 The two volumes of an illustrated edition ofLe Morte D'Arthur published byJ. M. Dent in 1893, with vellucent binding by Cedric Chivers | |
| Author | Thomas Malory |
|---|---|
| Original title | Le morte Darthur |
| Language | Middle English |
| Subject | Matter of Britain |
| Genre | Chivalric romance,sword and sorcery,historical fantasy |
| Published | 1485 |
| Publisher | William Caxton |
| Publication place | Kingdom of England |
| 823.2 | |
| LC Class | PR2043 .B16 |
| Text | Le Morte d'Arthur atWikisource |
Le Morte d'Arthur (originally written asle morte Darthur;Anglo-Norman French for "The Death of Arthur")[1] is a 15th-centuryMiddle English prose compilation and reworking by SirThomas Malory of tales about the legendaryKing Arthur,Guinevere,Lancelot,Merlin and theKnights of the Round Table, along with their respective folklore, including the quest for theHoly Grail and the legend ofTristan and Iseult. In order to tell a "complete" story of Arthur from his conception to his death, Malory put together, rearranged, interpreted and modified material from various French and English sources. Today, this is one of the best-known works ofArthurian literature. Many authors since the 19th-century revival of theArthurian legend have used Malory as their principal source.
Apparently written in prison at the end of themedieval English era,Le Morte d'Arthur was completed by Malory around 1470 and was first published in a printed edition in 1485 byWilliam Caxton. Until the discovery of theWinchester Manuscript in 1934, the 1485 edition was considered the earliest known text ofLe Morte d'Arthur and that closest to Malory's original version.[2] Modern editions under myriad titles are variable, changing spelling, grammar and pronouns for the convenience of readers of modern English, as well as often abridging or revising the material.
The exact identity of the author ofLe Morte d'Arthur has long been the subject of speculation, as at least six historical figures bore the name of "Sir Thomas Malory" (in various spellings) during the late 15th century.[3] In the work, the author describes himself as "Knyght presoner Thomas Malleorre" ("Sir Thomas Maleore" according to the publisherWilliam Caxton). Historically, this has been taken as supporting evidence for the identification most widely accepted by scholars: that the author was Thomas Malory ofNewbold Revel,Warwickshire,[4][5] son of Sir John Malory.
According to the timeline proposed by P. J. C. Field, Sir Thomas of Newbold Revel inherited the family estate in 1434, but by 1450 he was fully engaged in a life of crime. As early as 1433, he had been accused of theft, but the more serious allegations against him included that of the attempted murder ofHumphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, an accusation of at least two rapes, and that he had attacked and robbedCoombe Abbey. Malory was first arrested and imprisoned in 1451 for the ambush of Buckingham, but was released early in 1452. By March, he was back in theMarshalsea prison and then inColchester, escaping on multiple occasions. In 1461, he was granted a pardon by KingHenry VI, returning to live at his estate. After 1461, however, few records survive which scholars agree refer to Malory of Newbold Revel. In 1468–1470, KingEdward IV issued four more general pardons which specifically excluded a Thomas Malory. The first of these named Malory a knight and applied to participants in a campaign inNorthumberland in the North of England by members of theLancastrian faction. Field interprets these pardon-exclusions to refer to Malory of Newbold Revel, suggesting that Malory changed his allegiance fromYork to Lancaster, and that he was involved in a conspiracy withRichard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick to overthrow King Edward. William Matthews, having given evidence of this candidate's advanced age at the time of the Northumberland campaign and living much further to the South, interprets this record as referring to his own proposed candidate for authorship. Field proposed that it was during a final stint atNewgate Prison in London that he wroteLe Morte d'Arthur,[6] and that Malory was released in October 1470 when Henry VI returned to the throne, dying only five months later.[4] This Warwickshire knight was widely accepted as the author of theMorte until the publication of Matthews' research in 1966.
This identification was widely accepted through most of the 20th century based on the assumption that this candidate was born around 1416. The 1416 date was proposed by Field, contradicting the original record of this knight's military service record by Dugdale.[7] In 1966, Matthews published original research demonstrating that Malory of Newbold Revel had in fact been an officer under KingHenry V in the famousAgincourt campaign by 1414 or 1415; confirming Dugdale's original record and placing this knight's birth around 1393. Some late 20th-century researchers cast a doubt that this would make the Newbold Revel knight far too old to have writtenLe Morte: in prison in his mid-70s to early 80s, when, in Matthews' words, "the medieval view was that by sixty a man was bean fodder and forage, ready for nothing but death's pit."[8] Because no other contemporary Thomas Malory had been shown to have been knighted, the question remained unresolved.
