Myrddin Wyllt

Myrddin Wyllt is a figure in medieval Welsh legend. In Middle Welsh poetry he is accounted a chief bard, the speaker of several poems in The Black Book of Carmarthen and The Red Book of Hergest.
The nickname Myrddin Wyllt was applied to the figure at some later time, by the cywyddwyr bards before 1500, and by Elis Gruffydd in his chronicle.
Although Myrddin of Welsh legend was originally unconnected to King Arthur in earlier Welsh tradition, Myrddin was reinvented as Merlin, Arthurian court magician, by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and Myrddin became indistinguishable with Merlin in later Welsh literature. Although Geoffrey considered the Merlin of his Historia Regum Britanniae and his later work Vita Merlini to be the same person at different stages of his life, this view was opposed by Gerald of Wales who considered Merlinus Ambrosius to be separate from Merlinus Celidonius aka Merlinus Sylvester.
Although his legend centres on the Celtic wild man theme, Myrddin's legend is rooted in history, for he is said to have gone mad after the Battle of Arfderydd at which Rhydderch Hael of Strathclyde defeated the Brythonic king Gwenddoleu. According to the Annales Cambriae this took place in 573. Myrddin fled into the forest, lived with the beasts and received the gift of prophecy.
Myrddin Wyllt's legend closely resembles that of a north-British figure called Lailoken, which appears in Jocelyn of Furness' 12th-century Life of Kentigern. Scholars differ as to the independence or identity of Lailoken and Myrddin, though there is more agreement as to Myrddin's original independence from later Welsh legends. A 15th century version, the Vita Merlini Silvestris section I identifies Lailoken as Myrddin, and localizes the occurrence of his triple death at River Tweed in the village of Drumelzier, and claims Lailoken/Myrddin designated a plot near it to be his burial place, in section II of the work.
In later Welsh tradition, Myrddin was reputed to have built a House of Glass for the sake of his beloved, then trapped inside, approximately paralleling French accounts in the Post-Vulgate and Vulgate version of Merlin written in French. Around the 16th century, this Glass House was regarded as the showcase "museum" which held the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain, saved from destruction at Caerleon;' also around the 16th century, the Glass House became localized at Bardsey.

Nomenclature

The nickname Myrddin Wyllt appears to be of later Welsh origin. And while it occurs in the Ysdori Merddin Wylld in the chronicle of Elis Gruffydd, there are earlier attestations, e.g., an interpolation in the Black Book of Carmarthen, though written in a late hand, and usage by the cywyddwyr poets Guto'r Glyn and Ieuan Dyfi.

Welsh literature

Before Geoffrey of Monmouth in 12th century, Myrddin was a relatively minor character unconnected with Arthur, and not much commonality with Merlin beyond both of them being prophets. Although no cohesive prose version of the Welsh Myrddin legend survives from before that time, it can be largely reconstructed based on a group of Middle Welsh poems containing some material considered much older than their redaction in the 13th or 14th century.
The Armes Prydein preserved in the Book of Taliesin contains the line “Myrddin foretells that they will meet”, and if accepted, Myrddin was already recognised as a prophet alongside Taliesin by the 10th or 11th century. The notice of Myrddin possessing the gwenwawt Y Gododdin A, perhaps as old or even older, though this too is uncertain, for this mention is wanting in the B text making it less certain this was attested in the oldest redaction.
On the name Myrddin Wyllt, the byname is modern Welsh gwyllt "wild, mad", and somewhat attested as gwylleith "madness" in the Middle Welsh poem presumed spoken by Merlin. The adjective is cognate to Middle Irish gelt or modern Irish geilt.

