Le Morte D'arthur
(Sir Thomas Malory)
Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte D'Arthur" is the classic English language version of the Arthurian legend. Composed in the late 15th century as Malory languished in prison, the work is the only medieval English work that attempts to cover the entire life of King Arthur, the British warrior king whose histories were mainly produced in France.
Much controversy still rages over whether Malory intended one novel or a collection of several "tales," and modern editions of the book are often edited in accordance with the position of the editor on this crucial question. The so-called Winchester manuscript divides the book into eight separate "tales" while the original edition, printed by William Caxton, removed the partitions between the tales and treated the work as a single book. What can be said, definitively, however, is that the tales collectively fall into a rough order, and that Malory's effort stands as one of the most thorough attempts to tell the whole story of Arthur in a single volume.
In Le Morte, Malory begins with the tale of Arthur's conception, his childhood in obscurity, and the series of tests he must undergo to prove his claim to the throne. He unifies Britain, defies a Roman order for tribute, and creates a new order of chivalry, based on justice and mercy. The greatest of knights in the world, Lancelot of the Lake; Tristan of Lyonesse; Gawain of Orkney and many others, join his order and establish a Golden Age. But a sin from the king's past results in the begetting of Mordred, the poisonous son who betrays his father and breaks the fellowship of the Round Table. It is a tale of nobility and treason; of love and treachery; of idealism and weakness.
It is from Malory's vision that the later works of Tennyson, TH White, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and so many others have drawn their inspiration.
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