Caer Beris
According to a tradition, this tower kept falling down. Vortigern's astrologers told him that to stand the masonry required the blood of a fatherless child. Vortigern found the youngMerlin, who had been engendered by a devil and thus could be considered fatherless, but Merlin saved himself by making explanations and predictions which were found true. According to Merlin's statement, a lake was discovered beneath the tower. There a red dragon (symbolizing Vortigern) and a white dragon (symbolizing Pandragon and Uther, the two sons of King Constans, whom Vortigern had murdered to gain his power) fought to the death. The white dragon killed the red, but soon afterward died itself. The sons of Constans burned Vortigern's Tower after they killed him.
Etat actuel de l'oppidum
Enceinte 4 : fossé à peu près comblé + grand talus ; VD 0 + 5N ; aire 5 ; garnison minimum 300
Enceinte 3 : grand talus + vestiges de palissade : VD 0 + 3N ; aire 4 ; garnison minimum 250
Enceinte 2 : grand talus + mur de pierre : VD 5 + 3N - 1 (porte HS) ; aire 2 ; fondations pour double mur crénelé ; nombreuses habitations en pierre en très mauvais état ; puits ; garnison minimum 50
Enceinte 1 : ruines de grande tour : VD 2 ; accès à la caverne lacustre ; garnison minimum 10
Vortigern – you’ll remember him, he’s the king who stole Constantine’s throne – well, he’s trying to build a tower on the land that he had just conquered from Uther Pendragon’s father. But every night, after the workers had retired for the evening, the tower would fall and they would have to start over again. Frustrated, King Vortigern demanded that his wise men go out and find a boy who was not born by mortal man – because he believed that if he sacrificed this boy and sprinkled his blood on the grounds of the tower, that his pagan gods would allow it to stand. The wise men bring the nine-year-old Merlin to the king, as he is believed by the Saxon men to be the son of an incubus and a nun – a boy not born to a mortal father. As they prepare his execution, Merlin explains to the usurper king that killing him would do nothing for his tower because beneath the king’s tent was a pool, home to two dragons, one red and one white. When the king’s men dig, they find the two serpents sleeping, and when they woke up, these two dragons began fighting, rocking the earth – strong enough to knock the tower to the ground.
I’m going to quote Geoffery of Monmouth’s account of the story:
“At length the red one, apparently the weaker of the two, recovering his strength, expelled the white one from the tent; and the latter being pursued through the pool by the red one, disappeared.”
Merlin then asks the king’s wise men; do you know what this omen means? They shrugged. The nine-year-old goes on to tell his prophecy:
“I will now unfold to you the meaning of this mystery,” Merlin says. “The pool is the emblem of this world, and the tent that of your kingdom: the two serpents are two dragons; the red serpent is your dragon, but the white serpent is the dragon of the people who occupy several provinces and districts of Britain, even almost from sea to sea: at length, however, our people shall rise and drive away the Saxon race from beyond the sea, whence they originally came; but do you depart from this place, where you are not permitted to erect a citadel; I, to whom fate has allotted this mansion, shall remain here; whilst to you it is incumbent to seek other provinces, where you may build a fortress.” “What is your name?” asked the king; “I am called Ambrose,” returned the boy; and in answer to the king’s question, “What is your origin?” he replied, “A Roman consul was my father.” This Roman consul, of course, was Emperor Constantine.
Merlin, or Ambrose, went on the explain to the king that the red dragon represented the defenders of Britain, although weak and exhausted from battle today, would one day rise up and expel the white dragon of the Anglo-Saxons. He warned the king about the prophecy of the Bear of Cornwall – or Arth in ancient Welsh, which means bear, so here he’s talking about Arthur – who would end the Saxon advance and push them from power, delivering victory to the true people of Britain. And as you know from earlier in the episode, this Merlin Ambrosius, or Aurelius Ambrosius, and his brother Uther, would one day kill this Saxon King Vortigern, reclaim Romano-British power in the name of their slain father Constantine, and make way for King Arthur Pendragon, who would rise to defeat the Saxons in the decisive Battle of Mount Badon.
