This paper presents a novel model reference adaptive iterative learning control (ILC) for unknown continuous-time linear time-varying systems. The unknown time-varying parameters of the system are neither required to vary slowly nor to have known bounds. The system is not required to be minimum-phase, stable, controllable or observable. The input of the system is determined by a differentiator-free control law. The used reference model is time-invariant and first order and thus choosing its parameters is easily possible, even though, the system under control is high order and time variant. Almost all of the components of the system initial condition can be iteration variant. By introducing a novel kind of Lyapunov function the convergence of the proposed adaptive ILC (AILC) and achieving asymptotic tracking are proved. Also, by rigorous mathematical analysis and with the help of some mathematical key techniques such as Bellman-Gronwall lemma, it is shown that all signals and quantities in the closed-loop system are bounded in the sense of at least one norm. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by two simulation examples.