Le Morte Darthur

By Thomas Malory and Helen Moore

With an Introduction by Helen Moore.

The legend of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table is one of the most enduring and influential stories in world literature. Its themes - love, war, religion, treachery and family loyalty - are timeless, as are the reputations of its major characters, Arthur, Merlin, Guenever and Launcelot.

Malory's Le Morte Darthur is a story of noble knights, colourful tournaments and fateful love, set in a courtly society which is outwardly secure and successful, but in reality torn by dissent and, ultimately, treachery. Originally published in 1485, Malory's Le Morte Darthur is here presented in modern spelling and is accompanied by an Introduction and helpful Glossary.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
• Release date: Feb 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781848704893

Book preview

Sir Thomas Malory

Le Morte Darthur

with an Introduction

by Helen Moore

WORDSWORTH CLASSICS

OF WORLD LITERATURE

Le Morte Darthur first printed and published

by William Caxton 1485

First published by Wordsworth Editions Limited in 1996

Published as an ePublication 2013

ISBN 978 1 84870 489 3

Introduction © Simon Marshall 1996

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Introduction

The Writer and his Times

The precise identity of the Sir Thomas Malory who wrote Le Morte Darthur has always been shrouded in mystery, and has provoked much speculation. The work itself provides one piece of significant information. This comes at the end of the book, when the author reveals that he is a knight and that he completed his work in ‘the ninth year of the reign of King Edward the Fourth’, that is, sometime between 4 March 1469 and 3 March 1470. The leading candidate for identification as the author of Le Morte Darthur is Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire. [1] He was probably born between 1414 and 1418, and died on 12 or 14 March 1471. [2] The son of John and Philippa Malory, Thomas is first recorded in 1439, as witness to a legal settlement made by his cousin. The first reference to Thomas as a knight comes in 1441, so he must have been knighted at some point in the intervening years. [3] Malory’s wife was called Elizabeth (the date of their marriage is unknown) and they had at least two children: Robert, their heir, and Thomas, who probably died around 1457. [4]

Malory’s later life overlapped with the period of English history sometimes called the ‘Wars of the Roses’, indicating the period 1455–85, during which the two noble families of Lancaster and York, with their respective allies, were in conflict for the monarchy. The surviving records show that Malory’s personal life was just as turbulent as the times in which he lived. The period 1440–51 saw him elected as member of parliament for Warwickshire (in 1445), and it is possible that he experienced military service overseas in Gascony (now part of France). He was also the subject of a succession of criminal charges, including wounding, theft, burglary, rape and extortion, and was even accused of laying an ambush for the Duke of Buckingham and breaking into the Duke’s deer park. On his arrest in July 1451, Malory apparently broke out of prison, swam the moat and robbed an abbey before being recaptured and appearing before the Justices.[5] In extenuation of his subject, Malory’s biographer makes the point that

A combination of crimes and membership of parliament makes a pattern all too familiar to Englishmen in the middle of the fifteenth century. Malory was not the only man who was sometimes law-abiding or even a legislator, but who at other times ignored the law to take what he wanted or what he felt was his due. [6]

Malory spent most of the years 1452–60 in prison on these charges, but never came to trial. He was probably freed in around 1460, but was excluded by name from a general pardon issued by King Edward IV in 1468. He was again excluded from another general royal pardon in 1470. These two exclusions suggest that, for unknown reasons, Malory was regarded as posing a significant threat to the authorities. The fact that Le Morte Darthur was finished in prison would suggest that Malory’s second period of imprisonment lasted from about 1468 to 1470, when Edward IV fled into exile.

In 1485, the printer William Caxton published his version of Malory’s Le Morte Darthur. Caxton is an important figure in English literary history because he was probably the first man to set up a printing press in England. Caxton’s version of Malory was the only one known until 1934, when the ‘Winchester Manuscript’ was discovered, which differs in many respects from Caxton’s text. [7] It is therefore thought that Caxton’s text and the Winchester Manuscript are different versions of Malory’s original, which either no longer survives or has yet to be discovered.

Le Morte Darthur was written by a man who had first-hand experience of the vagaries of war, and knew the dangers of a political life. To this practical experience Malory added an extensive knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, the ideology, rhetoric and practice of chivalry as depicted in the lengthy French prose romances of the thirteenth century. He made use of the French prose works Suite du Merlin, the Tristan and the Lancelot, and two English poems – the alliterative Morte Arthure and the stanzaic Morte Arthur. It is these stories which provided Malory with most of the raw material for his Morte Darthur. Malory’s approach to his sources combines the techniques of translation, abridgement and re-writing. He does not specify which source he is using at any moment, but instead makes use of formulaic phrases such as ‘the book saith’ or ‘as the French book maketh mention’. These phrases are not, in fact, primarily intended to draw attention to any particular source. Rather, they serve a variety of narrative purposes peculiar to Malory’s own text. A phrase such as

‘the book saith’ can signal an appeal to literary authority, introduce a change from one topic or incident to another or indicate an explanation. It can also be used for purposes of narrative recapitulation and for glossing over passages omitted from the sources. It can even be employed in an apologetic or regretful sense, as when Malory records that ‘as the book saith, Sir Launcelot began to resort unto Queen Guenever again’.

The Work

Le Morte Darthur is a chivalric romance, which was one of the most enduringly popular types of literature in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. A chivalric romance is essentially a story detailing the adventures and loves of a single knight or a group of knights. It usually has a foreign or fantastic setting, and may include magical events. Love is an important theme in romance, so women often play a central role in the story and exercise considerable influence over the course of events. The significance of the heroines of Le Morte Darthur is indisputable: Launcelot and Tristram undertake mighty deeds for the service of Guenever and Isoud respectively, and both heroes experience madness brought on by the trials of love. An interesting development on the theme of the romance heroine is to be found in the character of Elaine, the Maid of Astolat. She spurns the confined life of the traditional heroine and instead takes on the questing, active behaviour of the knight in her search for Launcelot. Elaine, like the magical female figures, Morgan le Fay and the Lady of the Lake, defies categorisation: she is skilled in the female virtue of healing, but is also well versed in the rhetoric of desire and conquest which is more usually voiced by men. Even in death, she continues to speak of her love for Launcelot, as she arranges for her body to sail in a ship to Westminster, bearing a letter to the king and queen. The sight of her body in the ship functions as an eloquent declaration of unrequited love.

A chivalric romance is usually concerned with war as well as with love, and Le Morte Darthur is no exception. The romance contains three main types of military activity – the combat, the tournament, and the battle. Combats occur during the course of a knight’s adventuring, and may be either spontaneous or pre-arranged. They consist of a joust between two knights, often followed by a sword fight on foot when one, or both, of the knights has been unhorsed. The combat is a ritualised form of behaviour, and it is usually accompanied by formulaic verbal expressions of challenge, insult and acceptance of the combat. The combat between Sir Gareth and the Red Knight provides a good example of this sequence of rhetoric followed by action. The second type of military encounter, the tournament, is made up of a succession of individual or simultaneous combats, in a formalised setting. A tournament is called by a king, usually for purposes of military display. It is the primary medium for the exhibition of the knightly virtue of ‘prowess’, that is, skill with lance and sword. Particularly lavish and lengthy tournaments are held at Surluse and Lonazep. Genuine warfare is also very much a part of the matter of Le Morte Darthur. Arthur’s reign begins and ends with war: his succession to the throne is followed by a drawn-out period of conflict with the eleven northern kings who oppose his claim and the ‘wicked day of destiny’ which ends his reign is the battle near Salisbury. Even though the contents of Malory’s work may have been largely dictated by the demands of his sources, and by the genre of chivalric romance as a whole, his literary individuality is not constrained by this circumstance. The detailed description of the combat between King Ban and the King of the Hundred Knights, and the haunting vision (expanded from the poem Morte Arthur) of pillagers robbing the bodies after the battle near Salisbury, both demonstrate Malory’s consummate skill as a storyteller.

