Legends from the Lost Kingdoms | The Tangled Web Between Myrddin Wyltt and St. Kentigern Through History, Legend, and Poetry

Myrddin Wyltt and St. Kentigern weave a tangled web throughout history, legend, and poetry.

Myrddin Wyltt (also known as Merlin) was Bard to Gwenddoleu. The slaughter of Gwenddoleu and the troops in the Battle of Arfderydd in 573 CE causes Myrddin’s descent into madness and flight into the Caledonian Forest with his sister, Gwenydd.

In a different legend, Gwenddoleu dies at the hands of Hael in the Battle of Airdrie in 577 CE. Myrddin Wyllt is the Bard of Hael, not Gwenddoleu. Hael awards Myrddin a golden torc for recording the battle history in poetry. Still, after the victory, Myrddin, distraught by the struggle, retreats from Dumbarton Castle in madness to live as a prophet and recluse in the forests of Tweeddale.

In c. 553 CE, St. Kentigern established a church and cemetery near the Molendinar Burn. This became the foundation for Glasgow Cathedral. King Tutgual died in 554 CE, leaving his younger son, Lesser Strathclyde. The more prestigious area around Dumbarton went to the older son, Rhydderch Hael. This displeased the younger son, Morcant Mwynfawr, who threatened St. Kentigern, now Bishop of Glasgow under Hael’s reign. Kentigern flees Glasgow for Wales but returns in 581 to regain his title of Bishop.

Myrddin (now called Lailoken) encounters St. Kentigern in August 584 CE near the site of ancient Stobo Kirk, in the Scottish Borders near Peebles. Church legend states that Kentigern converted Myrddin Wyllt near a large boulder called the Altar Stone. According to Jocelyn of Furness in his 12th-century “Life of St. Kentigern,” after Myrddin’s conversion, he prophesied his threefold death: falling, stabbing, and drowning. The shepherds’ chase forced Myrddin from a cliff into a river; a stake securing a fisherman’s net impaled him, thus fulfilling the prophecy.