third and final extant work is the Vita Merlini (“The Life of Merlin”, hereafterabbreviated VM), completed around 1150 and extant in only four independentmanuscripts.6 Written in dactylic hexameter, this poem recounts how MerlinSilvester goes mad after battle and retires to the woods to live; this enigmaticand difficult work seems to be deeply in touch with Welsh literature, thoughits ultimate sources are unknown.