Giving thanks to God and the Virgin Mary for his victory, he ordered four of his men to remove his armour, but was then further wounded with a poisoned elm spear by a handsome young man.
[9][10] The fact that the two oldest manuscripts were formerly held by religious houses in the Welsh Marches, combined with the location of the story in Gwynedd, suggests that this work was written in Wales.
Llywelyn was a supporter of the campaign to recognize St Davids as an archbishopric; his foundation at Aberconwy was often involved in his diplomatic causes; and it is also known to have had links with Hailes Abbey, whose chronicle incorporated a shortened version of the Vera historia.
[11][12] 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,[2] or alternatively with Rhyd Llanfair near Pentrefoelas.
This episode has been connected with the killing of Lleu Llaw Gyffes by Gronw Pebyr in the fourth branch of the Mabinogi,[14] and with the wounding of Arthur at Camlann by a poisoned arrow fired by Mordred, as recorded in 19th-century Cornish folklore.
[17] 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,[11] Chrétien de Troyes' romance Yvain,[17] and the Gospel of Luke's account of the Crucifixion.