Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #492076 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Synopsis
The legendary figure Merlin is known throughout the world as the wizard of Camelot who was counsellor to King Arthur and helped the monarch create the Round Table. Through the course of a 20-year investigation Graham Phillips has uncovered evidence that this famous story was based on the life of an actual historical figure: the son of a Roman consul who became the last of the Romans to rule Britain in the fifth century A D. Furthermore, the evidence reveals that he died and was buried in what is now the United States. According to legend, Merlin ended his life on the mystical island of Avalon. A 1500-year-old saga tells how Merlin left Britain on a boat bound for a mysterious island to the West. The places described in Merlin's voyage, Phillips argues, would only have been seen by someone who had journeyed to the New World. For example, the island where boiling fountains bubble from the ground could be the geysers of Iceland and the island with rivers of ice, the glaciers of Greenland.

During his research Phillips discovered that a site believed to be Merlin's grave was found by the first British settlers in North America: A secret location said to have been preserved in the works of William Shakespeare and the coded writings of the Freemasons. Phillips follows a trail of historical clues that leads ultimately to a mysterious New England Tomb. Here a final encrypted message not only reveals that Merlin's descendants still survive and, through a merger with the Spencer family of Princess Diana, may once again ascend the British throne.

Customer Reviews

Author Uses Dubious Source
I was initially very impressed with one of Mr. Phillips' numerous `sensational' books, and was particularly interested in one of his alleged sources, which I have continued to pursue for a number of years. Unfortunately, Mr. Phillips has based two of his books (The Search for the Grail and The Chalice of Magdalene) on the existence of an alleged Grail prose, La Folie Perceval, that he claims may in turn be based on the earliest Grail source. He claims that this prose is found within a manuscript preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, which is catalogued as MS fonds français 12577. This manuscript does indeed exist, and it does contain an illustration that is reproduced in Mr. Phillips' book (which he claims accompanies the prose), but the Bibliothèque Nationale itself has verified in writing that this manuscript does not contain the alleged prose, La Folie Perceval. A Professor of English in the U.S., with a Ph. D. in medieval and renaissance literature, and who teaches Arthurian romance, has informed me that he is completely unaware of the existence of such a text, which would be extremely important and certainly known to Grail romance scholars if it did exist. A very well-known and respected Arthurian scholar, translator and author, in the United Kingdom, has also informed me that he is almost certain that the manuscript does not contain the La Folie Perceval prose, that he has never come across this prose, that he has not seen any reference to it in any serious scholarly work, and that he is almost certain that La Folie Perceval prose may be a fabrication. I have contacted Mr. Phillips by email and asked him for further details concerning the actual location of this prose and/or other references that discuss this document, on four separate occasions over a period of almost four years (the last time was over a month ago, addressed to an email address on his own website), but unfortunatly, he has continually refused to respond and help establish some credence concerning his increasingly dubious source. The reader is warned that, based on the results of the research I have conducted concerning this source, it is my opinion that there `may' be some significant concern about the credibility of this author, and the reader is therefore encouraged to check the sources very carefully on his/her own before seriously considering any of his `sensational' claims.

Fascinating blend of historical detection and Dark Age myth
I picked this up as a follow-on from the author's previous works involving Arthur in British myth and his identity as a real historical figure. As thought-provoking as these ideas were, I was initially very sceptical as to the possibility of a similarly convincing identification of Merlin. Happily my first thoughts proved unfounded. Despite reading more like a Dan Brown novel than an academic discourse, the threads of a variety of sources are skilfully blended together to form a coherent argument as to Merlin's historical identity. The picture of a Britain descending into a post-Roman, invasion-plagued land, held briefly in check by the two figures that have become known as Arthur and Merlin, is both vivid and revealing. The notion that Merlin also voyaged to the New World seems ridiculous. However, the author demonstrates that there is a sequence of locations in the rather fanciful and elaborate Dark Age saga, 'The Voyage of Mael Duin's Boat', that is linked to the Merlin legend (however incongruously) that appears to describe a route to the north-eastern United States via Iceland (the route later taken by the Vikings). Although the term proof can never be ascribed to this idea, it does have an air of plausibility. The final theme explored in the book is on safer ground. Assuming that the real historical identities of Arthur and Merlin discovered by the author are true (as seems likely given the mounting evidence compiled in both this and the earlier work - and the lack of evidence for any other theory), then family trees for the ruling House of Windsor in the UK clearly demonstrate a link between the heir to the Heir Apparent to the throne (that would be Prince William then via the late Diana Spencer) and both Arthur and Merlin. Certain to provoke many academics, this work could be easily dismissed as just another alternative history work. However, what cannot be easily dismissed are the arguments put forward by the author and the evidence he uses to back them up. Did I also mention that it's a real page-turner too?

Code Solving Adventure
This is not only a book about the Arthurian mystery, it is a modern code-solving adventure in which the author investigates an ancient mystery in a real Indiana Jones style. It is easy to read and compelling. I would recommend this particularly to anyone who liked the Da Vinci Code. The unique thing about this work is that it is a true story. It is a race against time to discover an ancient hermetic secret preserved by the Freemasons and, believe it or not, William Shakespeare. A great read.