The themes of love and war, two essential elements of chivalric romance, are skilfully woven together by Malory in his depiction of family ties. Marriage alliances are often described as though they were the private equivalent of public combat and conciliation. For example, after Sir Gareth delivers Dame Lionesse from her enemy, he then marries her. The alliance is further cemented by the marriage of his brothers Gaheris and Agravaine to her sister Linet and niece Laurel respectively. Thus the public world of war and the private world of love are united in marriage. As well as linking love and war, the theme of family is also one of the means Malory employs to bind together the disparate elements of his story, drawn as it is from many different sources. All the knights, from whichever source they originate, are slotted into a world which catalogues them according to their descent as well as their chivalric honour, or ‘worship’. Galahad, for example, is defined according to his noble descent (from Launcelot) as well as his superlative achievement in the Grail quest. Parentage is of vital importance to all the knights in Malory’s romance: it is an index of strength and heroism, and it links knights together in bonds of family loyalty. The two most significant family groupings in the Morte Darthur are the Launcelot group (which includes Sir Galahad, Sir Bors and Sir Ector) and the Orkney knights Gawaine, Gaheris, Agravaine and Mordred. In the middle stands Sir Gareth, brother to the Orkney knights but linked by allegiance to Launcelot. During the early stages of the romance, family loyalties are subjugated to the ideal of communal action, which is embodied in the Round Table. As Malory unfolds his story, however, he shows this communal ideal giving way under the pressure of partisan feuding and revenge. Intimations of the ultimate fate of the Round Table ideal begin to appear as early as Book 10, in the account of the escalating hatred between Sir Lamorak and the Orkney knights. This conflict demonstrates the way in which the instinct towards private vengeance struggles against the demands of a public code. Malory threads references to this hatred throughout his work, and in particular the story of Lamorak’s death at the hands of Gawaine and his brothers is referred to again and again. After a while, the death of Lamorak begins to achieve the quality of a refrain to the text, or a commentary upon it: every time it is mentioned it highlights the tension between private hate and public good which lies at the heart of the romance.

Despite the immense scope of his romance, Malory also gives attention to the personal, private moments which occur amidst great events. Thus he records the young Arthur’s grief when he realises that Ector is not his real father, and Launcelot’s unfortunate tendency to ‘clatter in his sleep’ which alerts Guenever to the fact that he is with Elaine. The indignant ‘hemming’ with which Guenever greets this discovery provides one of the most memorable and humorous moments in the romance. It might well be that Malory ‘has no time for dallying with sentiment’, as one critic has claimed,[8] but that does not mean that the romance is lacking in detail when it comes to depicting the lives and loves of its characters.

Le Morte Darthur is concerned not only with the practicalities of warfare, tournaments and love affairs, but also with the interpretation of these events in the wider context of existence. The romance abounds in acts of interpretation, decoding and prophecy. In this, the reader’s experience is very much like that of the questing knight errant: just as the knight sets out into an unknown landscape in search of unknown adventures, and has to puzzle out the meaning of events as he goes along, so the reader must embark on a reading quest with the aim of discovering not only what is going to happen, but how and why. This feature of the romance is most evident in the Tale of the Sangreal (Books 13–17) which is concerned not simply with chivalric achievement, but with the spiritual significance which lies behind the knights’ adventures. The Sangreal (now more usually ‘Holy Grail’ in English) was reputed to be the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper and was supposedly brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea. The legend held that it contained some of the blood shed by Christ at his crucifixion. The significance of the Grail in Le Morte Darthur therefore possesses both a physical and a spiritual dimension. The cup – mystical, desired and yet supremely elusive – is a highly appropriate subject for a chivalric quest, since the knights’ searching tests their ‘prowess’ to the limits. Yet the Grail, as well as being a physical cup, is also a spiritual ideal. This is demonstrated by the hermit Nacien in his explanation to Sir Gawaine, who fails the quest. The hermit reveals that the quest will only be achieved by one who can combine the qualities of earthly chivalry with those of spiritual holiness. Gawaine has failed, the hermit tells him, because the cup ‘appeareth not to sinners’. Attainment of the Grail therefore represents the achievement of a spiritual ideal as well as of a physical quest.

As Nacien’s explanation shows, events do not usually occur in isolation in Le Morte Darthur, but tend to be linked to past or future circumstances. Malory employs three primary methods of linking the incidents which occur within his romance. First, there are the physical statements of meaning which are littered about the Arthurian landscape. The sword in the stone is one of these: it bears the message ‘Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England’. The sword in the stone is a symbol and a test, but it explains itself by means of the written word. One of the most obvious signposts in the romance is exactly that – a cross bearing writing which is discovered by Bagdemagus’ squire. The writing communicates the fact that ‘Bagdemagus should never return unto the court again, till he had won a knight’s body of the Round Table, body for body’. The cross is therefore both a prophecy and an instruction, linking the present moment with future endeavours by the subject, Sir Bagdemagus. Whilst the sword in the stone and this cross are self-explanatory, sometimes events or symbols need an interpreter. This is the second means by which Malory locates individual incidents in the wider context of the legend. When Balin succeeds in pulling the enchanted sword from its scabbard in Book 2, for example, the damsel who brought it to the court interprets his success (‘this is a passing good knight’) but also prophesies that ‘that sword shall be your destruction’. However, an erroneous interpretation is provided by the knights who witness this deed: they hold that Balin achieved it ‘by witchcraft’. Erroneous interpretations can be malicious, as here, but they can also be accidental, and as such indicate the fallibility of human sign-reading. Sir Melias, for example, finds himself in all sorts of trouble because he chooses the left-hand path at a junction, in spite of the warning written on a cross at the division of the ways. The spiritual significance of his mistake has to be pointed out to him by ‘a good man’.

As well as containing interpreters and self-speaking signs, Le Morte Darthur often employs the figure of the prophet to contextualise events, and to draw together the disparate elements of the romance. Merlin is the romance’s pre-eminent prophet: he foretells Arthur’s doom and his own death, the Grail quest, the strife between Launcelot and Gawaine and the love of Guenever and Launcelot. At times, Merlin’s role as prophet means that he also acts as an internal narrator: he is a part of the romance but is also the agent whereby the plot is unravelled. For example, in warning Arthur not to kill King Pellinore, Merlin reveals that Pellinore will be a significant player later in the story. This suggests that the story has already been written (which, indeed, it has, in Malory’s sources), and implies that Merlin has been charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the pre-existent story acts itself out in ‘reality’. Merlin, therefore, is not only important in terms of his contribution to the theme of interpretation in the romance, but he is also one of the devices which provide narrative structure and coherence in the romance. In this, the function of Merlin is rather like that of the references to ‘the French book’: both provide the means whereby Malory weaves the threads of many stories into the fabric of his Morte Darthur.

