Geoffrey’s name is, to serious historians, mud. From his Oxford study in the twelfth century he produced a long, racy hotch-potch of “history” from the Trojan war (where Brutus “the King of the Britons” fought) to the seventh century A.D., arranging his facts to suit his story, and when he got short on facts (which was on every page), inventing them out of the whole cloth. Historically speaking, the Historia Regum Brittaniae is appalling, but as a story it is tremendous stuff, and has been a source and inspiration for the great cycle of tales called the Matter of Britain, from Malory’s Morte d’Arthur to Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, from Parsifal to Camelot.

The central character of the Historia is Arthur, King of the first united Britain. Geoffrey’s Arthur is the hero of legend, but it is certain that Arthur was a real person, and I believe the same applies to Merlin, though the “Merlin” that we know is a composite of at least four people; prince, prophet, poet and engineer. He appears first in legend as a youth. My imaginary account of his childhood is coloured by the phrase in the Historia: “the well of Galapas,3 where he wont to haunt,” and by a reference to “my master Blaise”—who becomes in my story Belasius. The Merlin legend is as strong in Brittany as in Britain.

One or two brief notes to finish with.

I gave Merlin’s mother the name Niniane because this is the name of the girl (Vivian/Niniane/Nimue) who according to legend seduced the enchanter in his dotage and so robbed him of his powers, leaving him shut in his cave to sleep till the end of time. No other women are associated with him. There is so strong a connection in legend (and indeed in history) between celibacy or virginity, and power, that I have thought it reasonable to insist on Merlin’s virginity.

Mithraism had been (literally) underground for years. I have postulated a local revival for the purpose of my story, and the reasons given by Ambrosius seem likely. From what we know of the real Ambrosius, he was Roman enough to follow the “soldiers’ god.”4

About the ancient druids so little is known that (according to the eminent scholar I consulted) they can be considered “fair game”. The same applies to the megaliths of Carnac (Kerrec) in Brittany, and to the Giants’ Dance of Stonehenge near Amesbury. Stonehenge was erected around 1500 B.C., so I only allowed Merlin to bring one stone from Killare. At Stonehenge it is true that one stone—the largest—is different from the rest. It comes originally, according to the geologists, from near Milford Haven, in Wales. It is also true that a grave lies within the circle; it is off centre, so I have used the midwinter sunrise rather than the midsummer one towards which the Dance is oriented.