We first see the introduction of the wonder child in Nennius' Historia Britonum which was written before the tenth century. In this work, we are told of King Vortigern and the discovery of the wonder child. Vortigern, king of the Britons, was driven from his throne and was advised by his magi to build a strong fortress in the distant limits of his kingdom. Once work is begun on this structure, the work of a day is destroyed during the night three times. His counsellors advise him that the fortress will not stand unless the foundation stones are wet with the blood of a fatherless boy:

nisi infantem suo aspergatur, numquam aedificabitur in aeternum.

Messengers are sent to find such a victim and come across a group of boys playing ball in a field. Two begin to quarrel and one taunts the other with, O homo sine patre, bonum non habebis, or that the boy has no father. The officers then question the boy's mother and find that there was truth in the taunt, but the mother claims that the child is not the son of any mortal man and then denies all knowledge of the conception. The boy is then taken before the king and when, on the next day, he learns that he is to be put to death. Through cunning, the wonder child explains to the king the certain meaning of the symbols that are to be found there under the fortress. Vortigern then asks the boy his name and the boy replies with, "Ambrosius vocor, - unus est pater de conulibus Romanicae gentis", or "I am Ambrosius. My father is one of the consuls of the Roman people."

The name Ambrosius is obvioulsy taken from Gildas' Excidio Britanniae in which there is an Ambrosius Aurelianus who is the son of a Roman consul and is the leader of the Britons against the Saxons.

The tradition of the wonder child continues with it's adoption by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae in which the introduction is similar, but the two boys are given names; Merlinus and Dinabutius. Geoffrey is also more detailed as to the identity of the mother, whom he makes the daughter of the king of Dimetia and a nun in the church of St. Peter in that city. She maintains, as in Nennius, that she does not know who the father is but adds that, as she sat with her maidens in her chamber, a handsome young man appeared before her, took her in his arms and kissed her, and after a time departed suddenly. Later he came in again, only this time invisible, and sat and talked with her until finally she became a mother.

This immaculate conception is later expounded upon by Robert de Boron in his Merlin in which he introduces notions concerning the Anti-Christ who, it was believed, would be born from this union of a devil and a virgin, just as Christ had been born of God and a virgin mother. The devils decide to bring the Anti-Christ into the world to be their instrument and one is chosen to become his father. The plan is not entirely successful, for the child, although endowed with supernatural powers, does not inherit the wickedness of his father. At the time of his birth he was a grisly sight to behold, talked when he was a year old, and gave other instances of his uncanny nature.

The taunting incident is found in a Middle English poem, Arthour and Merlin where the band of boys are playing in the street when one hurls it at him:

"Foule schrewe, fram ous go
Thou art al bigetem amis,
thou nost who thi fader is,
ac some deuel, as ich wene,
the bigat, ous euer to tene"

The rest of the details in the poem are as found in Robert.

There are quite a few more examples of the wonder child in literature throughout history, but because of time and ignorance, we would need a guide more skillful than the present writer to accomplish.


Source

Ogle, Marbury Bladen. "The Discovery of the Wonder Child" Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 59 (1928), pp. 179-204.