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Prophetiae Merlini Silvestris ‘The prophecies of Merlin Silvester’

  • Latin
  • prose

A collection of prophecies of English kings, which are much indebted to Book VII of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia. Not every manuscript witness contains the full set, but the complete version consists of three texts: (1) Arbor fertilis, about Edward the Confessor’s dream vision concerning the Norman invasion and the accession of Henry II; (2) Sicut rubeum draconem, a king-list running from William I to John; and (3) Mortuo leone, concerning Stephen and Henry II.

Author
Ascribed to: Merlin
Merlin
(time-frame ass. with King Arthur)
magician in Arthurian legend; primarily a creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth, who appears to have based his character on the prophet Myrddin as well as Ambrosius Aurelianus.
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Manuscripts

The following overview reproduces that by Victoria Flood (2018).

13th century :

London, British Library, MS Additional 40007
f. 41v

Arbor fertilis only.

London, British Library, MS Cotton Nero D viii
f. 175r

Mortuo leone only.

London, British Library, MS Cotton Faustina A viii
ff. 115r–116r
Complete.
London, British Library, MS Royal 5 F xv
f. 3v

Mortuo leone.

London, British Library, MS Royal 8 D iii
f. 163rb

Mortuo leone.

London, British Library, MS Arundel 409
ff. 23r–24r

Sicut rubeum and Mortuo leone.

London, British Library, MS Harley 1717
f. 250v

Sicut rubeum (imperfect, beginning missing) and Mortuo leone.

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 313
f. 73r–v
All three prophecies.
London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 144
ff. 33v–34r

13th century? Contains Sicut rubeum and Mortuo leone.

14th century :

Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 28
ff. 168r–169r
Complete.
London, British Library, MS Cotton Nero A iv
ff. 63r–65r

Sicut rubeum and Mortuo leone.

Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff. 1. 27 pp. 253-470, 497-642, 41-72 [s. xiv]
pp. 497(112r)–498(112v)

Complete.

London, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius A ix
ff. 2r–3v
Complete.
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 404
ff. 96v–98r
Complete.
Cambridge, St John's College, MS G 16
ff. 112v–113r
Complete.
London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 527
ff. 44r–45v

Scicut rubeum and Mortuo leone.

London, British Library, MS Royal 15 C xvi
ff. 183vb–184r

Late 14th or early 15th c. Complete.

Other :

Dublin, Trinity College, MS 514 3, ff. 78r-92v [s. xiv]
ff. 78r–79r
Language
  • Latin
Form
prose (primary)
Textual relationships
(Possible) sources: Vita sancti Edwardi regis et confessoris (Ailred of Rievaulx)Vita sancti Edwardi regis et confessoris (Ailred of Rievaulx)View incoming dataHistoria regum BritanniaeHistoria regum BritanniaeGeoffrey of Monmouth's pseudohistorical narrative of the kings of Britain, from the foundation of Britain to the Anglo-Saxon conquest.Here prophecyHere prophecyView incoming dataGesta regis Henrici secundiGesta regis Henrici secundiView incoming data
Related: Expugnatio HibernicaExpugnatio Hibernica

Classification

Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] Parry, John Jay, Brut y brenhinedd: Cotton Cleopatra version, Mediaeval Academy of America, 27, Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1937.
225–226 [‘Appendix B: Prophetia Merlini Silvestris’] Edition based on Cotton Faustina A viii, with “occasional variants from Arundel 409 and, in the latter half, from Cotton Nero D. viii”.

Secondary sources (select)

Flood, Victoria, “Prophecy as history: a new study of the Prophecies of Merlin Silvester”, Neophilologus 102 (2018): 543–559.
web page identifiers
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
March 2023, last updated: June 2023
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