Thomas Malory

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Sir Thomas Malory (* around 1405 , † 1471 ) was the author or editor of Le Morte d'Arthur (Arthur's death). John Leland assumes that Malory was Welsh , but most modern scholars equate him with Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire . His family name appears in various spellings, including Maillorie and Maleore .

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Little is known of Malory's life. We know from his own words that he was a knight but also a prisoner , and his description of himself as "a servant of God day and night" has led to the presumption that he was a priest . It is believed that he was knighted in 1442 and entered the English Parliament for Warwickshire in 1445 . He must have sided with Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses .

In 1450 he was charged with murder, robbery, theft as well as poaching and rape. He spent most of the following decade in prison (mostly Newgate Prison in London and the Tower ), where he believed he wrote a book on the Arthurian legend. He called his work The Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights of the Round Table . Malory reported that he finished the book in the ninth year of King Edward IV , around 1470. It was published posthumously in 1485 by William Caxton under the title Le Morte d'Arthur .

Malory appears to have had material from a French source. In the preface to the 1st edition of Le Morte d'Arthur , Caxton speaks of a print "after a copy that I received, which Sir Thomas Malory took from various books in French and shortened into English" . Le Morte D'Arthur brought the various threads of the Arthurian legend into a prose tale that many critics consider to be the best of its kind.

Most recently he lived in the monastery of Christ Church Greyfriars , where he is buried.

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personal data
SURNAME Malory, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire, Thomas (full name); Maillorie, Thomas (alternative spelling); Maleore, Thomas (alternative spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British author or editor of "Le Morte d'Arthur"
DATE OF BIRTH around 1405
DATE OF DEATH 1471