The second candidate to receive scholarly support as the possible author ofLe Morte Darthur is Thomas Mallory ofPapworth St Agnes inHuntingdonshire, whose will, written in Latin and dated 16 September 1469, was described in an article by T. A. Martin in theAthenaeum magazine in September 1897.[9] This Mallory was born in Shropshire in 1425, the son of Sir William Mallory, although there is no indication in the will that he was himself a knight; he died within six weeks of the will being made. It has been suggested that the fact that he appears to have been brought up inLincolnshire may account for the traces of Lincolnshire dialect inLe Morte Darthur.[10] To date, this candidate has not commanded the attention of scholars as the Newbold-Revel knight has.
The most recent contender for authorship emerged in the mid-20th century: Thomas Malory ofHutton Conyers andStudley Royal inYorkshire. This claim was put forward in 1966 inThe Ill-Framed Knight: A Skeptical Inquiry into the Identity of Sir Thomas Malory by William Matthews.[11] Matthews' primary arguments in favor of the Yorkshire Malory were the northerly dialect of theMorte; the likelihood that this is the Malory who was excluded from the pardon by Edward IV in 1468; and the fact that the Newbold Revel knight was far too old to be writing theMorte in the late 1460s. Matthews' interpretation was not widely accepted, primarily because he could not find evidence that the Yorkshireman was a knight. Cecelia Lampp Linton, however, has provided extensive detail about the Malorys of Yorkshire and offered evidence that Thomas of Yorkshire was aKnight Hospitaller, a militant of theCatholic Church.[12] She has also examined the provenance of some of the known sources of theMorte and has demonstrated that this Malory would have had ready access to these documents. Accepting Linton's evidence would remove the primary objection to his authorship, making the contradictions presented by the Newbold Revel knight irrelevant. TheMorte itself seems to be much more the work of a knight of the church than a secular repeat offender, as evidenced by Malory's own conclusion (rendered in Modern English): "... pray for me while I am in life that God send me good deliverance, and when I am dead I pray you all pray for my soul; for this book was ended the ninth year of the reign of King Edward the Fourth by Sir Thomas Maleore, knight, as Jesus help him by his great might, as he is the servant of Jesus both day and night."[13]
As Elizabeth Bryan wrote of Malory's contribution to Arthurian legend in her introduction to a modern edition ofLe Morte d'Arthur, "Malory did not invent the stories in this collection; he translated and compiled them. Malory in fact translated Arthurian stories that already existed in 13th-century French prose (the so-calledOld FrenchVulgate romances) and compiled them together withMiddle English sources (theAlliterativeMorte Arthure and theStanzaicMorte Arthur) to create this text."[14]
Within his narration, Malory refers to drawing it from a singular "Freynshe booke", in addition to also unspecified "other bookis".[15] In addition to the vast Vulgate Cycle in its different variants and theProse Tristan, as well as the English poemsMorte Arthur andMorte Arthure, Malory's other original source texts were identified as several French standalone chivalric romances, includingÉrec et Énide,L'âtre périlleux,Perlesvaus, andYvain ou le Chevalier au Lion (or its English version,Ywain and Gawain), as well asJohn Hardyng's EnglishChronicle.[16] The English poemThe Weddynge of Syr Gawen is uncertainly regarded as either just another of these or possibly actually Malory's own work.[17] His assorted other sources might have included a 5th-century Roman military manual,De re militari.[18]
Le Morte d'Arthur was completed in 1469 or 1470 ("the ninth year of the reign of King Edward IV"), according to a note at the end of the book.[19] It is believed that Malory's original title intended was to beThe hoole booke of kyng Arthur & of his noble knyghtes of the rounde table, and only its final section to be namedLe Morte Darthur.[20] At the end of the work, Caxton added: "Thus endeth this noble & joyous book entytled le morte Darthur, Notwythstondyng it treateth of the byrth, lyf, and actes of the sayd kynge Arthur; of his noble knyghtes of the rounde table, theyr meruayllous enquestes and aduentures, thachyeuyng of the sangreal, & in thende the dolorous deth & departynge out of this worlde of them al." Caxton separated Malory's eight books into 21 books, subdivided the books into a total of 506[21] chapters, and added a summary of each chapter as well as acolophon to the entire book.[22] In his preface, Caxton also discussed the subject of thehistoricity of King Arthur.[23]
