After 911, my two Harvard buddies – began to change! They claim – I was the one that changed. Mark Gall said I had become “odd”. Is he referring to my claim – I AM THE ANTICHRIST? When Sarah Palin came to Eugene, I came as the Antichrist to protest in front of the Hyatt where she was staying. I had a tall Merlin hat on because he was a candidate for The Antichrist. I dressed as Merlin Antichrist when I protested against the Iraq War with Joy Gall – who changed when she became a Christian Scientist. She did not want me around her New Holy Science Folk shouting. People are encouraged to get religion – when they want to change! To each their own?
“I’m the Antichrist!”
I do not know if Joy is a Jew, like her husband. Ed Corbin married a Jew, and she born three sons – that are Jews. Thus, I watched my Jewish Harvard friends – circle their Tribal Wagons after the attack on the World Trade Towers – along with a million Jews all over the world – who felt threatened, and more vulnerable than Gentiles, because of their Dual Citizenship. I saw Liberal Jews and Liberal Christian, leaning towards THE CHRISTIAN-RIGHT, they hinting it was best to have a First Line of Divine Protection, and let the Nutty Folk for Christ be the shock troops. My educated Harvard Graduates thought I had flipped. This can’t be true! They aren’t being Copouts of the Liberal Leftist Bohemian Movement.
“I’ts you! You are the Neo-Nazi interested in preserving and promoting the White Race – ONLY! You are Tribal White Aryan Betrayers of the Jews!”
My Harvard buddies didn’t have THE GUTS to acually come out and say what they thought! Not so the Harvard Stuents of today!
It was around this time that I told them about my cartoon book ‘My Christ-Complex’ starring three Harvad Graduates – who dopped out of society after graduating. One give birth to a son when the cresnt moos in cradling a star, like the star you can see if you wake early tommorrow,.
“This sson is raised as a hippie, but grows up to beome a Billionaire Hippie. I based this character on Donald Trump!”
This is when THEY thought I had flipped – taken too much acid. Trump is on rial for fraud. In my book he goes to the Fed lock-up! I will show this post to Ed’s sons, Eden, Freeman, and Cosmos, who will be mad at me. They are – resepected busnessmen. They were raised as real hippies in a house Ed made in the woods. He was a Back To Nature Harvard Guy, who never met my brother, Mark Presco. Neither id Mark Gall – whp wrote in a e-mail I was never cnsidered a homary member of the Gall Family. The Corbins – used to consider me – one of the family! What happened? Google Modern Releigious Tribalism and the Jews – who see themselves as One Bid Family – under constant attack. After 911, the comvoft levelof the Gall and Corbin Families – DROPPED! Familiness had to be taken seriously – and Family Loyalty – ENFORCED! My call for the Baja Israel – was deeply frwned upon. I was put in The JSuspect udas Pile
Today, I put the Galls in bewith my brother, who was a real Neo-Nazi and Proud Racist. He made a carving of a Nazi and Sqawitika when he was sixteen – and hung it above his bed! Mark Presco was all for the lawfirm of Robert Buck sellling out families Artistic Legacy to outsiders. When I refused to sign the NA Tom Snyder sent me, Mark DISOWNED ME. If I had signed the NA I would not b ableto write about my famous sister and her family – that would include the history of the Corbin’s and Galls. I would be allowed to write about Virginia Hambley propsoing marriage to me, which propted me to talk to a female rabbi at the Hillel center, who told me Virginia is not moraly respocible for the death of Jews, instegated by her illustious great grandparents, who were the head of the Vicky government.
Willamette Riverkeeper, Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild filed the lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management for the agency’s authorization of the Big League Project in the Calapooia and Mohawk River Watersheds.
Frank Buck made his lumber train go to Marcola so he could denude our woods. The Cosmic Hippie Messiah was – hell bent on saving our Planet in a ecological way. Intellect Jews got rid of that Magical Hippie, and embraced Jerry Farwell, who promised to back Israel with a New Crusader Army. Or, so it would appear. Farrell was just interested in protecting his Evangelical Family. To hell with saving our beautiful planet!
Mark Gall met Virginia, twice. We went to visit Jonny Gall at a rest home near her house. Jonny Gall ried to converse with the great great granddaughter, Victor de Bourmont who was accused of being a ‘Jew Killer’. Is there such a thing as Cosmic Foregiveness?
Sure I got heap big magic. But, not one wants it!