Poems of the BBC

The Yr Afallennau ' from the Black Book of Carmarthen begins with the supposed narrator Myrddin addressing the "sweet apple-tree" that grows in Coed Celyddon which is where Myrddin dwells; he is ruminating over the fifty years living a madman in the forest, ever since the Battle of Arfderydd, when his lord Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio was killed by the "lords of Rhidderch"
While it may be surmised Rhydderch had led this attack in battle, other commentators make the point that Rhydderch's involvement in the battle is not explicit in the poems or the Triads, and in fact, Triad 44 names Gwenddoleu's adversaries in the battle as the sons of Eliffer, Gwrgi and Peredur, also Dunawd and Cynfelyn, coinciding with Annales Cambriae stating that the sons of Elifer/Eliver confronted Guendoleu in the Bellum Armterid of year 573.
There are the lines in this Yr Afallennau stating that Myrddin has lost the love of Gwenddydd, incurred the hatred of the supporter of Rhydderch, having "ruined his son and daughter". The bold interpretation given of this by the Chadwicks was that Myrddin had killed his sister's son sired by Rhydderch,. The older translation had dropped the name of Gwasawg given to this supporter in the poem, as discovered by A. O. H. Jarman, opening up the possibility that this Gwasawg was Merlin's sister's husband, and that at any rate, "Gwenddtyd was hostile to Myrddin because of the loss of her son and daughter through him", according to Basil Fulford Lowther Clarke. However, Jarman himself only conceded a much more conservative and vague interpretation, noting that Myrddin had somehow "angered" Gwasawg the supporter "by some obscure event".
In ', the narrator Myrddin addresses a pig, and cautions it to beware "Lest Rydderch Hael and his cunning dogs should come..", thus comparing the pig's danger to his own fugitive circumstance ; other tidbits make reference to the Battle of Arfderydd, but the amount of legend material here is scarce, as the bulk of the work is taken up by prophecies.
A third poetical source from the BBC, , unlike the other poems, literally attests to Myrddin by name. In the first 22 of 38 lines, the two figures discuss the historical invasion of Dyfed by the forces of Maelgwn Gwynedd, naming contemporaneous heroes on each side, but this part is unconnected with the wild man legend. The poem then has Myrddin supposedly predicting the Battle of Arfderydd in the future, but the legendary material here is "tenuous". The last stanza tells of the routed pagan enemy party fleeing to the forest of Celyddon.
The Bedwenni is yet a fourth relevant poem in the BBC, where Myrddin is not named, but is the supposed narrator, as is the case with Yr Afallennau and Yr Oianau.

Conversation with sister

In the Cyfoesi Myrddin a Gwenddydd ei Chwaer from the Red Book of Hergest, Myrddin expresses to his sister the familiar distresses owing to the battle, but the poem also intimates some sort of past estrangement between Myrddin and his sister Gwenddydd, turning towards reconciliation and concern for him.
In the Cyfoesi, stanza III, the sister refers to Myrddin as Llallogan meaning "twin brother", and translated as such. This serves as a hint that the idiot prophet Lailoken of Scottish sources is actually Myrddin.
Other sources suggest Gwenddydd was Myrddin's mistress rather than sister.
The Cyfoesi contains prophesies and instructions by Myrddin concerning the succession of Welsh rulers.

Myrddin in the Grave

In Gwasgargerdd Fyrddin yn y Bedd, Merlin is presumably now dead, and therefore perhaps this poem forms a sequel to the Cyfoesi, which foreshadows Merlin's death. But it is pointed out this poem is standalone in the White Book of Rhydderch.
Myrddin from the grave predicts Wales being taken over by the Norman invasion, and infers William Rufus among them. The poem also mentions Henry I's march in 1114 to subdue the Welsh king Gruffudd ap Cynan, and the prophet predicts wishfully that eventually the "Britons will overcome".
This poem's conclusion is also seen as mentioning the figure Gwasawg in the company of Gwendydd, though again the older translation does not construe a name, Gwasawg, and renders it as the adjective "Servile". Also near the start of this poem, Myrddin is referred to as "son of Morfryn".

Father

As for Myrddin's father Morfryn/Morvryn, his name occurs in the patronymic in Cyfoesi, stanza CII,, Gwasgargerd, which occurs in MS. Peniarth 50, and was omitted by Skene, who edited and translated almost all of the poetical Myrddin material.
Myrddin's father is also named in the "note in a late hand in BBC", i.e., the later added inscription attesting to the nickname Myrddin Wyllt in the Black Book, already mentioned above.
The patronymic with Morfryn as father also occurs in the triads, i.e. Triad 87 of the "Three Skilful Bards.. at Arthur's Court", naming Myrddin fab Morvryn, Myrddyn Emrys, and Taliesin.
Bromwich notes that this Myrddin—Morfryn lineage is not attested in any of the northern genealogies. In Geoffrey's Historia of course, Merlin had no human father.

Brothers

In the Battle of Arfderydd, alongside Gwenddoleu there were also slain Llwelyn, Gwgawn, Einiawn, and Rhiwallawn, the sons of Morfryn, thus Myrddin's brothers, according to Robert Vaugn based on some source he had accessed, but which has not been passed down to posterity. The names of these men also appear in the aforementioned poem Peirian Faban/''Peirian Vaban from the 15th century Peniarth 50 manuscript.
Meanwhile, John Carey hypothesizes that Morgenau, Morien, and Morial/Mordaf in Cyfoesi'' might be a listing the names of Myrddin's brothers, as their deaths are sufficiently aggrieving to Gwenddydd to be uttered next to Myrddin's death. And Gwenddydd calling Myrddin her "only brother" could more sensibly be construed to mean that Myrddin had become her only surviving brother, according to Carey's hypothesis.