Malory’s Le Morte Darthur combines the narrative excitement of an adventure story with the relative sophistication of allegorical romance. Although constructed from various sources, and comprising numerous storylines, it can be read successfully as a single work. The fall of the Round Table can be comprehended only in the context of the ideals and achievements which brought it into being. As Launcelot points out, in a moment of striking dramatic irony, the tighter the bonds which bind the knights of Arthur’s fellowship, the greater will be the chaos when those bonds are finally broken: ‘there is hard battle thereas kin and friends do battle either against other, there may be no mercy but mortal war’.

Helen Moore

Pembroke College, Oxford

Notes to the Introduction

1. P. J. C. Field, in The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Malory (Woodbridge, 1993), pp. 8–24, discusses and discounts the five other fifteenth-century men called Thomas Malory who are possible contenders. They are the Thomas Malorys of Holcot (Northamptonshire), Papworth St Agnes (Cambridgeshire), Tachbrook Mallory (Warwickshire), Long Whatton (Leicestershire) and Hutton Conyers (Yorkshire).

2. Ibid., pp. 64 and 34

3. Ibid., pp. 83–4

4. Ibid., pp. 84 and 121

5. For these incidents, see Field, Life and Times, pp. 86–102

6. Ibid., p. 102

7. This manuscript has been edited by Eugène Vinaver and revised by P. J. C. Field as Sir Thomas Malory, The Works, 3rd edition (Oxford, 1990).

8. Terence McCarthy, ‘Malory and the Alliterative Tradition’, in James W. Spisak (ed.), Studies in Malory (Kalamazoo, 1985), p. 76.

Suggestions for Further Reading

P. J. C. Field, The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Malory, Woodbridge, 1993

Maurice Keen, Chivalry, New Haven, 1985

Beverly Kennedy, Knighthood in the ‘Morte Darthur’, Woodbridge, 1985

R. S. Loomis (ed.), Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, Oxford, 1959

T. H. White, The Sword in the Stone, 1939

T. H. White, The Once and Future King, 1958

Note on the Text

The edition reprinted here is that prepared by A. W. Pollard and published by Macmillan in 1900. It is based upon H. Oskar Sommer’s 1890 edition of Caxton’s Malory. In the bibliographical note to his edition, Pollard stresses that ‘the most anxious care has been taken to produce a text modernised as to spelling, but in other respects in accurate accordance with Caxton’s text, as represented by Dr Sommer’s reprint. Obvious misprints have been silently corrected, but in a few cases notes show where emendations have been introduced from Wynkyn de Worde [who reprinted Caxton’s text in 1498 and 1529].’

Preface of William Caxton

After that I had accomplished and finished divers histories, as well of contemplation as of other historial and worldly acts of great conquerors and princes, and also certain books of ensamples and doctrine, many noble and divers gentlemen of this realm of England came and demanded me many and oft times, wherefore that I have not do made and imprint the noble history of the Saint Greal, and of the most renowned Christian king, first and chief of the three best Christian, and worthy, King Arthur, which ought most to be remembered among us Englishmen to-fore all other Christian kings; for it is notoyrly known through the universal world, that there be nine worthy and the best that ever were, that is to wit, three Paynims, three Jews, and three Christian men. As for the Paynims, they were to-fore the Incarnation of Christ, which were named, the first Hector of Troy, of whom the history is comen both in ballad and in prose, the second Alexander the Great, and the third Julius Caesar, Emperor of Rome, of whom the histories be well known and had. And as for the three Jews, which also were to-fore the incarnation of our Lord, of whom the first was duke Joshua which brought the children of Israel into the land of behest, the second David king of Jerusalem, and the third Judas Machabeus, of these three the Bible rehearseth all their noble histories and acts. And since the said Incarnation have been three noble Christian men, stalled and admitted through the universal world into the number of the nine best and worthy. Of whom was first the noble Arthur, whose noble acts I purpose to write in this present book here following. The second was Charlemain, or Charles the Great, of whom the history is had in many places, both in French and in English. And the third and last was Godfrey of Boloine, of whose acts and life I made a book unto the excellent prince and king of noble memory, King Edward the Fourth.

The said noble gentlemen instantly required me to imprint the history of the said noble king and conqueror King Arthur, and of his knights, with the history of the Saint Greal, and of the death and ending of the said Arthur; affirming that I ought rather to imprint his acts and noble feats, than of Godfrey of Boloine, or any of the other eight, considering that he was a man born within this realm, and king and emperor of the same: and that there be in French divers and many noble volumes of his acts, and also of his knights. To whom I answered that divers men hold opinion that there was no such Arthur, and that all such books as been made of him be feigned and fables, because that some chronicles make of him no mention, nor remember him nothing, nor of his knights. Whereto they answered, and one in special said, that in him that should say or think that there was never such a king called Arthur might well be aretted great folly and blindness. For he said that there were many evidences of the contrary. First ye may see his sepulchre in the monastery of Glastonbury. And also in Policronicon, in the fifth book the sixth chapter, and in the seventh book the twenty-third chapter, where his body was buried, and after found, and translated into the said monastery. Ye shall see also in the history of Bochas, in his book De Casu Principum, part of his noble acts, and also of his fall. Also Galfridus in his British book recounteth his life: and in divers places of England many remembrances be yet of him, and shall remain perpetually, and also of his knights. First in the abbey of Westminster, at St Edward’s shrine, remaineth the print of his seal in red wax closed in beryl, in which is written, Patricius Arthurus Britannie, Gallie, Germanie, Dacie, Imperator. Item in the castle of Dover ye may see Gawaine’s skull, and Cradok’s mantle: at Winchester the Round Table: in other places Launcelot’s sword and many other things. Then all these things considered, there can no man reasonably gainsay but there was a king of this land named Arthur. For in all places, Christian and heathen, he is reputed and taken for one of the nine worthy, and the first of the three Christian men. And also, he is more spoken of beyond the sea, more books made of his noble acts, than there be in England, as well in Dutch, Italian, Spanish, and Greekish, as in French. And yet of record remain in witness of him in Wales, in the town of Camelot, the great stones and the marvellous works of iron lying under the ground, and royal vaults, which divers now living have seen. Wherefore it is a marvel why he is no more renowned in his own country, save only it accordeth to the Word of God, which saith that no man is accepted for a prophet in his own country.

Then all these things aforesaid alleged, I could not well deny but that there was such a noble king named Arthur, and reputed one of the nine worthy, and first and chief of the Christian men. And many noble volumes be made of him and of his noble knights in French, which I have seen and read beyond the sea, which be not had in our maternal tongue. But in Welsh be many and also in French, and some in English but nowhere nigh all. Wherefore, such as have late been drawn out briefly into English I have after the simple conning that God hath sent to me, under the favour and correction of all noble lords and gentlemen, enprised to imprint a book of the noble histories of the said King Arthur, and of certain of his knights, after a copy unto me delivered, which copy Sir Thomas Malorye did take out of certain books of French, and reduced it into English. And I, according to my copy, have done set it in imprint, to the intent that noble men may see and learn the noble acts of chivalry, the gentle and virtuous deeds that some knights used in those days, by which they came to honour, and how they that were vicious were punished and oft put to shame and rebuke; humbly beseeching all noble lords and ladies, with all other estates of what estate or degree they been of, that shall see and read in this said book and work, that they take the good and honest acts in their remembrance, and to follow the same. Wherein they shall find many joyous and pleasant histories, and noble and renowned acts of humanity, gentleness, and chivalry. For herein may be seen noble chivalry, courtesy, humanity, friendliness, hardiness, love, friendship, cowardice, murder, hate, virtue, and sin. Do after the good and leave the evil, and it shall bring you to good fame and renown. And for to pass the time this book shall be pleasant to read in, but for to give faith and belief that all is true that is contained herein, ye be at your liberty: but all is written for our doctrine, and for to beware that we fall not to vice nor sin, but to exercise and follow virtue, by which we may come and attain to good fame and renown in this life, and after this short and transitory life to come unto everlasting bliss in heaven; the which He grant us that reigneth in heaven, the blessed Trinity. Amen.

