Sir Thomas Malory

the author or
compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur. The antiquary John
Leland

(1506–1552) believed him to be Welsh, but
most modern scholarship assumes that he was Sir
Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire.
The surname appears in various spellings,
including Maillorie, Mallory, Mallery, and
Maleore. The name comes from the Old French
adjective maleüré (from Latin male auguratus)
meaning ill-omened or unfortunate.

писатель, автор
«Книги о короле Артуре и о его доблестных
рыцарях Круглого

стола». Она состоит из
восьми романов о Короле Артуре и рыцарях
Круглого стола и представляет собой
исчерпывающий свод артуровской легенды. В
1485 году английский первопечатник Уильям
Кэкстон издал книгу Мэлори под названием
«Смерть Артура» (фр. Le Morte Darthur). Она
стала своеобразной энциклопедией
артуровского мифа.

other armed men were
said to have laid an ambush for

the Duke of Buckingham in
the Abbot of Combe's woods near Newbold Revell. On May
23rd he allegedly raped Joan Smith at Coventry. The
charge was brought by her husband under a statute of
Richard II intended to make elopement into a crime of rape,
even when the woman had consented. On May 31st he
allegedly extorted money from two residents of Monks
Kirby, then on August 6th allegedly raped Joan Smith again
and stole money and goods from her husband. On August
31st he again allegedly committed extortion from another
resident of Monks Kirby.

arrest and a few weeks later he and various accomplices

were alleged to have stolen cattle in Warwickshire. The Duke of Buckingham and 60 men from Warwickshire tried to arrest him but in the meantime Malory apparently raided Buckingham's hunting lodge, killing deer and doing damage to the property.
He was arrested and imprisoned at Coleshill, but soon escaped (by swimming the moat), then reportedly raided Combe Abbey with a band of one hundred men, breaking down doors, insulting the monks, and stealing money. By January 1452 he was in prison in London, where he spent most of the next eight years waiting for trial. He was bailed out several times and at one point joined a horse-stealing expedition across East Anglia in ended in Colchester jail, from which he escaped too, but was recaptured and taken back to prison in London.

merchant, diplomat, writer and
printer. He was the first English person

to
work as a printer and the first person to
introduce a printing press into England. He
was also the first English retailer of books
(his London contemporaries were all Dutch,
German or French).

о происхождении короля Артура,
«Повесть о короле Артуре и императоре

Луции» (книга 5), рассказывающая о битве Артура с римлянами и завоевании им римского престола,
«Славная повесть о сэре Ланселоте» (книга 6),
«Книга о сэре Гарете Оркнейском» (книга 7),
«Книга о сэре Тристраме» (книги 7-12) — обработка сюжета о Тристане и Изольде,
«Повесть о Сангреале, или Подвиг во имя Святого Грааля» (книги 12-17),
«Книга о сэре Ланселоте и королеве Гиневре» (книги 18-19),
«Смерть Артура» (книги 20-21).

of 1485 for
nearly 500 years. However in 1934 a
librarian at

Winchester College, Walter
Oakeshott, discovered this manuscript in a
safe in the Warden's bedroom.

some time during the years 1470 to 1483. The most

striking feature of the manuscript is its extensive use of red ink

Arthur; and that all such books as be made of

him be but feigned and fables, because that some chronicles make of him no mention nor remember him nothing nor of his knights....And for the 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."
Caxton, Preface to Le Morte Darthur

in the library of Winchester College (and now in
the British

Library) that is closer to Malory than Caxton's
printed edition of 1485. Neither derives from the other and
both are removed from Malory's original holograph.
Curiously, although Caxton did not use the Winchester MS
in preparing his printed text, it was in his possession at the
time, as can be determined by type smudges on the
manuscript. The leaves at the beginning and ending of the
Winchester MS are missing, however, and must be
supplied by Caxton's edition, of which there is only a single
complete copy.

chapters, making twenty-one books of approximately equal length out of

the original four sections. Not all of these

У.Оукшоттом был найден манускрипт романа Мэлори, не известный до тех

пор и получивший впоследствии название Уинчестерского манускрипта. Оставалось и остается спорным, принадлежит ли этот манускрипт самому Мэлори или это список, сделанный позднее с оставленного писателем оригинала, но было ясно, что роман, дошедший до нас в рукописи, существенно отличаетея от изданного У.Кэкстоном в 1485 г., как об этом свидетельствовали статьи и сообщения профессора Е. Винавера опубликованные в литературоведческих изданиях 30-х годов.

