- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Mainstream Publishing; illustrated edition edition (27 Aug 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1845962486
- ISBN-13: 978-1845962487
- Product Dimensions: 14.1 x 3.4 x 22.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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- #74 in Books > Biography > Historical > Britain > Early British to Anglo-Saxon: BCE-1000 AD
Finding Merlin: The Truth Behind the Legend
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Merlin: the very name evokes intriguing images - magician, wise man, prophet, adviser to Arthur, counsellor of Camelot. The legend is famous but not the truth: that Merlin was a historical figure, a Briton, who hailed not from England or Wales, as traditional wisdom would have it, but from Scotland.
Adam Ardrey brings back to life Merlin's role in the cataclysmic battles between reason and religion of sixth-century Britain - battles which Merlin would ultimately lose. From the time of his death up until the present day, historical records relating to Merlin have been altered, his true provenance and importance obscured and his name changed to mean 'Madman'. The same fate awaited Merlin's twin sister, Languoreth, as intelligent and powerful as her brother but, as a woman, a greater threat to the power of church and state. Languoreth's existence was all but obliterated and her story lost - until now.
Finding Merlin uncovers new evidence and re-examines the old. The places where Merlin was born, lived, died and was buried are identified, as well as the people surrounding him - his nemesis Mungo and his friend the hero Arthur. In this impressively well-researched and accessibly written book, Merlin walks from the pages of legend into history.
About the Author
Adam Ardrey is an advocate and lives in Glasgow with his wife and three children. He was the first chairman of the Moira Anderson Foundation, a charity set up to combat the effects of child sex abuse, and has previously worked in television and as a solicitor.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
worthwhile for anyone looking into Merlin,
By A. Fosse "Neet" (Brussels, Belgium) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Finding Merlin: The Truth Behind the Legend (Hardcover)
I picked up this book when I was looking for a different view on the question of Merlin, and found it to be an interesting theory.
What has been said in other reviews here about Merlin being Welsh or Cornish or that Ardry is making assumptions noone with scholary knowledge would make I find to be foolish and wrong. The argument of Merlin being of Scottish origin has been made before and several times at that, and that by researchers who themself are of scholary knowledge. You need not look far, you can pick up for instance the The Mammoth Book of King Arthur (Mammoth Books) to mention one that argues this point among other possibility. The fact is that seeing as historical record from the age after Roman occupation is very scant and much has been proven to be forgeries as well as exaggerated indeed, opens up the search area to include quite a huge area as well as timeframe for when the supposed history of Arthur and Merlin took place. Some make the argument for a Welsh connection, others the Cornish, others again the Scottish connection and the timeframe goes from AD 400 up to 700. There are as many contenders for Merlin as there is for Arthur and I for one think that the author has made a good and thourough argument for the timeframe of the AD 500's as well as for the Scottish connection. One does not have to agree with everything, but to concider this book as nothing but fancifull pseudo historical writings is to make a mistake, as that seems to me to suggest that one has already a prejudice against the very idea presented in this book and others who are looking into this area of tumultous history. For those who think that nothing new can be found in the history as well as the myths and legends of Arthur and Merlin should skip this book, as you well have seen in the other reviews here people of that frame of mind tends to have a closed mind for the "new" ideas presented by Ardry. Are you however of the open minded kind as well the curious type I highly reccomend you pick up this book as it might offer you some new insights on the matter of Merlin. Having read a lot on this subject and being someone of an open mind I found lots that gave clues to further reading and would actually reccommend you pick up this book along with the classical book The Life of Merlin, Vita Merlini (Forgotten Books) though this book arguably and largely has been manipulated by the author, along with The Mammoth Book of Merlin (Mammoth Books) as you might get some new insight and inspiration in your persuit of the historical Merlin. I hope to have been of assistance and wish you luck in your quest for knowledge!
14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Arthurian Pseudohistory at its most unlikely,
By
This review is from: Finding Merlin: The Truth Behind the Legend (Hardcover)
In the great tradition of Arthurian pseudohistory Ardey follows in the footsteps of many other poorly researched historical attempts to find a Real Merlin and Arthur. His central thesis is based on the idea that Artuir mac Aedan is the real Arthur, an idea used by a number of other writers and the book examines late sixth century Scotland. In Finding Merlin Ardey relies on taking as reliable evidence the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Celtic Saint's lives, notorious for unreliability, and rewriting them to fit his bizarre theories in which a Christian conspiracy has tried to hide the TRUTH about Merlin ala The Da Vinci Code. Amongst other nonsense he claims that Merlin Caledonius is not buried in the Scottish Borders, as Scottish tradition backed by Sir Walter Scott has claimed for hundreds of years; that St Mungo, beloved founder of Glasgow, is a psychopath, a murderer and a thief; that Merlin was not a mad prophet but a politician and a scientist and that the main Saxon invasion of the British Isles took place not in Kent but in Scotland. Despite proclaiming Merlin was persecuted as a pagan he removes from the Merlin legend all the weird elements of Celtic shamanism which make Merlin an interesting figure. Full of poor logic and weak argument it is mainly enjoyable for spotting the massive mistakes and those with knowledge of the period and the mysterious Old North of Rheged and Strathclyde will soon be roused to baffled fury. Nicholai Tolstoy's interesting speculative book on the Scottish Merlin based on solid research (i.e not using Geoffrey of Monmouth as a guide to dark age history) is far better than this book despite its radical conclusions and Geoffrey Ashe's recent book on Merlin is excellent too. Or if you want wild unhistorical fantasies about Merlin why not go to the original Geoffrey of Monmouth which at least has the excuse it was written 900 years ago.
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
What a Load of Cobblers,
By
This review is from: Finding Merlin: The Truth Behind the Legend (Hardcover)
Previously historians have had to puzzle out a picture of the dark ages from archaeology and scanty written sources, however Mr. Ardrey feels able to provide an in-depth political analysis of 7th century Britain, complete with detailed character sketches of the major players. Other hearty chuckles to be had in this book are when Mr. Ardrey claims an Arthurian connection for his own surname, when he translates Welsh names with a Scots Gaelic dictionary and blames the Welsh language for any garbled results, refers to Partick as The Royal Town Of Partick in Capitals all the time For No Reason, when he claims Merlin's house was two streets up from where I live (I'll be putting that on the ad when I sell my flat), and when he transports the entire body of British myth and dark age history to the author's own little corner of South West Scotland in order to pad out his fantastic story, sorry I mean true account of events. Apparently the rest of the island of Britain had a big sign on it throughout the 6th and 7th centuries saying `Not Much Happening Here'.
Maybe there was a decent novel lurking in here somewhere, but as a work of historical research it is worthless.
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