Mark Megahan
The phenomenally rare manuscript tells “the tale of Merlin and the early heroic years of King Arthur’s court.” It happens to be “the only surviving fragment.” Like the magician himself it was imprisoned incognito “within the bindings of an Elizabethan deeds register for nearly 400 years.” Thanks to the magic of modern technology, a team was able to read the entire text without un-stitching anything.
Early years of Merlin
Historians are happily amazed at the discovery of a nearly complete “lost medieval manuscript telling the tale of Merlin and the early heroic years of King Arthur’s court.”
Because it was written in French, nobody had a clue what the thing bound into the bindings of “an Elizabethan deeds register” really was. It sat there totally unnoticed for 400 years or so.
This version of the tale relates how Merlin “becomes a blind harpist who later vanishes into thin air.” When he pops back into the story he’s “a balding child who issues edicts to King Arthur wearing no underwear.”
Shape shifting is one of his strongest talents. They say he gets that from his mom’s side of the family.
“The shape-shifting Merlin – whose powers apparently stem from being the son of a woman impregnated by the devil – asks to bear Arthur’s standard on the battlefield.”
It’s a good thing he let the wizard fly a flag bearing his coat of arms because his new ally had some powerful artillery in reserve. “A magic, fire-breathing dragon.”
Trash or treasure
In 1625, there were King Arthur stories flying around medieval social media like 50 Shades of Gray. “The Suite Vulgate du Merlin was originally written around 1230, a time when Arthurian romances were particularly popular among noblewomen.”
That’s why the Elizabethans didn’t think twice about using the old fragment “to help protect an archival register of property deeds.” It had more value to them as a book cover than a book. It was “folded and stitched into the binding of the 16th-Century register.”
Using 21st century magic, “researchers at the library were able to digitally capture the most inaccessible parts of the fragile parchment without unfolding or un-stitching it.”
“This preserved the manuscript in situ and avoided irreparable damage.” They used some tricks Merlin would be impressed with.
“One of the ‘trickiest‘ challenges the team faced was how to access the text hidden by folds.” The solution “was for conservators to carefully handle the parchment while technicians inserted a ‘very narrow‘ macro probe lens into the darkest crevices of the hidden areas via any part of the parchment that was still accessible.” The rest of the text they scanned with every length of light from ultraviolet to infrared.
“The Suite Vulgate du Merlin tells us about Arthur’s early reign, his relationship with the knights of the round table and his heroic fight with the Saxons. It really shows Arthur in a positive light – he’s this young hero who marries Guinevere, invents the Round Table and has a good relationship with Merlin, his advisor.“