The first printing of Malory's work was made by Caxton in 1485, becoming one of the first books ever to be printed in England.[24] Only two copies of this original printing are known to exist, in the collections of theMorgan Library & Museum in New York and theJohn Rylands Library in Manchester.[25] It proved popular and was reprinted in an illustrated form with some additions and changes in 1498 (The Boke of Kyng Arthur Somtyme Kynge of Englande and His Noble Actes and Feates of Armes of Chyvalrye) and 1529 (The Boke of the Moost Noble and Worthy Prince Kyng Arthur Somtyme Kyng of Grete Brytayne Now Called Englande) byWynkyn de Worde who succeeded to Caxton's press. Three more editions were published before theEnglish Civil War: William Copland'sThe Story of the Most Noble and Worthy Kynge Arthur (1557),Thomas East'sThe Story of Kynge Arthur, and also of his Knyghtes of the Rounde Table (1585), andWilliam Stansby'sThe Most Ancient and Famous History of the Renowned Prince Arthur King of Britaine (1634), each of which contained additional changes and errors. Stansby's edition, based on East's, was also deliberately censored.[26] Thereafter, the book went out of fashion until theRomanticist revival of interest in all things medieval.
TheBritish Library summarises the importance of Malory's work thus: "It was probably always a popular work: it was first printed by William Caxton (...) and has been read by generations of readers ever since. In a literary sense, Malory's text is the most important of all the treatments of Arthurian legend in English language, influencing writers as diverse asEdmund Spenser,Alfred, Lord Tennyson,Mark Twain andJohn Steinbeck."[20]
An assistant headmaster atWinchester College,Walter Fraser Oakeshott discovered a previously unknownmanuscript copy of the work in June 1934, during the cataloguing of the college's library. Newspaper accounts announced that what Caxton had published in 1485 was not exactly what Malory had written.[27] Oakeshott published "The Finding of the Manuscript" in 1963, chronicling the initial event and his realization that "this indeed was Malory," with "startling evidence of revision" in the Caxton edition.[28] This manuscript is now in the British Library's collection.[29]
Malory scholarEugène Vinaver examined the manuscript shortly after its discovery. Oakeshott was encouraged to produce an edition himself, but he ceded the project to Vinaver.[28] Based on his initial study of the manuscript, Oakeshott concluded in 1935 that the copy from which Caxton printed his edition "was already subdivided into books and sections."[30] Vinaver made an exhaustive comparison of the manuscript with Caxton's edition and reached similar conclusions. Microscopic examination revealed that ink smudges on the Winchester manuscript are offsets of newly printed pages set in Caxton's own font, which indicates that the Winchester Manuscript was in Caxton's print shop. The manuscript is believed to be closer on the whole to Malory's original and does not have the book and chapter divisions for which Caxton takes credit in his preface. It has been digitised by a Japanese team, who note that "the text is imperfect, as the manuscript lacks the first and last quires and a few leaves. The most striking feature of the manuscript is theextensive use of red ink."[31][32]
In his 1947 publication ofThe Works of Sir Thomas Malory, Vinaver argued that Malory wrote not a single book, but rather a series of Arthurian tales, each of which is an internally consistent and independent work. However, William Matthews pointed out that Malory's later tales make frequent references to the earlier events, suggesting that he had wanted the tales to cohere better but had not sufficiently revised the whole text to achieve this.[33] This was followed by much debate in the late 20th-century academia over which version is superior, Caxton's print or Malory's original vision.[34]
Caxton's edition differs from the Winchester manuscript in many places. As well as numerous small differences on every page, there is also a major difference both in style and content in Malory's Book II (Caxton's Book V), describing the war with the Emperor Lucius, where Caxton's version is much shorter. In addition, the Winchester manuscript has none of the customary marks indicating to the compositor where chapter headings and so on were to be added. It has therefore been argued that the Winchester manuscript was not the copy from which Caxton prepared his edition; rather it seems that Caxton either wrote out a different version himself for the use of his compositor, or used another version prepared by Malory.[35]
The Winchester manuscript does not appear to have been copied out by Malory himself; rather, it seems to have been a presentation copy made by two scribes who, judging from certain dialect forms which they introduced into the text, appear to have come fromWest Northamptonshire. Apart from these forms, both the Winchester manuscript and the Caxton edition show some more northerly dialect forms which, in the judgement of the Middle English dialect expertAngus McIntosh are closest to the dialect of Lincolnshire. McIntosh argues, however, that this does not necessarily rule out the Warwickshire Malory as the possible author; he points out that it could be that the Warwickshire Malory consciously imitated the style and vocabulary of romance literature typical of the period.[36]