I broke for breakfast and heard on the news there are 80,000 pregnant women in the Gaza and 180 children are being born each day. Three Seers saw my death and my very inception – because I experienced this. Being born a second time was extremely cosmic. I saw the war to end all wars, and how much magic the Nazi’s destroyed. My job – was to repair their damage! I was twenty. Several time I considered drowning myself in the Oakland Estuary. With all THESE HEAVENLY SIGNS, there is a real possibliity the earth will enter…..The Kingdom of Truth – and be transformed!
The telescope’s high-precision observations will allow unprecedented measurements of weak gravitational lensing—the subtle warping of light from background galaxies and clusters that is caused by the gravitational fields of intervening massive objects. Researchers can use these weak distortions to map dark matter’s distribution. The telescope will also study what are called baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAOs). These are wavelike ripples in the density of matter that froze out from the fiery plasma filling the universe in the first 300,000 years or so after the big bang, and they’re thought to have influenced where galaxies subsequently formed. Mapping the distribution of far-off galaxies will help reveal the presence and patterning of these ripples—two presently murky types of measurements that can help cosmologists pin down the universe’s exact expansion rate.
de Bourmont, Touvier said, ‘was very upset’ and Werner Knab, the Nazi secret police chief in Lyons, had ‘decided a spectacular execution of 100 Jews had to be carried out’ in reprisal for Henriot’s death. Touvier said de Bourmont persuaded the Germans that the affair was purely French and cut the number to 30. De Bourmont was ‘panic-stricken, and I was panic- stricken too’. Touvier added: ‘We tried to reduce the number . . . I said we would do seven at a time.’
Victor de Bourmont is a member of one of the largest Angevin aristocratic families. He was born 1907 in Pontivy and died in March 1945 in Pomerania near Kolberg (Korlin). It comes down to many aristocratic families the region and Brittany, including de Cossé-Brissac, and Rohan. Many of his ancestors were under the former Regime, presidents or advisors of the Chamber of Auditors from Brittany and Normandy. Married in 1938, he left behind him, to his death four young children.
I made notes for ‘My Christ Complex’ in 1986. It is the story of a boy born to hippies who become the richest man on earth. I was inspired by adoration Donald Trump was getting. As a man, the Yuppie Christ appears on the David Letterman show,and when he holds out his arms showing the thickness of his stock portfolio, the studio is fill with light!
Being a real hippie liberal leftist, I knew I was the enemy of the rich, and, they had declared war against me – just me! This allowed me to into the future and predict events. I am a profit. I own a real Christ Complex.
I was born in Mendocino, when a bright light appeared in the Eastern sky. It’s a bust! Joe’s Harvard friends are wise lawyers, and the get Joe off the hook. I was a talented child. I got carried away at my elementary school pageant. I amazed members of the Christian Coalition, on how much I knew about tax law. Seeing Joe’s burl business is a real bust, I help bankroll his Futon Warehouse that made him a millionaire.
When I was busted for stock trading fraud, I did community service, worked picking up trash along the highway with a guy that held up a seven-eleven, and a guy who claims he killed a man in Utah. Having worked on government road crews, he was a genius at leaning on your shovel, giving the appearence we were working. This is why the deputy titled us ‘The three crosses on the hill’.
Jon Presco
Copyright 1987
“His desire to be an artist (fueled by his mother, who suppressed his sister’s talents so he could be the family star, see my post earlier in the thread for the links to demonstrate this) is his way of desperately seeking immortality as he gets closer to death. I imagine his belief that Alley wants Belle for herself has something to do with his own erotic phantasies, obviously still running just fine regardless of whether his genitals work.His desire to demonstrate his superior masculinity is linked to obvious male socialization patters. Cf. Oregon Duck rape scandal(s).
His fear is dangerous, his illness is dangerous, his bigotry is dangerous. And I’m seeing just three people willing to put up a defense against that danger. And while obviously psychotic and seemingly paranoid as well, he is above all a threat to people in our community.”
Environmental groups sue BLM to stop logging project near Eugene
Three environmental groups filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday to stop a 4,600-acre forest and logging project northeast of Eugene.
Willamette Riverkeeper, Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild filed the lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management for the agency’s authorization of the Big League Project in the Calapooia and Mohawk River Watersheds.
The groups contend the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to take a “hard look” at impacts on endangered salmon, recently burned forest, spotted owl habitat and carbon storage, among other factors.
