This picture was taken by yours truly during our visit of the ancient and legendary (I would even say mythical) forest of
Brocéliande, seven years ago. I was watching the pictures and reading my old blog posts about the forest and saw that I had not uploaded this picture yet. Shame on me. This is the tomb of
Merlin. For a medievalist specialised in Arthurian literature like me, this may not be the Holy Grail (no pun intended), but this is a very special place. Unfortunately, there was no ghost of Merlin who manifested himself, no visitation of any kind and this tomb is empty because it was never inhabited. All the same, it is its association with the legend that makes it special.
Oh, that is wonderful! I'd love to see that, being a big fan of Arthurian legend myself. Last time I was in England, we saw Merlin's Cave at Tintagel.
ReplyDeleteWell, technically I was in Cornwall when I saw Merlin's Cave. Don't want to upset the Cornish by casually referring to their territory as "England."
ReplyDeleteOh...cool!! Why is it referred to as Merlin's tomb if it has never had a body in there? Just curious what the reasoning is for this.
ReplyDeleteThank you both for commenting.
ReplyDelete@The Gill-Man-The whole Brocéliande forest is associated with the Arthurian legend. For some reason, Merlin is supposed to dwell there. He was, at least according to some sources, immortal, so it makes sense that his tomb is empty.