Most of the events take place in ahistorical fantasy version of Britain and France at an unspecified time (on occasion, the plot ventures farther afield, toRome andSarras, and recallsBiblical tales from theancient Near East). Arthurian myth is set during the 5th to 6th centuries; however, Malory's telling contains many anachronisms and makes no effort at historical accuracy – even more so than his sources. Earlier romance authors have already depicted the "Dark Ages" times of Arthur as a familiar,High-to-Late Medieval style world of armored knights and grand castles taking place of thePost-Roman warriors and forts. Malory further modernised the legend by conflating theCeltic Britain with his own contemporaryKingdom of England (for example explicitly identifyingLogres asEngland,Camelot asWinchester, andAstolat asGuildford) and, completely ahistorically, replacing the legend'sSaxon invaders with theOttoman Turks in the role ofKing Arthur's foreign pagan enemies.[37][38] Malory hearkens back to an age of knighthood, withchivalric codes of honour andjousting tournaments, and as noted byIan Scott-Kilvert, characters which "consist almost entirely of fighting men, their wives or mistresses, with an occasional clerk or an enchanter, afairy or a fiend, a giant or a dwarf," and "time does not work on the heroes of Malory."[39]
According toCharles W. Moorman III, Malory intended "to set down in English a unified Arthuriad which should have as its great theme the birth, the flowering, and the decline of an almost perfect earthy civilization." Moorman identified three main motifs going through the work:Sir Lancelot's andQueen Guinevere's affair; the long blood feud between the families ofKing Lot andKing Pellinore; and the mysticalGrail Quest. Each of these plots would define one of the causes of the downfall of Arthur's kingdom, namely "the failures in love, in loyalty, in religion."[40] Beverly Kennedy opined that the central theme of the work is that ofadultery, from the begetting of Arthur to the cause of his fall.[41] Much of the Malory scholarship is concerned specifically with the issues relating to the subject of Lancelot and Guinevere's adultery.[42]
Prior to Caxton's reorganization, Malory's work originally consisted of eight volumes (one of them was also divided into two parts). The following list uses Winchester Manuscript (Malory's "Syr" is usually rendered "Sir" today) as well as William Caxton's print edition and modern titles by Arthurian scholars Eugène Vinaver and P. J. C. Field:
Moorman attempted to put the books of the Winchester Manuscript in chronological order. In his analysis, Malory's intended chronology can be divided into three parts: Book I followed by a 20-year interval that includes some events of Book V (Lancelot and Elaine – from the meeting of the two to the madness of Lancelot); the 15-year-long period of Book V, also spanning Books IV (takes place after the adventure of the Cote de Mal Tale), II (takes place between King Mark and Alexander the Orphan), and III (takes place between Alexander the Orphan and the Tournament of Surluse); Lancelot meets Bliant after the Tournament of Lonezep towards the end of Lancelot and Elaine section; the section of Sir Palomides takes place after Lancelot returns to Arthur's court; and finally Books VI, VII, and VIII in a straightforward sequence beginning with the closing part of Book V (the conclusion section).[43]
Like other English prose in the 15th century,Le Morte d'Arthur was highly influenced by French writings, but Malory blends these with other English verse and prose forms. The northeastern Warwickshire dialect late Middle English ofLe Morte d'Arthur[44] is much closer toEarly Modern English than the Middle English ofGeoffrey Chaucer'sCanterbury Tales (the publication of Chaucer's work by Caxton was a precursor to Caxton's publication of Malory); if the spelling is modernised, it reads almost likeElizabethan English. Where theCanterbury Tales are in Middle English, Malory extends "one hand to Chaucer, and one toSpenser,"[45] by constructing a manuscript that is hard to place in one category. His writing can be divisive today, often regarded by critics (including prominent scholars such as Vinaver,George Saintsbury,Robert Lumiansky,C. S Lewis, andE. K. Chambers) as simplistic and unsophisticated from an artistic viewpoint.[46] Conversely, there are also opposite opinions, even regarding it a "supreme aesthetic accomplishment" (William Calin).[47] For a modern audience, his prose may feel better when modernised (and perhaps especially when also dramatically performed aloud) than as it reads in its original form.[48]
Other aspects of Malory's writing style include his abrupt abridging of much of the source material, especially in the early parts concerning Arthur's backstory and his rise to power (preferring the later adventures of the knights), apparently acting on an authorial assumption that the reader knows the story already and resulting in the problem of omitting important things "thereby often rendering his text obscure", and how he would sometimes turn descriptions of characters into proper names.[49][50] Because there is so much lengthy ground to cover, Malory uses "so—and—then", often to transition his retelling of the stories that become episodes instead of instances that can stand on their own.[51]
Arthur is born to theHigh King of Britain (Malory's "England")Uther Pendragon and his new wifeIgraine, and then taken by the wizardMerlin to be secretly fostered by Arthur's uncleEctor in the country in turmoil after the death of Uther. Years later, the now teenage Arthur suddenly becomes the ruler of the leaderless Britain when he removes the fatedsword from the stone in the contest set up by Merlin, which proves his birthright that he himself had not been aware of. The newly crowned King Arthur and his followers includingKing Ban andKing Bors go on to fight against rivals and rebels, ultimately winning the war in the greatBattle of Bedegraine. Arthur prevails due to his military prowess and the prophetic and magical counsel of Merlin (later eliminated and replaced by the sorceressNimue), further helped by the swordExcalibur that Arthur received from aLady of the Lake. With the help of reconciled rebels, Arthur also crushes a foreign invasion in theBattle of Clarence. With his throne secure, Arthur marries the also young PrincessGuinevere and inherits theRound Table from her father, KingLeodegrance. He then gathers his chief knights, including some of his former enemies who now joined him, at his capitalCamelot and establishes the Round Table fellowship as all swear to thePentecostal Oath (Malory's invention[52]) as a guide for knightly conduct.
It also includes the tale ofBalyn and Balan (a lengthy section which Malory called a "booke" in itself), as well as some other episodes, such asKing Pellinore's hunt for theQuesting Beast and the treason of Arthur's sorceress half-sister QueenMorgan le Fay in the plot involving her loverAccolon. Furthermore, it tells of begetting of Arthur's incestuous sonMordred by one of his other royal half-sisters,Morgause (though Arthur did not know her as his sister). On Merlin's advice, Arthur then takes away every newborn boy in his kingdom and all of them but Mordred (who miraculously survives and eventually indeed will kill his father in the end) perish at sea; this is mentioned matter-of-factly, with no apparent moral overtone.
The narrative of the first book is mainly based on theProseMerlin in its rewritten version from thePost-Vulgate Cycle'sSuite du Merlin (possibly the manuscript Cambridge University Library, Additional 7071[53]).[16] Malory addresses his contemporary preoccupations withlegitimacy and societal unrest, which will appear throughout the rest ofLe Morte d'Arthur.[54] His concern reflects the15th-century England, where many were claiming their rights to power through violence and bloodshed. According toHelen Cooper inSir Thomas Malory: Le Morte D'arthur – The Winchester Manuscript, the prose style, which mimics historical documents of the time, lends an air of authority to the whole work. This allowed contemporaries to read the book as a history rather than as a work of fiction, therefore making it a model of order for Malory's violent and chaotic times during theWars of the Roses, arguably resembling his contemporaryJohn Vale's Book.[55]
The opening of the second volume finds Arthur and his kingdom without an enemy. His throne is secure, and his knights includingGriflet andTor as well as Arthur's own nephewsGawain andYwain (sons of Morgause and Morgan, respectively) have proven themselves in various battles and fantasticquests as told in the first volume. Seeking more glory, Arthur and his knights then go to the war against (fictitious)Emperor Lucius who has just demanded Britain to resume payingtribute. Departing fromGeoffrey of Monmouth's literary tradition in which Mordred is left in charge (as this happens there near the end of the story), Malory's Arthur leaves his court in the hands ofConstantine of Cornwall and sails toNormandy to meet his cousinHoel. After that, the story details Arthur's march on Rome through Almaine (Germany) and Italy. Following a series of battles resulting in the great victory over Lucius and his allies, and theRoman Senate's surrender, Arthur is crowned a Western Emperor but instead arranges a proxy government and returns to Britain.