“Specifically, this project plans to clearcut the last and best older forest stands in the Calapooia and Mohawk River Watersheds,” the groups said in a news release.
Above: Mark Presco (left) and his brother, (John) Greg Presco
“I agree, we owe them repatriation to Africa. It’s time to take them home, to where we so rudely took them from in the first place.”
When I awoke this morning I was overwhelmed with the heavy task of dealing with the racist input of my brother, Mark Presco, who may have been in touch with the law firm of Robert Buck. As I lie in bed, I made up my mind to contact Vice President, Kamala Harris. I got on my computer, and the first thing I read was about reparations. I forgot to copy my message to a native born Oaklander, but, I gave the history of the Fremonts, I mentioned Robert Buck, and sent her the quote that was going to be the lead-off paragraph of my first post. Bob and Mark are in the Congressional Record. Does Mr. Buck know if Christine’s brother is alive or dead. When I told Mark I get SSI he said;
“Good. At least the N——s are not getting all my money!”
Our mother told me her oldest son encouraged the famous artist ‘Rosamond’ not to pay taxes, and thus the audit by the IRS. Mark has several million dollars. The Rosamond family owned slaves and worked them on our plantations. This fiend should have never been allowed near any artist’s – art!
Growing backlash over Harvard students’ pro-Palestine letter
A letter from Harvard University student groups blaming Israel for violence in the region has drawn a backlash from prominent alumni and US lawmakers.
The letter, authored by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee, stated that students “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence”.
It was co-signed by 33 student groups.
“Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum,” the statement said.
“The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years,” the letter added.
The letter comes after Israel says 1,000 people have been killed and 100 kidnapped since Hamas militants launched a surprise attack in the early hours of Saturday. In Gaza, more than 700 people have been killed in retaliatory Israeli air strikes.
The student statement, posted on Saturday, was swiftly rebuked by some professors as well as former Harvard president Larry Summers, who wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was “sickened” by it.
“The silence from Harvard’s leadership, so far, coupled with a vocal and widely reported student groups’ statement blaming Israel solely, has allowed Harvard to appear at best neutral towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel,” the former US treasury secretary said.
Harvard University issued its own letter on Monday that did not directly address the controversy but instead said university leaders were “heartbroken” by “the attack by Hamas that targeted citizens in Israel this weekend, and by the war in Israel and Gaza now under way”.
US Democrat: ‘We should be aiding Israel militarily, diplomatically’
In another statement issued later on Tuesday, the university’s president, Claudine Gay, clarified that the school “condemn[ed] the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas”.
“Such inhumanity is abhorrent, whatever one’s individual views of the origins of longstanding conflicts in the region,” she said.
She added that while students had the right to “speak for themselves”, none had the right to speak on behalf of Harvard.
Mr Summers’ criticisms, meanwhile, were echoed by several Republican US lawmakers, including Harvard alumni Ted Cruz who wrote on X: “What the hell is wrong with Harvard?”
Harvard Computer Science professor Boaz Barak also took to social media to condemn the letter, asking the university to remove the student groups’ school affiliations.
“I have a lot of criticisms of Israeli policies, but everyone who signed this statement is condoning terrorism, rape, and murder,” he said.
The University’s Jewish centre, Harvard Hillel, claimed the statement was a sign of “further hatred and anti-Semitism”.
The groups that signed onto the letter – which called on Harvard to “stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians” – included the Harvard Law School Justice for Palestine, the Harvard Jews for Liberation and the Harvard South Asian Law Students Association.
In a post on Instagram, the author of the statement, the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee, said its account had been temporarily suspended after posting the letter.
The group called the move “a recurring pattern of Meta’s censorship of pro-Palestine messaging”.
Look up early Thursday (Nov. 9) to witness one of the most beautiful celestial sights of 2023 — a ‘smiling’ crescent moon dancing with bright Venus in the predawn sky.
Venus and the crescent moon will be in conjunction early on Thursday, Nov. 9. (Image credit: VCG / Contributor / Getty Images)
If you’re willing to get up early this Thursday (Nov. 9), you can catch one of the most delightful celestial sights of the year: the crescent moon “smiling” at Venus.
During this close conjunction, the moon, arguably in its most delicate and beautiful phase of the month, will appear close to a very bright Venus but will be oriented so it resembles a smiley face.
