A new website is bringing to light a long-overlooked body of poetry attributed to Merlin, revealing his role as a prophetic voice commenting on the Tudor succession, the turmoil of the Civil Wars, and environmental concerns.

The Myrddin Poetry Project website presents new editions and translations of these poems, offering unprecedented access to their historical and literary significance.

Funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Merlin Poetry Project is a collaboration between Cardiff University, the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies (CAWCS) in Aberystwyth, and Swansea University.

At CAWCS, Professor Ann Parry Owen and Dr Jenny Day have been studying the poems.

The project’s work demonstrates that prophetic poetry attributed to Merlin was still being composed in Wales in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and a variety of concerns are expressed. In one poem Merlin laments ‘the failure of the vines of the vineyards and the corruption of the earth and the early trees and the crops’, and in another there is concern that after the ‘two Harry’s’ (Henry VII and Henry VIII) there would be ‘no one further of the blood’.

The project, which officially came to an end on 28 February, was led by Principal Investigator, Dr Dylan Foster Evans from the School of Welsh, Cardiff University, with three Co-Investigators, Dr David Callander from the School of Welsh, Cardiff University; Professor Ann Parry Owen from the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies and The Dictionary of the Welsh Language; and Mr Alexander Roberts from Swansea University. Dr Jenny Day (CAWCS), Dr Llewelyn Hopwood ( the School of Welsh, Cardiff University) and Dr Ben Guy (formerly at the School of Welsh, Cardiff University, now at the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge) were researchers on the project.

Professor Ann Parry Owen commented, “Working with our research partners in Cardiff and Swansea has been a privilege for us at CAWCS, building on our previous experience in editing medieval Welsh poetry. The poems attributed to Myrddin offered us many challenges and problems, and it was an honour to collaborate on the texts to create an exciting and innovative digital edition, which will be freely available to everyone”.

Professor Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones, Director of CAWCS, added, “I would like to congratulate our colleagues at CAWCS and at Cardiff and Swansea universities on their outstanding research which offers new interpretations of Merlin’s poetry and presents them in digital, scholarly and accessible ways. We look forward to further collaboration between our organisations”.

Dr David Callander, from Cardiff University, highlighted the significance of the project, “The legend of Merlin is a massive part of Welsh and British culture. But there is still so much more to be discovered. Being able to read and take insights from literature that was written hundreds of years ago gives us the chance to connect more deeply with our heritage, as well as showing the world a rich literary history that we can be proud of.”