Q 01/05

The name Merlin is a Latinised form of which legendary Welsh bard's name?

A) Taliesin

B) Myrddin

C) Aneirin

D) Gwydion

Answer · why

B) Myrddin

Merlin is the Latinised Merlinus built on Myrddin; the wild prophet Myrddin Wyllt, said to have gone mad after the Battle of Arfderydd, supplied much ...

Q 02/05

Which 12th-century cleric introduced the familiar depiction of Merlin?

A) Chretien de Troyes

B) Thomas Malory

C) Robert de Boron

D) Geoffrey of Monmouth

Answer · why

D) Geoffrey of Monmouth

Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote Merlin into Historia Regum Britanniae around 1136 and returned to him in the poem Vita Merlini around 1150.

Q 03/05

In Historia Regum Britanniae, Merlin builds Stonehenge with stones brought from Mount Killaraus in which land?

A) Ireland

B) Brittany

C) Cornwall

D) Scotland

Answer · why

A) Ireland

Merlin has the Giants' Ring carried from Mount Killaraus in Ireland and re-erected on Salisbury Plain as a memorial for Aurelius Ambrosius's slain nob...

Q 04/05

Merlin disguises Uther Pendragon to enter Tintagel and father Arthur with whose wife?

A) Guinevere

B) Morgause

C) Igraine

D) Elaine

Answer · why

C) Igraine

Igraine, wife of Gorlois of Cornwall, is spelled Igerna in the Latin original; Merlin's disguise lets Uther enter Tintagel and conceive Arthur.

Q 05/05

Around 1200, Robert de Boron expanded the Merlin story in an epic poem in which language?

A) Latin

B) Old French

C) Middle English

D) Middle Welsh

Answer · why

B) Old French

Robert de Boron's Merlin was written in Old French verse; only a fragment survives, but its prose redaction fixed Merlin's link to the Holy Grail.