This book is based mostly on the first half of the Middle English heroic poemAlliterativeMorte Arthure (itself heavily based on Geoffrey's pseudo-chronicleHistoria Regum Britanniae). Caxton's print version is abridged by more than half compared to Malory's manuscript.[56] Vinaver theorised that Malory originally wrote this part first as a standalone work, while without knowledge of French romances.[57] In effect, there is a time lapse that includes Arthur's war against KingClaudas in France.
Going back to a time before Book II, Malory establishesLancelot, a young French orphan prince, as King Arthur's most revered knight through numerous episodic adventures, some of which he presented in comedic manner.[58] Lancelot always adheres to the Pentecostal Oath, assisting ladies in distress and giving mercy for honourable enemies he has defeated in combat. However, the world Lancelot lives in is too complicated for simple mandates and, although Lancelot aspires to live by an ethical code, the actions of others make it difficult.
The tale of Lancelot is based on parts of the FrenchProseLancelot (mostly its 'Agravain' section) from the Vulgate Cycle, but is influenced by the Post-Vulgate Cycle whenever Malory provides continuity with his earlier episodes that had been based on the latter.[16] It also features thechapel perilous episode taken fromPerlesvaus.[59][60] There is evidence thatChrétien de Troyes' original poemLancelot, the Knight of the Cart or its English translationYwain and Gawain may have been among his other uncredited minor sources, as Malory's story is repeatedly closer to it than to the Vulgate rewrite.[16]
Lancelot himself had previously appeared in Malory's Book II (set later in the narrative), fighting for Arthur against the Romans. In Book III, his character is widely regarded as of central importance to the entire work, representing "the very paradigm of Malorian knighthood".[61] Malory attempts to turn the focus ofcourtly love from adultery to service by having Lancelot dedicate doing everything he does for Queen Guinevere, the wife of his lord and friend Arthur, but avoid (for a time being) to committing to an adulterous relationship with her. Nevertheless, it is still her love that is the ultimate source of Lancelot's supreme knightly qualities, something that Malory himself did not appear to be fully comfortable with as it seems to have clashed with his personal ideal of knighthood.[62] Although a catalyst of the fall of Camelot, as it was in the French romantic prose cycle tradition, the moral handling of the adultery between Lancelot and Guinevere inLe Morte implies their relationship is true and pure, as Malory focused on the ennobling aspects of courtly love. Other issues are demonstrated when Morgan enchants Lancelot, which reflects a feminization of magic, and in how the prominence of jousting tournament fighting in this tale indicates a shift away from battlefield warfare towards a more mediated and virtuous form of violence.
The fourth volume primarily deals with the adventures of the young Gareth ("Beaumains") in his long quest for the sibling ladiesLynette and Lioness. The youngest of Arthur's nephews by Morgause andKing Lot, Gareth hides his identity as a nameless squire at Camelot as to achieve his knighthood in the most honest and honourable way.[63]
While this particular story is not directly based on any known text unlike most of the content of previous volumes, it resembles various Arthurian and other French romances of theFair Unknown type.[64] It may also have been influenced in minor ways bySir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle and by Chrétien'sErec and Enide episode "Joie de la Cort" (and perhaps, according to Vinaver, two other of Chrétien's poems).[64]
A long collection of the tales aboutTristan ofLyonesse, as well as a variety of other knights, including Tristan's companionsDinadan andLamorak, his rivalPalamedes, Alexander the Orphan (Tristan's young relative abducted by Morgan), and "La Cote de Male Tayle". After telling of Tristan's birth and childhood, its primary focus is on the doomed adulterous relationship between Tristan and theBelle Isolde, wife of his villainous uncleKing Mark. It also includes the retrospective story of howGalahad was fathered by Lancelot to PrincessElaine of Corbenic, followed by Lancelot's years of madness.