Then to proceed forth in this said book, which I direct unto all noble princes, lords and ladies, gentlemen or gentlewomen, that desire to read or hear read of the noble and joyous history of the great conqueror and excellent king, King Arthur, sometime king of this noble realm, then called Britain; I, William Caxton, simple person, present this book following, which I have enprised to imprint: and treateth of the noble acts, feats of arms of chivalry, prowess, hardiness, humanity, love, courtesy, and very gentleness, with many wonderful histories and adventures. And for to understand briefly the content of this volume, I have divided it into xxi books, and every book chaptered, as hereafter shall by God’s grace follow. The First Book shall treat how Uther Pendragon gat the noble conqueror King Arthur, and containeth xxviii chapters. The Second Book treateth of Balin the noble knight, and containeth xix chapters. The Third Book treateth of the marriage of King Arthur to Queen Guenever, with other matters, and containeth xv chapters. The Fourth Book, how Merlin was assotted, and of war made to King Arthur, and containeth xxix chapters. The Fifth Book treateth of the conquest of Lucius the emperor, and containeth xii chapters. The Sixth Book treateth of Sir Launcelot and Sir Lionel, and marvellous adventures, and containeth xviii chapters. The Seventh Book treateth of a noble knight called Sir Gareth, and named by Sir Kay Beaumains, and containeth xxxvi chapters. The Eighth Book treateth of the birth of Sir Tristram the noble knight, and of his acts, and containeth xli chapters. The Ninth Book treateth of a knight named by Sir Kay Le Cote Male Taille, and also of Sir Tristram, and containeth xliv chapters. The Tenth Book treateth of Sir Tristram, and other marvellous adventures, and containeth lxxvii chapters. The Eleventh Book treateth of Sir Launcelot and Sir Galahad, and containeth xiv chapters. The Twelfth Book treateth of Sir Launcelot and his madness, and containeth xiv chapters. The Thirteenth Book treateth how Galahad came first to King Arthur’s court, and the quest how the Sangreal was begun, and containeth xx chapters. The Fourteenth Book treateth of the quest of the Sangreal, and containeth x chapters. The Fifteenth Book treateth of Sir Launcelot, and containeth vi chapters. The Sixteenth Book treateth of Sir Bors and Sir Lionel his brother, and containeth xvii chapters. The Seventeenth Book treateth of the Sangreal, and containeth xxiii chapters. The Eighteenth Book treateth of Sir Launcelot and the queen, and containeth xxv chapters. The Nineteenth Book treateth of Queen Guenever and Launcelot, and containeth xiii chapters. The Twentieth Book treateth of the piteous death of Arthur, and containeth xxii chapters. The Twenty-first Book treateth of his last departing, and how Sir Launcelot came to revenge his death, and containeth xiii chapters. The sum is twenty-one books, which contain the sum of five hundred and seven chapters, as more plainly shall follow hereafter.

Book 1

Chapter 1

How Uther Pendragon sent for the duke of Cornwall and Igraine his wife, and of their departing suddenly again

It befell in the days of Uther Pendragon, when he was king of all England, and so reigned, that there was a mighty duke in Cornwall that held war against him long time. And the duke was called the Duke of Tintagil. And so by means King Uther sent for this duke, charging him to bring his wife with him, for she was called a fair lady, and a passing wise, and her name was called Igraine.

So when the duke and his wife were come unto the king, by the means of great lords they were accorded both. The king liked and loved this lady well, and he made them great cheer out of measure, and desired to have lain by her. But she was a passing good woman, and would not assent unto the king. And then she told the duke her husband, and said, I suppose that we were sent for that I should be dishonoured; wherefore, husband, I counsel you, that we depart from hence suddenly, that we may ride all night unto our own castle. And in like wise as she said so they departed, that neither the king nor none of his council were ware of their departing. All so soon as King Uther knew of their departing so suddenly, he was wonderly wroth. Then he called to him his privy council, and told them of the sudden departing of the duke and his wife.

Then they advised the king to send for the duke and his wife by a great charge; and if he will not come at your summons, then may ye do your best, then have ye cause to make mighty war upon him. So that was done, and the messengers had their answers; and that was this shortly, that neither he nor his wife would not come at him.

Then was the king wonderly wroth. And then the king sent him plain word again, and bade him be ready and stuff him and garnish him, for within forty days he would fetch him out of the biggest castle that he hath.

When the duke had this warning, anon he went and furnished and garnished two strong castles of his, of the which the one hight Tintagil, and the other castle hight Terrabil. So his wife Dame Igraine he put in the castle of Tintagil, and himself he put in the castle of Terrabil, the which had many issues and posterns out. Then in all haste came Uther with a great host, and laid a siege about the castle of Terrabil. And there he pight many pavilions, and there was great war made on both parties, and much people slain. Then for pure anger and for great love of fair Igraine the king Uther fell sick. So came to the king Uther Sir Ulfius, a noble knight, and asked the king why he was sick. I shall tell thee, said the king, I am sick for anger and for love of fair Igraine, that I may not be whole. Well, my lord, said Sir Ulfius, I shall seek Merlin, and he shall do you remedy, that your heart shall be pleased. So Ulfius departed, and by adventure he met Merlin in a beggar’s array, and there Merlin asked Ulfius whom he sought. And he said he had little ado to tell him. Well, said Merlin, I know whom thou seekest, for thou seekest Merlin, therefore seek no farther, for I am he; and if King Uther will well reward me, and be sworn unto me to fulfil my desire, that shall be his honour and profit more than mine; for I shall cause him to have all his desire. All this will I undertake, said Ulfius, that there shall be nothing reasonable but thou shalt have thy desire. Well, said Merlin, he shall have his intent and desire. And therefore, said Merlin, ride on your way, for I will not be long behind.

Chapter 2

How Uther Pendragon made war on the duke of Cornwall, and how by the mean of Merlin he lay by the duchess and gat Arthur

Then Ulfius was glad, and rode on more than a pace till that he came to King Uther Pendragon, and told him he had met with Merlin. Where is he? said the king. Sir, said Ulfius, he will not dwell long. Therewithal Ulfius was ware where Merlin stood at the porch of the pavilion’s door. And then Merlin was bound to come to the king. When King Uther saw him, he said he was welcome. Sir, said Merlin, I know all your heart every deal; so ye will be sworn unto me as ye be a true king anointed, to fulfil my desire, ye shall have your desire. Then the king was sworn upon the Four Evangelists. Sir, said Merlin, this is my desire: the first night that ye shall lie by Igraine ye shall get a child on her, and when that is born, that it shall be delivered to me for to nourish there as I will have it; for it shall be your worship, and the child’s avail, as mickle as the child is worth. I will well, said the king, as thou wilt have it. Now make you ready, said Merlin, this night ye shall lie with Igraine in the castle of Tintagil; and ye shall be like the duke her husband, Ulfius shall be like Sir Brastias, a knight of the duke’s, and I will be like a knight that hight Sir Jordanus, a knight of the duke’s. But wait ye make not many questions with her nor her men, but say ye are diseased, and so hie you to bed, and rise not on the morn till I come to you, for the castle of Tintagil is but ten miles hence; so this was done as they devised. But the duke of Tintagil espied how the king rode from the siege of Terrabil, and therefore that night he issued out of the castle at a postern for to have distressed the king’s host. And so, through his own issue, the duke himself was slain or ever the king came at the castle of Tintagil.