However, you’ll have to rise early; it will be visible in the eastern sky starting at about 3 a.m. across North America. There will be around a two-hour window to see the moon and Venus before sunrise, with the pair climbing higher into the east-southeastern predawn sky.
The US Education Department has issued a missive to American public schools and colleges, warning them that they could lose federal funding if they fail to uphold their legal obligation to address antisemitism and Islamophobia amid an uptick in such incidents since the Israel-Hamas war outbreak.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona tells CNN that there has been an uptick in incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia reported to his department’s Office of Civil Rights, with eight or nine complaints coming in since October 7.
While Cardona stresses that withholding funds is not the first response his office will take, he says it will do so if the issue is ignored.Keep Watching
“I would want to provide support for these universities, provide guidance. And if there are egregious acts, I want to make sure that we’re investigating,” Cardona says. “Ultimately, if we have to withhold dollars from a campus refusing to comply, we would.”
“We want to promote free speech and, to be frank with you, college campuses are where students should be able to express different opinions. But when it comes to antisemitism or Islamophobia, that has no place on our college campuses or in our schools,” Cardona says.
There is reality, fantasy, and the business of illusion making. My dear friend Virginia – is the Lost Princess! I have talked about writing a new kind of book in this blog that is chock full of mini stories. My waitress says she would purchase Quibi.
Seer Jon
Filmmakers Sam Raimi, Guillermo del Toro and Antoine Fuqua and noted producer Jason Blum will all create shows for the new mobile subscription service, which launches next year.
“These people are so excited about doing something new. They want to be the pioneers. They want to be able to show the path in doing this,” said Katzenberg. “We are going to do be able to do extraordinary storytelling.”
Last night I watched a documentary about the author, Opal Whiteley, on PBS. I was amazed, for here is Ofelia from Pan’s Labyrinth that I have connected to my dear friend, Virginia Hambley, who is kin to the House of Bourbon. She has stayed in Castles in France. I asked her to marry me a week after she proposed to me, down on one knee. I glued the cote of arms of the House of Orleans on an old menu. The next day, she had no memory of this event where I presented her the Louisiana Territory.
“Princess Françoise asserted that she was the illegitimate daughter of Prince Henri d’Orléans and was taken to Oregon where she was adopted and given the name Opal Whiteley. The truth or otherwise of her claims to royal descent have always been the subject of fierce controversy, but she was consistent in maintaining them throughout her life, and her grave bears her royal designation alongside her adoptive name.”
Virginia looks like Ofelia in Pan’s Labyrinth which is about the restoration of the House of Bourbon. Virginia’s ancestor, Louis-Auguste-Victor, Count de Ghaisnes de Bourmont, was engaged in the restoration Bourbon monarchy, from the day of its fall. Louis kept the rose alive. The fascist dictator, Franco, did not want to restore Juan Borbon to the throne because of connections to Freemasonry. That Victor de Bourmont became a Vichy puppet of the Nazis, and was tried for war crimes, is right out of the Labyrinth script.
Opal Whiteley went to the University of Oregon and gave lessons to children about nature. Virginia was studying to become a Oceanogrpaher Wintergreen College when she got into a terrible accident when returning from a field trip. She suffers from memory loss. Opal Whiteley had a photographic memory, like Rena Easton, who reconstructed the five page letter she sent me after she tore it up and burned it. She did the same for the long letter she sent me that began.
“Here I am!”
She had read my blog about the author and illustrator, Fanny Corey who is famous for her Fairy Books. Rena has read something in my letter that freaked her out. I believe my muse has suffered from mental illness most of her life. My sister also was mentally ill. Her 272 page autobiography was disappeared, a ghost writer saying she was not well when she told her own story.
The normal folks of Cottage Grove thought their most famous citizens was nuts when she declared she was a Princess. Opal died in a mental ward after being given a labotomy.
I beg Rena Easton to forgive me, my response to her fear. Our correspondence will become a book. But, I don’t have much time. I am having trouble with my prostrate. I am recovering from another operation that was not successful. I went and saw Virginia two days before this operation, and presented her a photo of her late cat. I talked to my muse, Marilyn Reed, about coming to the end of my story, and leaving the planet. Today is her birthday. Happy Birthday!
My mother, Rosemary, would tell her children she had a scholarship to Camarillo State Mental Hospital. I believe all the women I have bonded with in this lifetime have suffered from mental illness. Virginia is very eccentric. She was my girlfriend for ten years. One day she complained about not being married, not so much as a proposal. Princess Françoise de Bourbon-Orleans is the keeper of ‘The Promise’ that one day, your Prince will come.