University Press, 1976.

Field, P.J.C. The Life and Times of Sir

Thomas Malory. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1993.

Lewis, C S. "The English Prose Morte." Essays on Malory. Ed. J.A.W. Bennett. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.7-28.

Benson, Larry D. Malory’s Morte D 'Arthur. Cambridge: Harvard University

Press, 1976.
Field, P.J.C. Romance and Chronicle: A Study of Malory’s Prose Style. London: Barrie and Jenkins, 1971.

and His King Arthur. New York: Ferrar, Straus and Giroux,

1976.
Lambert, Mark. Malory: Style and Vision in the Morte Darthur. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1975.

Lumiansky, R.M., ed. Malory’s Originality: A Critical Study of Le Morte Darthur. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1964.

the Identity of Sir Thomas Malory. University of California Press:

Berkeley, 1966.
McCarthy, Terence. An Introduction to Malory. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1994.

may ways, the father of Malory scholarship. His name deserves

to stand by that of Caxton's as the first modern editor of Malory's works. Although his assessment of Malory's accomplishments is overly critical, overemphasizing his supposed misunderstanding of the chivalric tradition, Vinaver provides his readers with an excellent source study of the Morte.

the best introduction to Malory. Reiss not only explores the

subtleties of each tale, but outlines them in such a way as to give the reader a sense of the background of Malory scholarship. His understanding of the critical issues involved in each tale make this an indispensible guide and companion to the Arthurian world for both newcomers and seasoned veterans alike.

have tried ... to provide a
commentary on Malory's work that

is primarily concerned
with how it functions as a work of literary art. I could have
proceeded by analyzing according to subject; for example,
one chapter on Malory’s idea оn chivalry, another on his
concept of love, and sо forth. Such a method is valuable,
and many recent studies have approached the "Morte
Arthur" in this way. Instead I have preferred to discuss the
work as it stands and to show Malory's concepts as they
arise and function in his developing narrative."

the 'Morte Darthur'

us – in emphasizing the unity оf the work, is

its own construction and its own words."

OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN 

LITERATURE An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes Volume II: English THE END OF THE MIDDLE 
AGES Edited by A. W. Ward & A. R. Waller  

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.

королем
и властвовал над всей Английской землей, что жил тогда

в Корнуэлле
могучий герцог, который вел с ним долгую войну, а звался тот
герцог герцогом Тинтагильским. Раз послал король Утер за этим
герцогом и повелел ему явиться и привезти с собой жену, ибо о ней
говорили, что она прекрасна собой и замечательно мудра, звали же
ее Игрейна. И когда герцог со своей женой предстали перед
королем, то стараниями баронов примирились они друг с другом.
Королю очень приглянулась и полюбилась та женщина, и он
приветствовал их и принял у себя с чрезвычайным радушием и
пожелал возлечь с нею, но она была женщина весьма добродетельная
и не уступила королю. И тогда сказала она герцогу, своему мужу:
- Видно, нас пригласили сюда, чтобы меня обесчестить. А потому,
супругой, прошу вас, давайте сей же час уедем отсюда, тогда мы за
ночь успеем доскакать до нашего замка. Как она сказала, так они и
сделали, и отбыли тайно, и ни сам король и никто из его
приближенных не подозревал об их отъезде. Но как только король
Утер узнал об их столь внезапном отъезде, разгневался он ужасно;
он призвал к себе своих тайных советников и поведал им о внезапном
отъезде герцога с женою.