Sir Thomas Malory

Sir Thomas Malory ven in the 16th century Malory’s identity was unknown, although there was a tradition that he was a Welshman. Author of the most famous and influential prose version of the legends of King Arthur, little is known of the author of "Le Morte D'Arthur". He was obviously an educated man who could read both English and French, the languages of his sources. Early in the text of “Le Morte D’Arthur” the author refers to himself as “Syr Thomas Maleore knyght” (the surname appears in various spellings, including Maillorie, Mallory, Mallery, and Maleore) as well as says that he finished the work in the ninth year of the reign of Edward IV (1469 -1470). It has been suggested that perhaps some or all of "Le Morte D’Arthur" was written while Malory was in prison. His own writings reveal that he was a knight-prisoner around the year 1470 when he completed his literary tour de force. Malory's original book was called “The Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights of the Round Table”, the last medieval English work of the Arthurian legend, Malory's tales are supposedly based on an assortment of French prose romances, and it is noted for its excellent dramatic narrative and the beauty of its rhythmic and simple language. Clearly not a professional writer, Sir Thomas' composition grows in power throughout its length, while his style remains simple and informal, probably much like his own speech. He saw his romances as the chronicles of an historical Arthur perhaps with a moralistic slant. They certainly show off the religious and chivalric ideas of the age which Sir Thomas must definitely have shared. William Caxton arranged it for clarity of understanding; he printed it in 1485 and gave it the misleading title of “Le Morte D’Arthur”, which consists of eight tales in 507 chapters in 21 books. It is the basis of most modern tellings of the Arthurian story. Certainties about Malory's life are few, although it is almost assured that he was Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revell, Warwickshire. Thomas Malory was born around 1400 into a gentry’s family that had lived for centuries in the English Midlands. His father, John Malory, was primarily a Warwickshire man, being twice sheriff, five times M.P. and for many years a justice of the peace for that county. John married Philippa Chetwynd and they had at least three daughters, and one son, Thomas. Thomas was a retainer of the Lord Lieutenant of France, Richard Beauchamp (the Earl of Warwick) and was already campaigning with him during his reinforcement of Calais. After his master's death, Malory returned to England; but his time in France made him critical of the loss of English possessions there, and this is revealed in "Le Morte D'Arthur". Sir Thomas married Elizabeth Walsh of Wanlip in Leicestershire, who later bore him a son, Robert. Knighted in 1442, he served in the parliament of 1445. Up to this time, Malory’s life seems to have all the markings of a traditional country gentleman, but then "Malory’s life, for no known reason, underwent a startling change". He had some difficulties with a local priory and was evidently a violent, lawless individual who committed a series of crimes, including poaching, extortion, robbery, rape, and attempted murder. He was never

brought to trial for the charges that had been leveled against him. Unlucky or incompetent, Sir Thomas was actually in prison almost continuously throughout the 1450s, though he did escape several times. His political affiliations on a national level are difficult to estimate, but in the 1460s he was at least once pardoned by King Henry VI, followed by military service in Northumbria. Later, he kept his head down, but may have become embroiled in Cook's Conspiracy of 1468, so he was specifically excluded from pardon by both Henry VI and his rival and successor, Edward IV, for which he was imprisoned. In October 1470, when the Lancastrians returned to power, "among their first acts” was freeing those of their party who were in London prisons. Six months later, Sir Thomas Malory died and was buried under a marble tombstone in Greyfriars, Newgate, which, despite its proximity to one of the jails in which he had been imprisoned, was the most fashionable church in London. Although “the original tombstone was destroyed, its inscription survives in this early sixteenth-century transcript, which calls Malory valens miles (‘a valiant knight’) of the parish of Monks Kirby in Warwickshire and says he died on 14 March 1470, which (since the year began on 25 March) is what is now called 1471".