historia. Sources One very obvious source is Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, the Vera historia serving as a continuation of the history of Arthur given there, elaborating on Geoffrey's bald and summary account of Arthur's death. Some scholars who date the Vera historia to the 1190s or 1200s also see it as a reaction to accounts of the discovery of King Arthur's body at Glastonbury Abbey, the "true history" as opposed to the false Glastonbury one, placing his funeral and possible burial at a church in Gwynedd which perhaps can be identified with Aberconwy Abbey itself, or alternatively with Rhyd Llanfair near Pentrefoelas. The story is clearly full of elements taken from the world of Celtic myth and legend, even if their sources are not always precisely identifiable. The handsome youth on horseback who wounds Arthur with an elm-shaft sharper than any lance and poisoned with adder venom seems to be one example. This episode has been connected with the killing of Lleu Llaw Gyffes by Gronw Pebyr in the fourth branch of the Mabinogi, and with the wounding of Arthur at Camlann by a poisoned arrow fired by Mordred, as recorded in 19th-century Cornish folklore. An adder also figures in accounts of the battle of Camlann in the Stanzaic Morte Arthur, suggesting the possibility that both this and the Vera historia were drawing on some Welsh mention in a lost source of Arthur's death being caused by an adder. There are further parallels, perhaps unrelated, in a Spanish chronicle and in Livy's description of the death of Romulus. The mystery surrounding Arthur's burial recalls the line in Englynion y Beddau, "The world's wonder a grave for Arthur", and Arthur's veneration for the Virgin Mary also appears in the Historia Brittonum. The appearance of a sudden storm and mist has analogues in a variety of texts, including two passages from the third branch of the Mabinogi, Chrétien de Troyes' romance Yvain, and the Gospel of Luke's account of the Crucifixion. Editions The existence of the Vera historia'' was unknown until as late as 1905. The palaeographer N. R. Ker drew attention to the significance of the work in 1969, but it had to wait until 1981 for a complete edition. Translations Footnotes References External links The full Latin text by UGA Éditions at OpenEdition.org 12th century in Wales 12th-century Latin literature 13th century in Wales 13th-century Latin literature Arthurian