So after the death of the duke, King Uther lay with Igraine more than three hours after his death, and begat on her that night Arthur, and on day came Merlin to the king, and bade him make him ready, and so he kissed the lady Igraine and departed in all haste. But when the lady heard tell of the duke her husband, and by all record he was dead or ever King Uther came to her, then she marvelled who that might be that lay with her in likeness of her lord; so she mourned privily and held her peace. Then all the barons by one assent prayed the king of accord betwixt the lady Igraine and him; the king gave them leave, for fain would he have been accorded with her. So the king put all the trust in Ulfius to entreat between them, so by the entreaty at the last the king and she met together. Now will we do well, said Ulfius, our king is a lusty knight and wifeless, and my lady Igraine is a passing fair lady; it were great joy unto us all, an it might please the king to make her his queen. Unto that they all well accorded and moved it to the king. And anon, like a lusty knight, he assented thereto with good will, and so in all haste they were married in a morning with great mirth and joy.

And King Lot of Lothian and of Orkney then wedded Margawse that was Gawaine’s mother, and King Nentres of the land of Garlot wedded Elaine. All this was done at the request of King Uther. And the third sister Morgan le Fay was put to school in a nunnery, and there she learned so much that she was a great clerk of necromancy. And after she was wedded to King Uriens of the land of Gore, that was Sir Ewain’s le Blanchemain’s father.

Chapter 3

Of the birth of King Arthur and of his nurture

Then Queen Igraine waxed daily greater and greater, so it befell after within half a year, as King Uther lay by his queen, he asked her, by the faith she owed to him, whose was the child within her body; then she sore abashed to give answer. Dismay you not, said the king, but tell me the truth, and I shall love you the better, by the faith of my body. Sir, said she, I shall tell you the truth. The same night that my lord was dead, the hour of his death, as his knights record, there came into my castle of Tintagil a man like my lord in speech and in countenance, and two knights with him in likeness of his two knights Brastias and Jordanus, and so I went unto bed with him as I ought to do with my lord, and the same night, as I shall answer unto God, this child was begotten upon me. That is truth, said the king, as ye say; for it was I myself that came in the likeness, and therefore dismay you not, for I am father of the child; and there he told her all the cause, how it was by Merlin’s counsel. Then the queen made great joy when she knew who was the father of her child.

Soon came Merlin unto the king, and said, Sir, ye must purvey you for the nourishing of your child. As thou wilt, said the king, be it. Well, said Merlin, I know a lord of yours in this land, that is a passing true man and a faithful, and he shall have the nourishing of your child, and his name is Sir Ector, and he is a lord of fair livelihood in many parts in England and Wales; and this lord, Sir Ector, let him be sent for, for to come and speak with you, and desire him yourself, as he loveth you, that he will put his own child to nourishing to another woman, and that his wife nourish yours. And when the child is born let it be delivered to me at yonder privy postern unchristened. So like as Merlin devised it was done. And when Sir Ector was come he made fiaunce to the king for to nourish the child like as the king desired; and there the king granted Sir Ector great rewards. Then when the lady was delivered, the king commanded two knights and two ladies to take the child, bound in a cloth of gold, and that ye deliver him to what poor man ye meet at the postern gate of the castle. So the child was delivered unto Merlin, and so he bare it forth unto Sir Ector, and made an holy man to christen him, and named him Arthur; and so Sir Ector’s wife nourished him with her own pap.

Chapter 4

Of the death of King Uther Pendragon

Then within two years King Uther fell sick of a great malady. And in the meanwhile his enemies usurped upon him, and did a great battle upon his men, and slew many of his people. Sir, said Merlin, ye may not lie so as ye do, for ye must to the field though ye ride on an horse-litter: for ye shall never have the better of your enemies but if your person be there, and then shall ye have the victory. So it was done as Merlin had devised, and they carried the king forth in an horse-litter with a great host towards his enemies. And at St Albans there met with the king a great host of the North. And that day Sir Ulfius and Sir Brastias did great deeds of arms, and King Uther’s men overcame the Northern battle and slew many people, and put the remnant to flight. And then the king returned unto London, and made great joy of his victory. And then he fell passing sore sick, so that three days and three nights he was speechless: wherefore all the barons made great sorrow, and asked Merlin what counsel were best. There is none other remedy, said Merlin, but God will have his will. But look ye all barons be before King Uther to-morn, and God and I shall make him to speak. So on the morn all the barons with Merlin came to-fore the king; then Merlin said aloud unto King Uther, Sir, shall your son Arthur be king after your days, of this realm with all the appurtenance? Then Uther Pendragon turned him, and said in hearing of them all, I give him God’s blessing and mine, and bid him pray for my soul, and righteously and worshipfully that he claim the crown, upon forfeiture of my blessing; and therewith he yielded up the ghost, and then was he interred as longed to a king. Wherefore the queen, fair Igraine, made great sorrow, and all the barons.

Chapter 5

How Arthur was chosen king, and of wonders and marvels of a sword taken out of a stone by the said Arthur

Then stood the realm in great jeopardy long while, for every lord that was mighty of men made him strong, and many weened to have been king. Then Merlin went to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and counselled him for to send for all the lords of the realm, and all the gentlemen of arms, that they should to London come by Christmas, upon pain of cursing; and for this cause, that Jesus, that was born on that night, that he would of his great mercy show some miracle, as he was come to be king of mankind, for to show some miracle who should be rightwise king of this realm. So the Archbishop, by the advice of Merlin, sent for all the lords and gentlemen of arms that they should come by Christmas even unto London. And many of them made them clean of their life, that their prayer might be the more acceptable unto God. So in the greatest church of London, whether it were Paul’s or not the French book maketh no mention, all the estates were long or day in the church for to pray. And when matins and the first mass was done, there was seen in the churchyard, against the high altar, a great stone four square, like unto a marble stone; and in midst thereof was like an anvil of steel a foot on high, and therein stuck a fair sword naked by the point, and letters there were written in gold about the sword that said thus: – Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England. Then the people marvelled, and told it to the Archbishop. I command, said the Archbishop, that ye keep you within your church and pray unto God still, that no man touch the sword till the high mass be all done. So when all masses were done all the lords went to behold the stone and the sword. And when they saw the scripture some assayed, such as would have been king. But none might stir the sword nor move it. He is not here, said the Archbishop, that shall achieve the sword, but doubt not God will make him known. But this is my counsel, said the Archbishop, that we let purvey ten knights, men of good fame, and they to keep this sword. So it was ordained, and then there was made a cry, that every man should assay that would, for to win the sword. And upon New Year’s Day the barons let make a jousts and a tournament, that all knights that would joust or tourney there might play, and all this was ordained for to keep the lords together and the commons, for the Archbishop trusted that God would make him known that should win the sword.

