Tales of Merlin, Arthur, and the Magic Arts : From the Welsh Chronicle of the Six Ages of the World

The original Welsh stories of these beloved characters and their world for the first time in English The stories in Tales of Merlin, Arthur, and the Magic Arts deal with well-known figures from medieval Britain who will be familiar to many readers—though not from the versions presented here. These freshly translated tales emerge from the remarkable and enormous sixteenth-century Chronicle of the Six Ages of the World by the Welshman Elis Gruffydd. Tales of Merlin, Arthur, and the Magic Arts revives the original legends of these Welsh heroes alongside stories of the continued survival of the magical arts, from antiquity to the Renaissance, and the broader cultural world of the Welsh. These stories provide a vivid and faithful rendering of Merlin, Arthur, and the many original folktales left out of the widespread accounts of their exploits.About the AuthorPatrick K. Ford is Margaret Brooks Robinson Professor Emeritus of Celtic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. Jerry Hunter is Professor of Welsh and Celtic Studies at Bangor University in Wales.From the Back Cover“Elis Gruffydd was one of the great characters of the Tudor age—ravenous for knowledge of an expanding world, critical, skeptical, and, improbable though it may seem, our best source for some of the most marvelous stories of poetry and magic to have survived from his homeland. Patrick Ford’s idiomatic but faithful translations capture the flavor of the Chronicle beautifully.”—Catherine McKenna, Margaret Brooks Robinson Professor of Celtic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University "Tales of Merlin, Arthur, and the Magic Arts revives the original legends of these Welsh heroes alongside stories of the continued survival of the magical arts, from antiquity to the Renaissance, and the broader cultural world of the Welsh. The military conquest of Wales was complete with the death of the last native prince of Wales in 1282, and the sixteenth-century Act of Union brought Wales into the bureaucratic structures of England and denied official status to the Welsh language. Welsh language and culture, however, continued to thrive. Presented in English for the first time, these stories provide a vivid and faithful rendering of Merlin, Arthur, and the many original folktales left out of the widespread accounts of their exploits"-- Provided by publisher Contents Introduction Translator’s Note The Texts I Earliest Times, Ancient and Biblical II Merlin and Arthur III Tales of Magic, Prophecy, and the Supernatural Glossary