Malory's treatment of the legend of the young Cornish prince Tristan is the centerpiece ofLe Morte d'Arthur as well as the longest of his eight books. It constitutes around a third of the entire work, and was itself formally divided by the author into two separate books ("bookes"). It is based mainly on the French vastProseTristan (or its hypothetical now-lost English adaptation), highly abridged by about 5/6.[65] Malory's text combines parts of the ProseTristan in its Version II in an unknown modification for his First Book (his featured episodes largely but not exactly mirroring the V.II variants survived in the manuscript MS BN fr. 103 at first, until the story of Tristan's madness, then followed by MS BN fr. 334), and an entirely alternative Version IV (MS BN fr. 99) for his Second Book.[66] Malory begins with the birth of Tristan and does not use the Grail Quest version from the ProseTristan. According to Ralph C. Norris, "as with his previous tales, Malory uses minor sources to add such things as characters' names, episodes, and occasionally a different tone to his rendition."[67] In that, he might have also used the now almost entirely lost Middle English verse romanceSir Tristrem.[68]
The variety of episodes, and a perceived lack of structural coherence in the Tristan narrative,[69] raised questions about its role in Malory's text. Vinaver condemned it as "long and monotonous" and suggested it to be left for the last, his view shared by much of classic scholarship.[70] Others, conversely, have since praised or at very least partially approved of the book, arguably an essential reading due to how Malory foreshadows and prepares for the rest of his work by developing or forecasting a variety of characters, themes, and tales found in the later books.[71] It can be seen as an exploration of secularchivalry and a discussion of earthly "worship" (in the meaning of glory and reputation) when it is founded in a sense of shame and honour.[72][73] IfLe Morte is viewed as a text in which Malory is attempting to define the concept of knighthood, then the tale of Tristan becomes its critique, rather than Malory attempting to create an ideal knight as he does in some of the other books.
Malory's primary source for this long part was the VulgateQueste del Saint Graal, chronicling the adventures of manyKnights of the Round Table in their mostly separate, pilgrimage-like journeys to find theHoly Grail. According to Terence McCarthy, it may have been Malory's earliest composition.[74]
Gawain is the first to embark on the search for the Grail, albeit in his case not for religious reasons. The others, prominently including Lancelot, follow his lead, traveling in various directions, either alone or in small groups of changing composition. Their martial and spiritual exploits are intermingled with encounters with maidens and hermits who offer advice and interpret dreams along the way. The Grail is ultimately achieved by Galahad and his final companions,Percival andBors the Younger.
After the confusion of the secular moral code he manifested within the previous book, Malory attempts to construct a new mode of chivalry by placing an emphasis on religion, albeit somewhat less than his French sources did, the degree of difference depending on an interpretation.[75] As in theQueste, the framework for the interactions between the main Grail knights (Galahad, Percival, Bors) is based onSaint Aelred's ideas from his bookSpiritual Friendship.[76] Christianity and the Church offer a venue through which the Pentecostal Oath can be upheld, whereas the strict moral code imposed by religion foreshadows almost certain failure on the part of the knights. For instance, Gawain refuses to do penance for his sins, claiming the tribulations that coexist with knighthood as a sort of secular penance. Likewise, the flawed Lancelot, for all his sincerity, is unable to completely escape his adulterous love of Guinevere, and is thus destined to fail where Galahad will succeed. This coincides with the personification of perfection in the form of Galahad, a virgin wielding the power of God. Galahad's life, uniquely entirely without sin, makes him a model of a holy knight that cannot be emulated through secular chivalry. Nevertheless, in contrast to the striking condemnation and humiliation of Lancelot's character in theQueste, Malory's version of the Knight of the Lake continues to be the paragon of, at least, earthly honour.[77]
Following the quest for the Holy Grail, Lancelot tries to maintain his knightly virtues but finds himself drawn back into his illicit romance with Guinevere. He stays true to her, tragically rejecting the desperate love ofElaine of Ascolat, and completes a series of trials that culminates in his rescue of the Queen from the abduction by the renegade knightMaleagant (this is also the first time the work explicitly mentions the couple's sexual adultery).
