Sir Thomas Malory

Sir Thomas Malory
(c. 1405 – March 14, 1471) was 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.

Сэр То́мас Мэ́лори (англ. Sir Thomas Malory)
(ок. 1417—1471) — английский 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.

Malory's life of crime
On January 4th 1450 he and 26 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.

On March 5th 1451 a warrant was issued for Malory's 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.

William Caxton
(c. 1415~1422 – c. March 1492)
an English 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).

Издание
Уильяма Кэкстона

Издание Уильяма Кэкстона

«Повесть о короле Артуре» (книги 1-4 по изданию Кэкстона), рассказывающая 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).

Malory's work had been known only through
William Caxton's printed edition 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.

The manuscript was written by two professional scribes working together, some time during the years 1470 to 1483. The most striking feature of the manuscript is its extensive use of red ink

Winchester Manuscript

"...divers men hold opinion that there was no such 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 1934, a manuscript copy of Le Morte Darthur was
discovered 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.

It is Caxton who divided the manuscript into books and chapters, making twenty-one books of approximately equal length out of the original four sections. Not all of these

23 июля 1934 года в библиотеке винчестерского колледжа библиотекарем 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.

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

Bibliography
Bennet, J.A.W., ed. Essays on Malory. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.
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.

Bibliography
Hodges, Margaret. Knight Prisoner: The Tale of Sir Thomas Malory 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.

Bibliography
Matthews, William. The ill Framed Knight: A Skeptical Inquiry into the Identity of Sir Thomas Malory. University of California Press: Berkeley, 1966.
McCarthy, Terence. An Introduction to Malory. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1994.

Bibliography
Vinaver, Eugene. Malory. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1929.
Vinaver is, in 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.

Bibliography
Reiss, Edmund. Sir Thomas Malory. New York: Twayne, 1966.
Perhaps 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.

"Sir Thomas Malory" by E. Reiss
"In the present work I 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."

D. S. Brewer
THE PRESENT STUDY OF MALORY
Form in the 'Morte Darthur'

D. S. Brewer
"...what does justify him (Caxton’s) - and us – in emphasizing the unity оf the work, is its own construction and its own words."

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CHAPTER I
How Uther Pendragon sent for the duke of 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.