Sir Malory was a very naughty knight…
Born
somewhere between 1415 and 1418, Thomas Malory was destined to live the life of
a rogue. The son of a Knight and a wealthy heiress,
his life reads like a modern day rap sheet. Theft, rape, extortion and a
sense of general mayhem seem to have followed Malory through much of his
worldly career. Sir Malory even participated in a treasonous plot against
King Edward IV, a very big “no-no”, seeing as mistakes like that could land
your head on a stake, complete with a stellar view of the entrance to London
Bridge…
Our errant knight was lucky, instead of losing his head, he ended up in London’s Newgate Prison. Being a man of means, he most probably had a room with a view, with funds enough to gain access to the local Church…Greyfriars. This allowed access to the Church’s library, where he could read, study and write. Sir Thomas Malory had enough forethought to sit down, compile and translate the legend of England’s most celebrated and mysterious king…Arthur...or he was just bored...who knows. In either case, Le Morte d’Arthur, was published by William Caxton in 1485 (after Sir Malory’s death), and became the “gold standard” for the Arthur legend...
You can read a transcription of the original edition
here:
The book is written Middle English, which differs from the
language we know and use today. There
are resources on the Web that can help you to understand our language as it was
written and read in the 15th Century…I’d start here:
Should you wish to read a digitized facsimile copy, the
Winchester Manuscript is available here: