent shall endeavour to diffuse his poison, in order to blast the harvest. A grievous mortality shall sweep
away the people, and the walls of cities shall be made desolate. There shall be given for a remedy the city of Claudius, which
shall interpose the nurse of the scourger. For she shall bear a dose of medicine, and in a short time the island shall be
restored. Then shall two successively sway the sceptre, whom a horned dragon shall serve. One shall come in armour, and shall
ride upon a flying serpent. He shall sit upon his back with his naked body, and cast his right hand upon his tail. With his
cry shall the seas be moved, and he shall strike terror into the second. The second therefore shall enter into confederacy
with the lion; but a quarrel happening, they shall encounter one another. They shall distress one another, but the courage
of the beast shall gain the advantage. Then shall come one with a drum, and appease the rage of the lion. Therefore shall
the people of the kingdom be at peace, and provoke the lion to a dose of physic. In his established seat he shall adjust the
weights, but shall stretch out his hands into Albania. For which reason the northern provinces shall be grieved, and open
the gates of the temples. The sign-bearing wolf shall lead his troops, and surround Cornwall with his tail. He shall be opposed
by a soldier in a chariot, who shall transform that people into a boar. The boar therefore shall ravage the provinces, but
shall hide his head in the depth of Severn. A man shall embrace a lion in wine, and the dazzling brightness of gold shall
blind the eyes of the beholders. Silver shall whiten in the circumfrence, and torment several wine presses. Men shall be drunk
with wine, and, regardless of heaven, shall be intent upon the earth. From them shall the stars turn away their faces, and
confound their usual course. Corn will wither at their malign aspects; and there shall fall no dew from heaven. The roots
and branches will change there places, and the novelty of the thing shall pass for a miracle. The brightness of the sun shall
fade at the amber of Mercury, and horror shall seize the beholders. Stilbon of Arcadia shall change his shield; the helmet
of Mars shall call Venus. The helmet of Mars shall make a shadow; and the rage of Mercury pass his bounds. Iron Orion shall
unsheath his sword: the marine Phoebus shall torment the clouds; Jupiter shall go out of his lawful paths; and Venus forsake
her stated lines. The malignity of the star Saturn shall fall down in rain, and slay mankind with a crooked sickle. The twelve
houses of the star shall lament the irregular excursions of their guests.; and Gemini omit their usual embraces, and call
the urn to the fountains. The scales of Libra shall hang obliquely, till Aries puts his crooked horns under them. The tail
of Scorpio shall produce lightning, and Cancer quarrel with the Sun. Virgo shall mount upon the back of Sagittarius, and darken
her virgin flowers. The chariot of the Moon shall disorder the zodiac, and the Pleiades break forth into weeping. No offices
of Janus shall hereafter return, but his gate being shut shall lie hid in the chinks of Ariadne. The seas shall rise up in
the twinkling of an eye, and the dust of the ancients shall be restored. The winds shall fight together with a dreadful blast,
and their sound shall reach the stars.
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