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

Geoffrey of Monmouth turned Myrddin into Merlinus, and the composite prophet-wizard he built was largely based on the wild seer Myrddin Wyllt.

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

He wrote Merlin into Historia Regum Britanniae around 1136 and returned to him in Vita Merlini in 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

The monument is raised for Aurelius Ambrosius; the story predates the Arthur-centred Merlin most people know.

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

The name is spelled Igerna in the Latin original; Tintagel on the Cornish coast has long traded on the legend.

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

That poem is where much of the later Merlin material, including his role with the Holy Grail, was fixed.