This blog is my diary.
Jon Presco
Copyright 2015
The huge question to ask is who were the backers of Lousi de Bourmont in his almost single-handed attempt to restore the House of Borubons to several thrones? Is Louis of Bourbon blood? If so, is Virginia Hambley “of the blood” and in line for a throne? Is She the neglected Rose at the center of Pan’s Labyrinth that a possible descendant of the Rougemont Knights Templar has found? Virginia has around six nieces and nephews.
I’ve considered doing illustrations for most of my books. C’mon Rena. Show yourself. Do it for Montana! You were Rosamond’s Muse. This is your State History. You got some major bragging rights! Put this in your resame. At least send me copies of photos of you that I can work from to illustrate.
‘Capturing Beauty’. I want your side of the story! I will got to the Governor and have you declared Montana’s State Treasure who brought the history of Royal Rosamond and Fanny Cory, together!
One of the more extraordinary members of the San Luigi Orders was Princess Françoise de Bourbon-Orléans (1897-1992). She was admitted to the Order of the Crown of Thorns in 1963.
Princess Françoise asserted that she was the illegitimate daughter of Prince Henri d’Orléans and was taken to Oregon where she was adopted and given the name Opal Whiteley. The truth or otherwise of her claims to royal descent have always been the subject of fierce controversy, but she was consistent in maintaining them throughout her life, and her grave bears her royal designation alongside her adoptive name.
She was noted early on as being a child prodigy of extraordinary intelligence, with particular abilities in nature study and the ability to memorize and classify vast amounts of information on animals and plants. Soon, The Oregonian began a series of laudatory articles about her. She published what she presented as her childhood diaries in The Story of Opal, which gained wide attention and lasting acclaim.
The Jewish Messiah as Antichrist: Christian Apocalypticism and Jewish Responses in Reformation Germany
Since Antiquity, Christian theologians have seen in the Antichrist, who would establish his reign of terror before Christ’s Second Coming, the savior the Jews awaited as their Messiah. This notion turned Jewish messianism into a nightmare of ultimate Jewish revenge from a Christian perspective. The lecture investigates how Jews in Reformation Germany, a hotbed of apocalyptic fervour among both Jews and Christians, responded to this biased picture. By showing how Christian perceptions informed Jewish expressions of messianic expectations, the lecture suggests the close entanglement between Christian apocalypticism and Jewish messianism in early modern Germany on both intellectual and social levels.
Rebekka Voß is an Associate Professor of Jewish History at Goethe University Frankfurt. She has held fellowships at Bar Ilan University, Harvard University, Columbia University, Oxford University, and the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies in Philadelphia. Her research focuses on Jewish cultural, intellectual and religious history in early modern Europe, with a particular interest in cultural contact and transfer between Jews and their surrounding societies.
In the aftermath of Saturday’s tragic mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, much attention has been given to the gunman’s social media presence and virulent anti-Semitic statements. Robert Bowers reportedly yelled “All Jews must die” as he opened fire. His Gab profile appalled many with its use of the biblical verse John 8:44 – “Jews are the children of Satan” – as a sort of slogan and introduction to his account. But is there really such anti-Semitic sentiment in the Bible? Or was the line twisted and taken out of context?
John 8:44
“Uses of that passage and other passages that we find in the New Testament that give evidence of tensions that were there between religious communities in the first century, take them out of that historical context and use them in ways that they were never intended to be used,” explains Harold Attridge, Sterling Professor of Divinity at the Yale Divinity School.
“The Gospel of John does not support or encourage persecution of Jews. It doesn’t support or encourage persecution of anybody.”
The Myth of the Jewish Antichrist: Falwell Stumbles Badly
The upcoming millennium is not just about computers; it’s also about religion and religious extremism. If we obsess about the digit bug and allow the mainstream media to pretend that the religious aspect is confined to the fringes and the tele-evangelical circus, we will be blindsided by the dangerous beliefs and plans of religious millennialism. Some evangelists are already turning up the heat. The “Concerned Christians” expelled from Israel were planning “millennial violence” in an attempt to speed up the Last Days: shades of Waco.