Writing it, Malory combined the established material from the Vulgate Cycle's early part of ProseLancelot (an abridged retelling of the finale ofChrétien's Lancelot), and some of the early parts of the VulgateMort Artu, with his own creations (the episodes "The Great Tournament" and "The Healing of Sir Urry").[78][79] A key theme emphasised at the end of each of the book's five tales isforgiveness.[80]
A disaster strikes when King Arthur's bastard son Mordred and his half-brotherAgravain succeed in revealing Queen Guinevere's adultery and Arthur sentences her to burn. Lancelot's rescue party raids the execution, killing several loyal knights of the Round Table, including, unwittingly, Gawain's younger brothers Gareth andGaheris. Gawain, bent on revenge, prompts Arthur into a long and bitter civil war with Lancelot. After they leave to pursue Lancelot in France, where Gawain is mortally injured in a duel with Lancelot (and later finally reconciles with him on his death bed), Mordred seizes the throne and takes control of Arthur's kingdom. Atthe bloody final battle between Mordred's followers and Arthur's remaining loyalists in England, Arthur kills Mordred but is himself gravely wounded. As Arthur is dying, the lone survivorBedivere casts Excalibur away, and Morgan and Nimue come together to take Arthur toAvalon. Following the disappearance and presumed passing of King Arthur, who is succeeded by Constantine, Malory provides a short epilogue about the later lives and deaths of Bedivere, Guinevere, and Lancelot and his kinsmen.
In his eponymous final book, Malory presented the version of the story of Arthur's death derived primarily from the VulgateMort Artu, along with the Vulgate-inspired EnglishStanzaicMorte Arthur as his secondary source.[81] (Alternatively, a hypothetical now-lost modification of the French original could have been a common source for both Malory's work and the English poem.[82]) In the words ofGeorge Brown, Malory "celebrates the greatness of the Arthurian world on the eve of its ruin. As the magnificent fellowship turns violently upon itself, death and destruction also produce repentance, forgiveness, and salvation."[83]
Following the lapse of 182 years since the last printing, the year 1816 saw a new edition byAlexander Chalmers, illustrated byThomas Uwins (The History of the Renowned Prince Arthur, King of Britain; with His Life and Death, and All His Glorious Battles. Likewise, the Noble Acts and Heroic Deeds of His Valiant Knights of the Round Table), as well as another one byJoseph Haslewood (La Mort D'Arthur: The Most Ancient and Famous History of the Renowned Prince Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table); both of these were based on the 1634 Stansby's version. Several other modern editions, including these byThomas Wright (La Morte D'Arthure: The History of King Arthur and of the Knights of the Round Table, 1858) andErnest Rhys (Malory's History of King Arthur and the Quest of The Holy Grail: From The Morte D'Arthur, 1886), were also based on that by Stansby.[84][85]
William Upcott's edition directly based on then-newly rediscovered Morgan copy of the first print Caxton version was published asMalory's Morte d'Arthur withRobert Southey's introduction and notes including summaries of the original French material from the Vulgate tradition in 1817. Afterwards, Caxton became the basis for many subsequent editions until the 1934 discovery of the Winchester Manuscript.
The first mass-printed modern edition of Caxton was published in 1868 byEdward Strachey as a book for boys titledLe Morte Darthur: Sir Thomas Malory's Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights of the Round Table, highly censored in accordance to Victorian morals. Many other 19th-century editors, abridgers and retellers such asHenry Frith (King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, 1884) would also censor their versions for the same reason.[86] The first "standard" popular edition, based on Caxton was Heinrich Oskar Sommer'sLe Morte Darthur by Syr Thomas Malory published in 1890 with an introduction and glossary as well as an essay on Malory's prose style, followed byJohn Rhys in 1893 (Everyman's Library) andIsrael Gollancz in 1897 (Temple Classics).[84][85]
Modernised editions update the late Middle English spelling, update some pronouns, and re-punctuate and re-paragraph the text. Others furthermore update the phrasing and vocabulary to contemporaryModern English. The following sentence (from Caxton's preface, addressed to the reader) is an example written in Middle English and then in Modern English:
Since the 19th-century Arthurian revival, there have been numerous modern republications, retellings and adaptations ofLe Morte d'Arthur. A few of them are listed below (see also the followingBibliography section):
The Winchester Manuscript Edition has not been modernised fully yet but there are some partial and abridged modernisations of the text.
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