Merlin mentioned in book from 1250‏

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Ghostly faces and lines of verse previously invisible to the naked eye have been uncovered in the oldest surviving medieval manuscript written entirely in Welsh.

"The Black Book of Carmarthen," dating to 1250, contains texts from the ninth through 12th centuries, including some of the earliest references to Arthur and Merlin.

"It's easy to think we know all we can know about a manuscript like the 'Black Book,' but to see these ghosts from the past brought back to life in front of our eyes has been incredibly exciting," Myriah Williams, a doctoral student at the University of Cambridge, said in a statement. "The drawings and verse that we're in the process of recovering demonstrate the value of giving these books another look." [See Images of the Black Book and Ghostly Faces]

In 1904, Sir John Williams, the founder of the National Library of Wales, bought the book, which measures 6.7 by 5 inches. Only recently did Myriah Williams and Paul Russell, a professor at Cambridge's department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (ASNC), examine the pages of the book.

"The margins of manuscripts often contain medieval and early modern reactions to the text, and these can cast light on what our ancestors thought about what they were reading," Williams explained. "The 'Black Book' was particularly heavily annotated before the end of the 16th century."

Williams and Russell said they think a man named Jaspar Gryffyth, a 16th-century owner of the book who copied his name in Hebrew onto the book, likely erased such "reactions." These verses and doodles would've been added to the manuscript over centuries as it was passed from one owner to another. "He fits the time frame for the erasures, which we know would have been in the late 16th century, but we can only speculate that he might have been the one to take it upon himself to 'cleanse' the manuscript," Williams told Live Science in an email.

Using UV light and photo-editing software, Williams and Russell revealed glimpses of some of the erased doodles. For instance, page fol. 39v of the newly visible work includes ghostly faces and a line of text accompanying them, which date to the 14th or 15th century, Williams said. On the following page, fol. 40v, a full verse, possibly dating to the 13th century, came to light. "There is one more drawing so far that we are still working on," Williams said.

"What we have discovered may only be the tip of the iceberg in terms of what can be discovered as imaging techniques are enhanced," Russell said in the statement. "The manuscript is extremely valuable and incredibly important — yet there may still be so much we don't know about it." [10 Words in Medieval Voynich Manuscript Decoded]

Scientists think a single scribe collected and recorded the book's contents, ranging from religious verse to different types of poetry, over that individual's lifetime. The text in the 54-page book changes from large script written on alternating ruled lines of vellum to later pages with much smaller lettering and lines that are much closer together.

Williams, who studied the manuscript for her doctoral dissertation, has some favorite pages and verses, she said. Her favorite page, fol. 49r, holds various styles and layouts, along with an example of the scribe's penchant for writing on the book's margins. "It also contains a fantastic stylized image of a dog, possibly a greyhound," Williams said, adding that the book's scribe likely made the drawing. Two verses were also added, likely by this scribe, on the right margin of 49r.

"I am also fond of the central poem of this page, a short series of verses cursing a goose for pulling out the eye of Gwallawg, the figure after whom the poem has been named by scholars," Williams said.

In another entry, the legendary hero Arthur describes the virtues of his men in order to gain entrance to a court, the researchers noted. Two prophetic poems are attributed to the famed Merlin, as well, with the first poem of the book a conversation between him and Welsh poet Taliesin.

And in a text entitled "Englynion y Beddau" (or "Stanzas of the Graves"), a narrator claims to know where some 80 warriors are buried.

Williams said she hopes to continue to improve the reading of the newly revealed work on page fol. 40v and to learn more about the scribe's process of collecting works for the book. "Furthermore, I hope that I can use the information that we have gained from the margins and gaps to continue to develop a picture of the life of the 'Black Book' after the 'Black Book' scribe had completed his work," Williams said.
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Interesting!


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I would LOVE to be able to read that book!!!!! I hope they don't hide it away!!!!

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Likely be transcribed somewhere and the book itself hidden away.


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I would hope that they would make copies of that book for the masses to see.


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awesome! What a treasure


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I was just looking at this article recently! There are translations out that you can get online of the four ancient books of wales, including the black book of carmarthen. I would love to get one or look online through the manuscripts. That's not to say that some of it may be left out or still uncovered like this recent discovery. But I love stuff like this lol


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The Bristol city library has revealed a new Merlin tale in their archives: https://wildhunt.org/2019/02/uk-new-mer ... hives.html
It’s in seven handwritten fragments, which would fill about 20 pages of a modern paperback, and which were written in the 13th century.

The pieces are slightly damaged, and will need to be restored. Written in French, these pieces were found in the (non-Arthurian) work of a 15th century scholar, Jean Gerson, which would have been printed in Strasbourg between 1494 and 1502. This would probably have been bound in England in the 16th century and the fragments incorporated into it as part of the binding as a cost saving measure – being perceived merely as old scraps of paper lying around the binder’s workshop. Parchment was expensive and re-using paper in this way was commonplace. It seems likely that the fragments were pasted onto the inside of the covers, but later were peeled off and used as part of the flyleaf.

The story itself tells the tale of the Battle of Trèbes, in which Arthur and his knights are pitched against King Claudas. Merlin gives a stirring speech to inspire Arthur’s troops and actually leads a charge himself with the aid of Sir Kay’s fire breathing battle standard, which features a dragon.

The story is probably part of the ‘Estoire de Merlin,’ written in Old French and from a series of texts known as the Vulgate, or Lancelot-Grail, cycle, which Sir Thomas Malory used as a basis for his famous work Le Morte d’Arthur....The Vulgate Cycle itself is, scholars believe, an attempt to match the Matter of Britain to the Christian tone of the Matter of France, and to de-emphasise the relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere.

Michael Richardson, a special collections librarian at Bristol, found the fragments by accident when searching for material to give Medieval studies postgrads. He says that one word jumped out at him: Merlin. He immediately showed the fragments to Dr. Leah Tether, an academic based at Bristol University and the president of the British branch of the International Arthurian Society.

“As soon as I opened them, I could immediately see that the fragments were early, in terms of Arthurian narrative,” she says. “Bearing in mind that most of the Old French versions of the legend were written in the early 13th century, this manuscript is quite close in time to those original compositions.”

It’s not the first time that this particular story has come to light – there are different versions of it throughout the Vulgate cycle itself, but this one has some variations. Different people lead the charges during the battle, for example, in these newly-discovered pieces. Tether says

“These fragments are a wonderfully exciting find, which may have implications for the study not just of this text but also of other related and later texts that have shaped our modern understanding of the Arthurian legend."

But even if Malory did not use this story, it’s still a fascinating find.

“Time and research will reveal what further secrets about the legends of Arthur, Merlin and the Holy Grail these fragments might hold. The south-west of England and Wales are, of course, closely bound up with the many locations made famous by the Arthurian legend, so it is all the more special to find an early fragment of the legend – one pre-dating any version written in English – here in Bristol.”

...Attempts to ‘place’ the action in the Arthurian tales is a perennial exercise for both amateur and professional historians, but the discovery of this fragmentary tale will add new fuel to the imaginations and research of those who are interested in the Matter of Britain.


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