Details
In Geoffrey's Historia Regum, the prophecies of Merlin occupy a prominent place, taking up all of book 7. However Geoffrey also subsequently wrote this less well known piece, a Latin verse Vita Merlini, which draws more closely on the Welsh Merlin tradition, although Geoffrey attempts to synchronise this material with his Histori by presenting it as belonging to Merlin's old age. This English translation preserves the verse hexameter of the original.