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There is evidence from Welsh hagiographies and poems that ‘druids’ were still active in the 6th century, even though they had been officially suppressed by the Romans. One 9th century Welsh poem, by Nenius refers to druids helping a Brythonic king and was his court magician and most trusted adviser. It is quite possible that Merlin was based on some folk memory of a druid and that Monmouth heard of these tales.<ref>Tolstory, p. 111</ref> There is the real possibility that one of the Brythonic war-leaders, upon whom the character of King Arthur is possibly based employed one such druid. In the Dark Ages, it was quite common for rulers to have court magicians, who legitimized their rule and gave them more power.

In the Welsh sources and even in some later English sources there are many references to Ambrosius Aurelianus. He is portrayed as a powerful war-leader or as a king of the Britons. In Bede’s History of the English People, he is portrayed as the last of the Romans and possibly descended from an Emperor. He rallies the scattered Britons after they had been defeated several times by the pagan invaders. He leads them to victory over the invaders and he establishes a powerful kingdom. Ambrosius Aurelianus is a rather paradoxical figure. At once of Roman descent, he is also a powerful magician. In one Welsh account, dating from the 9th century AD, he is shown as living in an enchanted castle guarded by dragons.

Loomis, Roger Sherman. Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance (USA, Columbia University Press, 1937).

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[[Category:Wikis]][[Category:British History]] [[Category: Historically Accurate]]