Welcome to my translation of the 1498 Burgos publication of El baladro del sabio Merlin. If you have any questions or comments on it, feel free to send me email.
The text used for this translation was edited by Pedro Bohigas-Balaguer in 1957-1960. To the best of my knowledge, this edition is in the public domain.
This translation is copyright 1998 by Dorothea Salo. I am not a big believer in copyright law as currently practiced; here are my desires on the subject:
As you may guess, the likelihood that I will sue you if you do not respect my wishes is nil. I don't have that kind of money. As you may also guess, your chances of making money by selling this translation against my wishes are also nil. If I find out about any violation, however, I will have no compunction about putting the violator's name here and calling the violator lots of nasty names.
If you wish to start reading the translation directly, you will want to start with Prologue 1.
If the chapter numeration looks funny, it's Not My Fault. Juan de Burgos couldn't count.
Introduction and brief bibliography
Preface
Prologue 1: The author describes the present work
Prologue 2: Here begins the prologue
Prologue 3: Here begins the work
Chapter 1: How the devil sought a way to trick the three damsels
Chapter 2: How the old woman returned to speak with the damsel, in the disguise already mentioned, and concluded what she wished
Chapter 3: Of how the damsel went accompanied by a servant to the hermit Blaise to tell him all which had befallen
Chapter 4: How Merlin's mother was placed in a tower accompanied by two women until she gave birth
Chapter 5: How the judges commanded Merlin's mother to enter a room
Chapter 6: How Blaise by Merlin's counsel began to write the book of Merlin's life and deeds
Chapter 7: How all the masters entered in concert and each one discussed and argued about how the matter appeared to them
Chapter 8: How Merlin went with the messengers to talk with the king
Chapter 9: How Merlin and the king with his rich men met in a room to hear what the dragons signified
Chapter 9 bis: How Merlin declared the significance of the dragons and other matters of prophecy to the king and those of his counsel
Chapter 10: How Padragon and Uter his brother came with a great armada of ships, to take and possess their land which Verenguer had taken from them, and to take vengeance for the death of their brother
Chapter 11: How King Uter rode accompanied by his people to go seek Merlin in the mountains
Chapter 12: How Merlin came to Uter in the guise of a hermit and brought him some letters from his ladylove, and he received them happily
Chapter 13: How the king and Merlin went to an abbey to see a nobleman who pretended to be sick
Chapter 14: How Padragon and Uter fought with the Saxons and defeated them
Chapter 15: How Merlin came eleven days after Pentecost and the king rode out to receive him with two of his favorites, not wanting to take a greater company with him, and received him at a lake of water which was near there, and so they began to talk
Chapter 16: How the king moved with his host to fight against the duke of Tintagel
Chapter 17: How King Uterpadragon became ill, from which illness he died, and was kept company by prelates and noblemen
Chapter 18: How all the bishops in the kingdom, and all the counts, dukes, and noblemen came to the coronation of King Arthur and received him as their lord, and crowned him with three crowns and consecrated him very honorably
Chapter 19: How King Arthur slept with his sister through the error of not recognizing who she was, and had a child with her whose name was Mordred, through whom all the land of Londres received great harm, as will later be said
Chapter 20: How King Arthur and Merlin came from the mountains to Cardoyl, speaking of how Arthur could be recognized as the son of King Uterpadragon
Chapter 21: How the knight of the tent and Griflet fought, and Griflet was wounded
Chapter 22: How King Avrian asked King Arthur to give him his sister Morgaina to wife, and Arthur gave her by the advice of the lettered men of his court
Chapter 23: How the knight who came wounded to the court cut a damsel's head off in the presence of the king, by which King Arthur was quite incensed, and the knight bowed before him, and begged him to pardon him in God's name, and the king denied him
Chapter 24: How Merlin told the brothers Balin and Balan where they would find King Rion and all of his host
Chapter 25: How Nero, King Rion's brother, and his people battled King Arthur, and Nero was vanquished and his people taken prisoner
Chapter 26: Of the honorable interment which King Arthur gave King Lot and the great mourning which was done for him
Chapter 27: How the wife of Ebron and her son came before King Arthur to ask mercy on her husband's lands and for him to make her son knight
Chapter 28: How Bandemagus fought with his cousin Anchises
Chapter 29: Where Morlot and one of his squires and the damsel went the night that they parted from the tents of the knights, and, the knight wounded, arrived to lodge in the house of an aunt of the squire, and Morlot was well served
Chapter 30: How Galvan left King Arthur's court and he and his brother arrived at a field house, which was on a very lovely pasture-land
Chapter 31: Of the penance which Queen Ginebra and her ladies and damsels commanded to be given to Galvan, for the death he had dealt to the damsel he brought to the court
Chapter 32: How Tor fought with the knight who had taken the brachet, and killed him
Chapter 33: How Merlin made Tor's mother tell who Tor's father was, and his father appeared to be King Pelinor
Chapter 34: How the king asked Merlin who the damsel was whose head King Pelinor brought, and asked him of other secrets, as follow henceforth
Chapter 35: How Merlin and the Damsel of the Lake departed from the court to go to the house of her father the King of Northumberland
Chapter 36: How Merlin and the Damsel of the Lake departed from the court and went to Great Britain, and what happened to them in the road
Chapter 37: How King Arthur and his men fought their battle with the five kings, and killed them and defeated their hosts
Chapter 37 bis: How, after Bandemagus had left court very disheartened because he had not been seated in one of the seats at the Round Table, King Arthur and other grandees assembled in his room and spoke of his departure and what they would do about it
Chapter 38: How Bandemagus went with the damsel whom Morlot took, and with a squire of hers