So upon New Year’s Day, when the service was done, the barons rode unto the field, some to joust and some to tourney, and so it happened that Sir Ector, that had great livelihood about London, rode unto the jousts, and with him rode Sir Kay his son, and young Arthur that was his nourished brother; and Sir Kay was made knight at All Hallowmass afore. So as they rode to the jousts-ward, Sir Kay lost his sword, for he had left it at his father’s lodging, and so he prayed young Arthur for to ride for his sword. I will well, said Arthur, and rode fast after the sword, and when he came home, the lady and all were out to see the jousting. Then was Arthur wroth, and said to himself, I will ride to the churchyard, and take the sword with me that sticketh in the stone, for my brother Sir Kay shall not be without a sword this day. So when he came to the churchyard, Sir Arthur alighted and tied his horse to the stile, and so he went to the tent, and found no knights there, for they were at the jousting. And so he handled the sword by the handles, and lightly and fiercely pulled it out of the stone, and took his horse and rode his way until he came to his brother Sir Kay, and delivered him the sword. And as soon as Sir Kay saw the sword, he wist well it was the sword of the stone, and so he rode to his father Sir Ector, and said: Sir, lo here is the sword of the stone, wherefore I must be king of this land. When Sir Ector beheld the sword, he returned again and came to the church, and there they alighted all three, and went into the church. And anon he made Sir Kay swear upon a book how he came to that sword. Sir, said Sir Kay, by my brother Arthur, for he brought it to me. How gat ye this sword? said Sir Ector to Arthur. Sir, I will tell you. When I came home for my brother’s sword, I found nobody at home to deliver me his sword; and so I thought my brother Sir Kay should not be swordless, and so I came hither eagerly and pulled it out of the stone without any pain. Found ye any knights about this sword? said Sir Ector. Nay, said Arthur. Now, said Sir Ector to Arthur, I understand ye must be king of this land. Wherefore I, said Arthur, and for what cause? Sir, said Ector, for God will have it so; for there should never man have drawn out this sword, but he that shall be rightwise king of this land. Now let me see whether ye can put the sword there as it was, and pull it out again. That is no mastery, said Arthur, and so he put it in the stone; wherewithal Sir Ector assayed to pull out the sword and failed.

Chapter 6

How King Arthur pulled out the sword divers times

Now assay, said Sir Ector unto Sir Kay. And anon he pulled at the sword with all his might; but it would not be. Now shall ye assay, said Sir Ector to Arthur. I will well, said Arthur, and pulled it out easily. And therewithal Sir Ector knelt down to the earth, and Sir Kay. Alas, said Arthur, my own dear father and brother, why kneel ye to me? Nay, nay, my lord Arthur, it is not so; I was never your father nor of your blood, but I wot well ye are of an higher blood than I weened ye were. And then Sir Ector told him all, how he was betaken him for to nourish him, and by whose commandment, and by Merlin’s deliverance.

Then Arthur made great dole when he understood that Sir Ector was not his father. Sir, said Ector unto Arthur, will ye be my good and gracious lord when ye are king? Else were I to blame, said Arthur, for ye are the man in the world that I am most beholden to, and my good lady and mother your wife, that as well as her own hath fostered me and kept. And if ever it be God’s will that I be king as ye say, ye shall desire of me what I may do, and I shall not fail you; God forbid I should fail you. Sir, said Sir Ector, I will ask no more of you, but that ye will make my son, your foster brother, Sir Kay, seneschal of all your lands. That shall be done, said Arthur, and more, by the faith of my body, that never man shall have that office but he, while he and I live. Therewithal they went unto the Archbishop, and told him how the sword was achieved, and by whom; and on Twelfth-day all the barons came thither, and to assay to take the sword, who that would assay. But there afore them all, there might none take it out but Arthur; wherefore there were many lords wroth, and said it was great shame unto them all and the realm, to be overgoverned with a boy of no high blood born. And so they fell out at that time that it was put off till Candlemas, and then all the barons should meet there again; but always the ten knights were ordained to watch the sword day and night, and so they set a pavilion over the stone and the sword, and five always watched. So at Candlemas many more great lords came thither for to have won the sword, but there might none prevail. And right as Arthur did at Christmas, he did at Candlemas, and pulled out the sword easily, whereof the barons were sore aggrieved and put it off in delay till the high feast of Easter. And as Arthur sped before, so did he at Easter; yet there were some of the great lords had indignation that Arthur should be king, and put it off in a delay till the feast of Pentecost.

Then the Archbishop of Canterbury by Merlin’s providence let purvey then of the best knights that they might get, and such knights as Uther Pendragon loved best and most trusted in his days. And such knights were put about Arthur as Sir Baudwin of Britain, Sir Kay, Sir Ulfius, Sir Brastias. All these, with many other, were always about Arthur, day and night, till the feast of Pentecost.

Chapter 7

How King Arthur was crowned and how he made officers

And at the feast of Pentecost all manner of men assayed to pull at the sword that would assay; but none might prevail but Arthur, and pulled it out afore all the lords and commons that were there, wherefore all the commons cried at once, We will have Arthur unto our king, we will put him no more in delay, for we all see that it is God’s will that he shall be our king, and who that holdeth against it, we will slay him. And therewithal they kneeled at once, both rich and poor, and cried Arthur mercy because they had delayed him so long, and Arthur forgave them, and took the sword between both his hands, and offered it upon the altar where the Archbishop was, and so was he made knight of the best man that was there. And so anon was the coronation made. And there was he sworn unto his lords and the commons for to be a true king, to stand with true justice from thenceforth the days of this life. Also then he made all lords that held of the crown to come in, and to do service as they ought to do. And many complaints were made unto Sir Arthur of great wrongs that were done since the death of King Uther, of many lands that were bereaved lords, knights, ladies, and gentlemen. Wherefore King Arthur made the lands to be given again unto them that owned them.

When this was done, that the king had stablished all the countries about London, then he let make Sir Kay seneschal of England; and Sir Baudwin of Britain was made constable; and Sir Ulfius was made chamberlain; and Sir Brastias was made warden to wait upon the north from Trent forwards, for it was that time the most party the king’s enemies. But within few years after Arthur won all the north, Scotland, and all that were under their obeissance. Also Wales, a part of it, held against Arthur, but he overcame them all, as he did the remnant, through the noble prowess of himself and his knights of the Round Table.

Chapter 8

How King Arthur held in Wales, at a Pentecost, a great feast, and what kings and lords came to his feast

Then the king removed into Wales, and let cry a great feast that it should be holden at Pentecost after the incoronation of him at the city of Carlion. Unto the feast came King Lot of Lothian and of Orkney, with five hundred knights with him. Also there came to the feast King Uriens of Gore with four hundred knights with him. Also there came to that feast King Nentres of Garlot, with seven hundred knights with him. Also there came to the feast the king of Scotland with six hundred knights with him, and he was but a young man. Also there came to the feast a king that was called the King with the Hundred Knights, but he and his men were passing well beseen at all points. Also there came the king of Carados with five hundred knights. And King Arthur was glad of their coming, for he weened that all the kings and knights had come for great love, and to have done him worship at his feast; wherefore the king made great joy, and sent the kings and knights great presents. But the kings would none receive, but rebuked the messengers shamefully, and said they had no joy to receive no gifts of a beardless boy that was come of low blood, and sent him word they would none of his gifts, but that they were come to give him gifts with hard swords betwixt the neck and the shoulders: and therefore they came thither, so they told to the messengers plainly, for it was great shame to all them to see such a boy to have a rule of so noble a realm as this land was. With this answer the messengers departed and told to King Arthur this answer. Wherefore, by the advice of his barons, he took him to a strong tower with five hundred good men with him. And all the kings aforesaid in a manner laid a siege to-fore him, but King Arthur was well victualled. And within fifteen days there came Merlin among them into the city of Carlion. Then all the kings were passing glad of Merlin, and asked him, For what cause is that boy Arthur made your king? Sirs, said Merlin, I shall tell you the cause, for he is King Uther Pendragon’s son, born in wedlock, gotten on Igraine, the duke’s wife of Tintagil. Then is he a bastard, they said all. Nay, said Merlin, after the death of the duke, more than three hours, was Arthur begotten, and thirteen days after King Uther wedded Igraine; and therefore I prove him he is no bastard. And who saith nay, he shall be king and overcome all his enemies; and, or he die, he shall be long king of all England,

