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Merlin Prophecies
THE PROPHECY OF MERLIN.
As Vortegirn, king of the 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
hasteneth 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 exercise 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 he 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 arise a German
worm. He shall be advanced by a sea-wolf, whom the woods of
Africa shall accompany. Religion shall be again 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 resorted to 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
things happen, the red one shall be grieved; but when his
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 ripped up, and infants he 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 his 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 twelfth in the court among the saints. There shall he
a miserable desolation of the kingdom, and 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 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 frizled 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 shall be wet with night-tears;
so that all shall he 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 he 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 off the
tongues of bulls. They shall load 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-presents upon virgins. He shall merit
by this the favour of the Thunderer, and shall he 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 return back
to the island; for there shall arise a dissension among foreigners.
Also a hoary old man, sitting upon a snow-white 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 he 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 farther part of Spain. There shall
succeed the goat of the Venereal 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 stall be full
of pride. The camp of Venus shall he 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 view 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 he 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 shall 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 sustenance to birds of foreign nations.
It shall he 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 teil 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."
"Three springs shall break forth in the
city of Winchester, 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 countenance. He that
shall drink of the third, shall he 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 receive 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 of Canute to administer
a cure, who, after she shall have practiced all 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 sulphureous 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 he turned into buffalo’s horns,
whose hideous sound shall astonish the three islands of Britain.
The Daneian wood shall be stirred up, and breaking 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 renowned 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 wall it round 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 into Neustria.
But they shall stir up the tusky boar, and returning in a
fleet shall encounter with the fox who at the beginning of
the fight shall feign herself dead, and move the boar to compassion.
Then shall the boar approach her carcase, 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 mean time shall
the fox descend from the mountains, and change herself
into a wolf, and under pretence 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, shall 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. With 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
exercise 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 carcases 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
a fiery 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 shall 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 he 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 arise 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 charioteer
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 poisoned 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 beholders. Silver shall whiten in the circumference,
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 their 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 stars 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 put 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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