The True History of Merlin the Magician

Some people seem to be missing the point about this book. It is made very clear at the beginning that Merlin was invented by Geoffrey of Monmouth, but for four hundred years people believed he was real. This book is about the history of the character during that period. So you will find no attempts......more

Many people see Merlin the Magician of King Arthur fame as a fictitious character made up in the 12th century. The auhtor of this book points out that there is evidence that such a character existed based on earlier Welsh poetry. The book deals with the 4 or 5 centuries where educated people saw Mer......more

Very interesting story of the extent to which Merlin the Magician was for centuries taken to have been absolutely real. When surveying medieval literature about Merlin the author distinguishes between those books which used him as a character in a story and the surprising number which treated him as......more

2.5/5 the beginning and the end were REALLY good. the middle made me feel like i was listening to a lecture where you keep spacing off but no matter how much you aren't listening you never miss anything because it is so repetitive & dry tbh tho the best part was when she was like "something something......more

Thought this was really interesting. I didn't know that Merlin was considered a historical figure and that the telling of his magic and prophecies was crucial to spreading knowledge about British history. I also thought it was interesting how said magic was believed to be true like those in the bibl......more