Reviews for Le Morte Darthur

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Very difficult, monotonous reading. Lots of smoting and brasting. Surprising source of subsequent Arthurian legends which bear little resemblance to Malory's work.

[alanskinner-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think I read this over and over when I was a child, and when I came back to it as an adult, I still loved it. These tales are an ingrained part of western culture and are still a weather value for the rough winds of our morality.

Of course Mallory's tales of Arthur are a fifteenth century re-modelling but what glorious new dressing has been added. Each tale is a short story in its own right, and each combines effortlessly to create the picture of heroes and a kingdom in which people mattered, in which civilisation was something to strive for and not something to endure.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for Arthurian tales. They still delight and captivate me (all except the recent film version with Clive Owen and Keira Knightly) and I'm glad they do. We all know right and wrong is more complex than in Mallory's tales, but at least he makes living up to even simple choices filled with hurdles and pitfalls. Maybe that's why they work, because every hero wears his failings as openly as he wears his sword and shield.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"The Beast with the Hair on". The spelling is regularized but that's the only concession made to the modern reader. The Tales are unorganized, but that's part of the fun. Also we should consider that Malory's organization differs from our personal one because he was writing for his own time. A great read, which rewards rereading. I know Ive been back to it several times.

[tommi180744 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This Edition is based on Caxton's text: It therefore very largely contains the original detailed content - alterations have been confined almost entirely to spellings and a little grammar.This is the 'Romance' as conceived by Malory; every human strength and frailty explored through a tale of fair and foul maidens bestowing favours and demanding submission from manly counterparts, valiant and timid knights gripped by purity of motives and the basest of desires, the noble pursuit of mystical religious objects, considerable magic worked for good and bad, lived folk-lore, and at its core a legendary great King whose moral reputation, avowed love and sincere loyalty for his fellows in the face of every sort of affliction, assault and treachery survives unsullied to the present day. Be he real or imagined - Arthur - is one of the greatest characters ever written down in the English language - with his gallant, chivalric recruits to the Round Table, their strong-willed female companions and array of adversaries the range of all future English Literature (and much for Europe and modern America) is given a riveting basis for its later global success.It is said (by many) Cervantes' Don Quixote was the first modern novel - I disagree - 'The Death of Arthur' in my estimation has that significant role.

[darthdeverell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Keith Baines' edited version of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur renders Malory's compendium of Arthurian legends into modern idiom. Malory's Arthur and Knights of the Round Table would likely appear strange to those familiar with the Arthur stories from Tennyson's Idylls of the King and T.H. White's The Once and Future King. In Malory's 15th-century retelling of the traditional legends, the knights frequently behead those they best in jousting, beget bastards on various ladies, and regard chivalry more in its original meaning of horsemanship rather than the later Victorian ideals. That shouldn't alienate those who come to these stories from their later reworkings, as Malory seems to set his Arthur in all times, blending elements from 500 C.E. through the 1100's.The stories overlap at times, but, for the sake of ease, Malory divides them into eight books: The Tale of King Arthur; The Tale of King Arthur and the Emperor Lucius; The Tale of Sir Launcelot du Lake; The Tale of Sir Gareth; The Book of Sir Tristram of Lyoness; The Tale of the Sangreal; The Book of Sir Launcelot and Queen Gwynevere; and Le Morte d'Arthur. All of the books fit together to make one larger narrative, though The Book of Sir Tristram of Lyoness (a retelling of Tristan and Iseult) stands alone and could serve as its own book. While the story of Tristan and Iseult likely predates the Arthurian legends, by Malory's time it had been incorporated into that body of work (after it had likely influenced the relationship of LLancelot and Guinevere). The strongest books in the series are The Tale of King Arthur, The Tale of the Sangreal, The Book of Sir Launcelot and Queen Gwynevere, and Le Morte d'Arthur.If looking for an edition of Le Morte d'Arthur to serve as an introduction to the larger Arthurian tradition, Baines' translation is a serviceable work.

[andreablythe · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I know Le Mort d'Arthur is supposed to be a great classic and the definitive Arthur, but damn it, I'm 377 pages in and I can't do it anymore. It is just too much of the same flipping story over and over and over and over again. And not just the same story (knight jousts with knight), but almost the same exact wording with each battle. The only thing to have sparked my interest in about 200 pages was this line: "The King Arthur overtook her [a false lady and sorceress], and with the same sword he smite off her head, and the Lady of the Lake took up her head and hung it up by the hair to her saddle-bow." THAT is pretty damn awesome, but it's also just one line out of all those 200 pages, and it made me long for a Lady of the Lake story, not more and more of these knights smacking each other around and talking about how knightly and courtly they are because they are big strong men who can politely knock another guy off a horse. I am so wonderfully wroth at this book that I'm about to come at all of these damn knights like thunder and smote them down with their own damn lances. (PS. If I never see the words "wroth", "smote", or "came together like thunder" again, it will be too soon.) Seriously, don't these guys have anything better to do than run around the forests or hang out a bridges and joust with each other? Isn't there farming or something to be done? Anything? Please? I mean, I'll read about the wheat in the fields at this point. Did I also mention that it's over 900 pages? Well, it is, and apparently this is the SHORT version. The other version is in like three volumes or something. Since it's getting the point that I'm starting to hate Arthur and his knights, I need to just put in the towel and read something — anything — else for a while. Right now, I'm really looking forward to rereading Simon Armitag's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, because I need something to remind me why I used to love Arthurian stories so much.

