Myrddin
Myrddin Wyllt (Welsh: [ˈmərðɪn ˈwɨɬt]—"Myrddin the Wild", Cornish: Merdhyn Gwyls, Breton: Marzhin Gouez) is a figure in medieval Welsh legend. In Middle Welsh poetry he is accounted a chief bard, the speaker of several poems in The Black Book of Carmarthen and The Red Book of Hergest.
The nickname Myrddin Wyllt (the "wild" or "mad" Myrddin) was applied to the figure at some later time, by the cywyddwyr bards before 1500, and by Elis Gruffydd (1490–1552) in his chronicle.
Although Myrddin of Welsh legend was originally unconnected to King Arthur in earlier Welsh tradition, Myrddin was reinvented as Merlin, Arthurian court magician, by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and Myrddin became indistinguishable with Merlin in later Welsh literature. Although Geoffrey considered the Merlin of his Historia Regum Britanniae and his later work Vita Merlini to be the same person at different stages of his life, this view was opposed by Gerald of Wales (Itinerarium Cambriae II.viii) who considered Merlinus Ambrosius (Myrddin Emrys) to be separate from Merlinus Celidonius aka Merlinus Sylvester (equivalent of Myrddin Wyllt).
Although his legend centres on the Celtic wild man theme, Myrddin's legend is rooted in history, for he is said to have gone mad after the Battle of Arfderydd (Arthuret) at which Rhydderch Hael of Strathclyde defeated the Brythonic king Gwenddoleu. According to the Annales Cambriae this took place in 573. Myrddin fled into the forest, lived with the beasts and received the gift of prophecy.
Myrddin Wyllt's legend closely resembles that of a north-British figure called Lailoken, which appears in Jocelyn of Furness' 12th-century Life of Kentigern. Scholars differ as to the independence or identity of Lailoken and Myrddin, though there is more agreement as to Myrddin's original independence from later Welsh legends. A 15th century version, the Vita Merlini Silvestris section I (aka "Lailoken and Kentigerni") identifies Lailoken as Myrddin, and localizes the occurrence of his triple death at River Tweed in the village of Drumelzier, and claims Lailoken/Myrddin designated a plot near it to be his burial place, in section II of the work (aka "Lailoken and Meldred").
In later Welsh tradition (14th or 15th century), Myrddin was reputed to have built a House of Glass for the sake of his beloved, then trapped inside, approximately paralleling French accounts in the Post-Vulgate and Vulgate version of Merlin written in French. Around the 16th century, this Glass House was regarded as the showcase "museum" which held the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain, saved from destruction at Caerleon;' also around the 16th century, the Glass House became localized at Bardsey (Welsh: Ynys Enlli).
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