Arthurian legend

A giant helps Merlin build Stonehenge. From a manuscript of the Roman de Brut by Wace in the British
Library (Egerton 3028). Dating back to the second quarter of the 14th century, this is the oldest known
depiction of Stonehenge.

In the twelfth century, Geoffrey of Monmouth included a fanciful story in his Historia Regum
Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain") that attributed the monument's construction to the
wizard Merlin.[54] Geoffrey's story spread widely, appearing in more and less elaborate form in
adaptations of his work such as Wace's Norman French Roman de Brut, Layamon's Middle
English Brut, and the Welsh Brut y Brenhinedd.
According to Geoffrey, the rocks of Stonehenge were healing rocks, called the Giant's dance,
which Giants had brought from Africa to Ireland for their healing properties. The fifth-century
king Aurelius Ambrosius wished to erect a memorial to 3,000 nobles slain in battle against the
Saxons and buried at Salisbury, and, at Merlin's advice, chose Stonehenge. The king sent
Merlin, Uther Pendragon (King Arthur's father), and 15,000 knights, to remove it from Ireland,
where it had been constructed on Mount Killaraus by the Giants. They slew 7,000 Irish, but as
the knights tried to move the rocks with ropes and force, they failed. Then Merlin, using "gear"
and skill, easily dismantled the stones and sent them over to Britain, where Stonehenge was
dedicated. After it had been rebuilt near Amesbury, Geoffrey further narrates how first
Ambrosius Aurelianus, then Uther Pendragon, and finally Constantine III, were buried inside
the "Giants' Ring of Stonehenge".