[lisamaria_c · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I agree with the reviewer who said this is not for the faint of heart, and few general readers are going to find this a great read. If you're looking for an absorbing, entertaining read with characters you can relate to and root for, you're absolutely, positively in the wrong place. Read instead Arthurian novels such as T.H. White's The Once and Future King or Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy. There are countless other such novels inspired by this material worth reading, and I've read a lot of them.But I did find it interesting at times going through this, one of the ur-texts as it were of Arthurian legend. There are other, earlier works of Arthurian literature: Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain (1136), Chrétien de Troyes's Arthurian Romances in the 12th century and Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival in the 13th century are among the most notable. But Malory drew from several sources, so much so he's often described more as the "compiler" than the author of the work. I own a edition in two volumes that comes close to 1,000 pages. So this is an exhaustive resource of all sorts of facets of the legend. The story of Tristram and Iseult is here, for instance. And this is a medieval work, so it's imbued with its assumptions and attitudes. Obviously a source of outrage to some reviewers, and even by the standards of the time, comparing this to how women are treated in say Boccaccio's Decameron and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales--well, women don't come off well here. Misogyny abounds. And knights are held up as paragons who commit a lot of heinous acts and just plain WTF. A lot is repetitive and a slog--as one reviewer put it too much is "joust, joust, joust." And this was written about half-way between Chaucer and Shakespeare. With the spelling regularized it's quite readable, much more so than unmodernized Chaucer. But with those that choose to preserve the archaic words, that means wading through words such as "hight" (is called) and "mickle" (much). And there's just so much that can be excused by, well, "it's the times"--I found plenty of medieval writers who were wonderful reads, and just plain more humane: Dante, Boccaccio, Chaucer. I can't see Malory as their equal--not remotely. But as a fan of Arthurian literature and someone fascinated by the Middle Ages, this did from time to time have its fascinations.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm so glad I finally read Le Morte Darthur. I've loved the King Arthur stories ever since I was little and read what I think was a retelling by Enid Blyton. I actually read this for my Late Medieval Literature class, but I'd have read it someday anyway. The copy I read was an abridgement, which is probably a good thing as parts of it got quite tedious as it was. The introduction to this version is pretty interesting -- and, by the way, my lectures on it were wonderful.

I subscribe to the view that this is not necessarily intended to be a novel in the modern sense. The tales are too repetitive in parts and each can stand alone. I do agree that they're all related to each other, though. Throughout the course of the book, the tales get better and more lovingly written, I think. I do suspect Sir Thomas Malory would rather like to have married Lancelot on the astral plane. It's odd to notice how much of a stinking liar Lancelot is, and yet the text makes no judgement on him at all for that. I'm aware of the public honour system's part in that, but still...

I'm not sure one can say anything new on this text that hasn't been said, to be honest. I loved it, and if you're into King Arthur and you don't mind a bit of a challenge, I suggest you go for it.

Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus.

(Because in some secret part of my heart, I believe that one day King Arthur will come again.)

[tronella_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I listened to the Librivox audiobook version, but the age of the text makes it pretty hard to follow in places, so I went back and reread some chapters at sacred-texts.com. My favourite parts of this were the parts I didn't already know (basically the whole Lancelot and Guinevere business and the grail quest) -- I think the best section is the bit where King Arthur is bored doesn't feel like paying taxes so he fights the entire Roman Empire, and then when he's defeated everyone and is in charge of everything he just goes home.

[joybee_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I barely got halfway through this book. While the stories are fun, the language makes for a slow, difficult read.

[rolandallnach · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I ventured into this version of Malory to fulfill something that had held my curiosity over the years, namely the common source of the Arthurian legends. And while some of the legends in Malory have their roots outside of England, it was Malory who brought the whole thing together into one collective tale. As a result reading this may be somewhat cumbersome, particularly for those who are not accustomed to the language of the period. The text in this edition is well prepared and the preface denotes a certain amount of editing to shorten certain scenes, which is helpful, as Malory does have an inclination toward repetitive scenes. Reading Malory was indeed enlightening, as my knowledge of Arthurian legend was limited to common facets of the tales and the pieces that were highlighted in the film adaptation "Excalibur", a great movie in its own right, but a decided interpretative take, stressing a certain line of the legends (as do all the films concerning Camelot). I found it helpful, and fascinating, to map out a geneaology and relationship tree as I read Malory, as some characters spring in and out of the narrative with large gaps between. I found the latter part of Malory most satisfying, as the legend moves to the grand tragedy that is the epic confrontation between Arthur and Lancelot, and then Arthur and Mordred. For those considering a venture into Malory, I would strongly recommend following it up with a read of Tennyson's 'Idylls of the King', which has its own focus on the legend, and looks at it from quite a different perspective. Either way, Malory is a classic, as his prose still reads well to this day, and its resonance through literature is undeniable.

[vivalaerin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Arthurian legends have always piqued my interest. I've learned a lot from studying them, the least of which that the stories are incredibly old. Malory's Winchester Manuscript is the most comprehensive version - from an English author. All the stories of Arthur's knights are here, and I certainly have my favorites: Gareth first! Malory's writing is quite dense, and it takes a while to get used to his 15th century technique. However, once you get into the text you will fall in love. He writes beautifully, and this will always be a part of my library. If you're looking for even older Arthurian stories - search in Wales and France.

[mrsbond_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first time I read this I was a college student immersed in literature. I loved the language and imagery, truly felt transported to another time and place. With this second reading I see James Bond. Arthur roams the countryside, bedding/leaving damsels, fighting/killing whatever gets in his way, getting himself wrapped up in conspiracies and evil plots, all without losing his smirk. OK, maybe Malory doesn't mention the smirk, but you know it's there.

[jeffv_19 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Malory was a medieval author who wrote the first recorded account of the largely mythical King Arthur. It is largely an account of the 100 knights of the round table (or "table round"). Unfortunately, these stories are rarely interesting (except maybe for graphic descriptions of quality kills) and it really gets tedious. The stories we commonly associate with King Arthur have their seeds here, but are fleshed out derivatives, it's hard to see the story we're all familiar with. Perhaps Malory was a minstrel and these tales made for good song, but for read, they are dull, dull, dull.

[k8_not_kate · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Having adored T.H. White's "The Once and Future King" in high school, I figured I would read this classic treatment of the Arthurian legends and enjoy it as well. Unfortunately, Malory's work was far less entertaining. Sure, I expected prose from the 15th century to be a harder to get through and denser than White's 20th century treatment, but "Le Morte D'Arthur" barely has an actual story. Malory gives us a series of very repetitive events and makes it difficult to identify with or even care about the main characters. I did give the book three stars, though, almost completely on the strength of the first chapters that go over Arthur's rise to the throne and the final chapter recounting his legendary death. These are worth reading and are very good. Overall, though, if you are looking for a more meaningful and entertaining telling of the Arthurian legends, go to White.

[saraprindiville · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very long, but as usual interesting that something written so long ago is still relatively current.

[jpsnow · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While I can appreciate it's standing as the English epic and the beauty of its prose, the key moments are disarrayed within a relentless series of encounters between incredible knights. Homer and Virgil are more believable and more touching because they are more human. Were I to recommend the death of Arthur, I would probably specify portions that avoid the action-movie feel of endless jousts. The opening sets the foundation of Arthur (Excalibur, Mordred) and is the only part involving Merlin. Perhaps a few sections in the middle regarding Sir Beumains, Sir Tritram, and the Lady Isoud would also be included. The last few hundred pages finally bring out a plot, showing the conflict between Lancelout and Arthur -- and the tragic result. If one wants to understand the nature of the knight errant, they might read just a few chapters to get the idea.

[drewandlori · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The mother of all Arthurian legends. Not the easiest reading, and extremely repetitious at points, but worth it if you like King Arthur stories. The ending chapters on the fall of Camelot are incredible.

[elizabeth5michele · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

despite the difficult language (this is an untranslated version) very good read.

[jshillingford_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful, oversized hardcover edition of this classic work. Learn the story of King Arthur as is was first "recorded." Highly recommended!

[librarylou · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Classic tale of King Arthur and his Knights, read it at Uni, and want to read it properly without studying it to enjoy it more.

[morgannakerrie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An essential Arthurian Legend text.

[dreamingtereza_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An absolute childhood favorite - I took my Malory (and my thesaurus) everywhere! I fear I wore out a few copies before I acquired this sturdy hardcover.