Le Morte Darthur
Also known as: Le Morte d'Arthur, Morte Darthur, The Death of Arthur
Malory’s English prose compilation of Arthurian legend weaves the rise and fall of King Arthur, the chivalric exploits of the Round Table, the Grail Quest, and the tragic betrayal that ends the fellowship.
Description
Le Morte Darthur consolidates diverse Arthurian traditions into a single English narrative cycle. Beginning with Uther and Igraine and Arthur’s drawing of the sword, it establishes the Round Table ideal and chronicles the intertwined tales of knights such as Lancelot, Gawain, Tristram, and Galahad. The cycle’s center of gravity is the Grail Quest, where spiritual perfection contrasts with human frailty. Courtly love and chivalric vows pull characters into conflicts that unravel the fellowship. The work culminates in the collapse of Arthur’s realm through the Lancelot–Guinevere scandal and Mordred’s treachery, ending with the king’s last battle and passing to Avalon.
Historiography
Surviving witnesses include Caxton’s 1485 print, which divided the text into 21 books and 507 chapters, and the Winchester Manuscript (discovered in 1934), which preserves a pre-Caxton state. Eugène Vinaver argued the text is a suite of separate but linked ‘Works’ rather than a single unified book. Malory adapts chiefly from the French Vulgate and Post-Vulgate cycles, the prose Tristan tradition, and English materials such as the alliterative Morte Arthure. The Caxton ordering and chaptering shaped reception and later standard editions.
Date Notes
Compiled in English prose by Malory (likely in prison, 1469–1470). First printed by William Caxton in 1485. Draws on earlier French and English Arthurian sources.
Themes
Major Characters
- King Arthur
- Guinevere
- Lancelot
- Merlin
- Gawain
- Galahad
- Mordred
- Morgan le Fay
- Tristan
- Isolde
Myths
- The Sword in the Stone
- Founding of the Round Table
- The Quest for the Holy Grail
- Lancelot and Guinevere
- Tristram and Isolde
- Mordred’s Treason and the Fall of Camelot
- Arthur’s Departure to Avalon
Facts
- Authored in English prose by Sir Thomas Malory, likely c. 1469–1470.
- First printed by William Caxton in 1485, who organized it into 21 books and 507 chapters.
- A major witness is the Winchester Manuscript, discovered in 1934, reflecting a pre-Caxton state.
- Primary sources include the French Vulgate and Post-Vulgate cycles and the prose Tristan tradition.
- Centers on the Grail Quest, contrasting spiritual perfection (Galahad) with human frailty (Lancelot).
- Fixes many English-language Arthurian names and episodes in a canonical form.
- Narrative arc culminates with Mordred’s usurpation and Arthur’s wounding at Camlann.
- Influenced later literature from Tennyson’s Idylls of the King to T. H. White’s The Once and Future King.
- Combines courtly love conventions with chivalric and penitential themes.
- Key symbolic objects include Excalibur, the Grail, the Bleeding Lance, and the Siege Perilous.