The Rev. Jerry Falwell has recently made a reference to the Antichrist that should strike terror into the hearts of all Americans and Jews in particular. Falwell told an audience in Kingsport, Tenn., that the Antichrist was probably already alive and living among us: “[…]when he appears during the Tribulation period he will be a full-grown counterfeit of Christ. Of course he’ll be Jewish. Of course he’ll pretend to be Christ.”
The Associated Press report of the event explained: “According to the Bible, the Antichrist will spread universal evil before the end of the world but will finally be conquered at the second coming of Christ. Falwell said today in Williamsburg that he did not intend his statement to be anti-Jewish. He said he only meant that the Antichrist must be Jewish because Jesus was a Jew.”
The New Testament says no such thing. Early Christian and medieval theologians tossed together a large number of often enigmatic references in the Book of Revelation to “the Beast” and in other books of the New Testament to “antichrists.” This lengthy process produced a completely non-Biblical figure, “the Antichrist.” He was formed out of a mixture of legend, misquotation and a crude “logic of salvation.” According to this logic, if Jews are awaiting a Messiah, and Christians are awaiting a Beast or an enemy of Christ, then the two must be the same guy; and he must be Jewish.
It is no surprise that Falwell has repeated this myth, since many Christian thinkers, without clear Scriptural proof, have believed that “the Antichrist” would be a Jew. It was widely circulated at the end of the Middle Ages after the invention of the printing press. One of the first books ever printed (around 1450) was “The Book of Antichrist”, a collection of crude wood-cuts with handwritten captions. The “Antichrist Blockbook” drew on a popular story that had already been circulating widely in manuscript.
For centuries, Christian authorities cited the Antichrist myth as a reason not to tolerate Jews “in our midst”, because Jews were often believed to be an apocalyptic “fifth column,” probable traitors to the Christian commonwealth. Influential theologians, dozens of plays and treatises, and early books foretold a Jewish Antichrist whose followers would be Jews. Ideas, especially religious ideas, do have consequences — as Waco finally proved to secular America. The danger in this case is that large number of Christians will believe this hateful myth because Falwell has repeated it.
Falwell might not be entirely aware of it, but the main feature of the “Jewish Antichrist” myth was that he would be a sinful, lascivious, wicked Jew, conceived in sin by a wicked Jewish prostitute and the Devil (some versions say by her father). All the Jews of the world would follow Antichrist to Jerusalem. There they would rebuild the Jewish Temple and rule over the world. They would persecute Christians until Christ returned in glory.
The Jewish Antichrist legend is a prelude to persecution — of Jews. The most infamous piece of anti-Semitic propaganda, the so-called “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, also repeats the medieval fable. The “Protocols,” together with the Antichrist myth, sow the seeds of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism and endanger religious liberty.
If Christians truly believe Jews are about to welcome Antichrist, imagine the consequences for American society and civil rights. However, most respectable and moderate Christian thinkers have rejected and still reject the Antichrist legend. This path is open to all Christians concerned about the appalling history of Christian-Jewish relations, who would like to put into practice the actual Biblical commandment to “love thy neighbor.”
The mainstream media continue to portray doomsayers according to the conventions of editorial cartoonists: loonies with long white beards, standing on mountaintops with placards proclaiming “the End.” When influential figures such as Falwell fuel the already potent millennial atmosphere with the Antichrist myth, democratic societies ought to take note — and to worry.
Andrew Gow teaches European history at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and is a writer for the History News Service.
February, 1999
25 November 2021
Merlin the magician: from devil’s son to King Arthur’s trusted advisor
Merlin is the central mythical character in the world of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. A shadowy and untameable figure who seldom takes a single form for long enough to show us his true nature, he eludes definition today, just as he did a millennium ago, and his origins and fate remain mysterious. His character was probably an amalgam of Myrddin Wyllt, a bard and wild man of the Caledonian forest in Welsh tradition, Ambrosius Aurelianus, a warrior-prophet who was among the last of the Romans in Britain, and possibly a local pagan god whose cult was associated with the Welsh town of Carmarthon (from Caer Myrddin, meaning Merlin’s fort or castle).
Merlin tells his prophecy of Arthur to Uther Pendragon, with Igraine watching from a tower, Langtoft’s Chronicle of English History (N. England, 1307–27): Royal MS 20 A II, f. 3v
As a fortune-teller and shape-shifter, Merlin became associated with necromancy and the dark arts in the imagination of medieval Christians. The story of his birth was founded in the religious legend of the Harrowing of Hell. The demons of Hell, annoyed by Christ’s interference and his rescuing of souls from their domain, plot their revenge through the birth of an Antichrist.
Christ rescues souls from Hell while the devils plot revenge, Estoire de Merlin (St Omer or Tournai, 1316): Add MS 10292, f. 76r
They send a devil to impregnate an innocent princess of Dyfed in Wales, but when the child is born, their evil plans miscarry as the devout mother finds a priest to baptise him before he is pulled into their evil orbit. This is Merlin, a child prodigy with magical powers and the ability to foretell the future, attributes that he decides to use on the side of good rather than evil.
Merlin is conceived by a devil lying with a Welsh princess, Estoire de Merlin: Add MS 10292, f. 77v
The earliest of the Arthurian texts to include Merlin was Geoffrey of Monmouth’s account in his Historia regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain). For more information on this work and the surviving manuscripts of early legends, see, our article on Early Latin Versions of the Legend of King Arthur published on the Polonsky Medieval France and England, 700-1200 website.
Merlin first appears when, following the massacre of the British chieftains by the Saxon leader, Hengist, in the treacherous ‘Night of the Long Knives’, the British King Vortigern flees to Wales where he tries to build a strong tower to protect himself. But every night, the progress made by his builders is mysteriously undone when the foundations crumble. His wizards claim that only by mixing in the blood of a child who has no mortal father will he make the foundations sound. Merlin is found and brought to Vortigern for his purpose, but he is able to see a pool beneath the tower, in which lie two sleeping dragons, one white and one red, and he explains that the white dragon (i.e. the Saxons) will triumph over the red (i.e. the British). He then enters a trance and foretells the future of the Britons to the end of time, predicting the coming of a great king by the name of Arthur.
Vortigern and his tower with the red and white dragons, Roman de Brut (England, 1325–50): Egerton MS 3028, f. 25r
Perhaps Merlin’s most remarkable achievement is single-handedly transporting a ring of magical stones known as ‘the Giant’s Dance’ from Ireland to Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire to build Stonehenge. The earliest surviving picture of Stonehenge, showing Merlin helping to place the huge stones, is in a copy of the Roman de Brut, a verse chronicle of British history by a poet from Jersey named Wace, written in Anglo-Norman French.
Merlin helps build Stonehenge, Roman de Brut (England, 1325–50): Egerton MS 3028, f. 30r
Merlin’s next undertaking is to orchestrate the marvellous conception, birth and education of the future King Arthur. As he foretells, the young boy pulls the sword from the stone and inherits his rightful kingdom and – with Merlin’s help and guidance – achieves greatness. But though Merlin uses his powers to warn his young protégé about the future, he is powerless to change events that have been ordained. One day he appears in the form of a young boy to Arthur, who is out hunting in the forest, revealing that Arthur is son of King Uther and of Igraine. Later, changing into an old man, he prophesies that Mordred, the son who Arthur has conceived with his half-sister Morgause, will one day destroy his father and the court at Camelot.
Merlin meets Arthur hunting in the forest, Livre de Merlin (Arras, 1310): Add MS 38117, f. 76r
Though he is a trusted adviser to kings, Merlin remains an unpredictable character with strange habits and a menacing laugh that announces his sometimes-macabre intentions. In one episode, he changes into a deer and is served up as Caesar’s dinner, later returning as a wild man to interpret the Emperor’s dreams.
Merlin, disguised as a stag, is served at the Emperor’s feast, Estoire de Merlin: Add MS 10292, f. 160v
When he becomes obsessed with the fairy huntress, Niniane, he performs bizarre stunts for her that include setting two harpists alight with sulphur, saying they are evil sorcerers.
Merlin sets two harpists on fire with sulphur in front of Niniane, Livre de Merlin: Add MS 38117, f. 186r.
In the end Niniane brings about Merlin’s downfall. Having tricked him into revealing all his magical knowledge to her, she uses one of his spells to seal him in a stone tomb in the forest of Broceliande, or in some versions in an oak tree, until the end of time.
Stories of King Arthur and Camelot, alongside some of the most celebrated tales in medieval manuscripts, are featured in my recently published book, Dragons, Heroes, Myths & Magic: The Medieval Art of Storytelling, now on sale now in the British Library shop. Perhaps it would make the perfect Christmas gift for a medieval story-lover?
Rosamond Press 
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