The Death of King Arthur

266 Pages·2011·0.96 MB·English

by  Ackroyd Peter

Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Introduction

THE TALE OF KING ARTHUR
Merlin
The Knight with the Two Swords
Arthur and Guinevere
The Wickedness of Morgan le Fay

THE ADVENTURES OF SIR LANCELOT DU LAKE

TRISTRAM AND ISOLDE
Isolde the Fair
Tristram’s Madness and Exile
Tristram and the Round Table
The Reunion of Tristram and Isolde

THE ADVENTURE OF THE HOLY GRAIL
The Miracle of the Holy Grail
The Quest Begins
The Quest Goes On
Lancelot and Galahad
The Miracle of Galahad

LANCELOT AND GUINEVERE
The Poisoned Apple
The Fair Maid of Astolat
The Knight of the Cart

THE DEATH OF ARTHUR
The Strife Begins
The Vengeance of Gawain
Lancelot and Gawain
The Day of Destiny
The Dolorous Death and Departing out of This World of Sir Lancelot and Queen
Guinevere

VIKING
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Translation, retelling and introduction copyright © Peter Ackroyd, 2010. All rights reserved.
ISBN : 978-1-10154590-4

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Introduction
Sir Thomas Malory came from a family steeped in the values and traditions of
the chivalric code. His ancestors were ‘gentlemen that bear old arms’, and their
blood relationship with both the Normans and the Vikings suggests that they
were sufficiently robust to do so. They had settled at Newbold Revell, in
Warwickshire, and had managed to acquire vast estates throughout that county.
As the inheritor of a name and domain, Malory himself was ineluctably drawn
into the contests of the wider world.
He was born, in the first decade of the fifteenth century, at a time of great
violence and uncertainty. Richard II had been deposed and murdered in 1400;
his successor, Henry IV, was continually beset by all the confusion that
surrounds any successful rebel. So the realm was disordered. This context of
suspicion and almost continual violence can be glimpsed in the pages of Le
Morte d’Arthur, most particularly in the conflict between Arthur and Mordred.
In this period of battles, and rumours of battles, there can be little doubt that
Malory would have been acquainted with the great chivalric tales of the age.
They were part of any gentleman’s education. He would have heard readings of
Brut and the alliterative Morte Arthur, those great clarion calls to the knightly
spirit. He would also have attended jousts and tournaments, where the words of
the ballads and epics took on a formidable and glamorous life. We may apply to
the young Malory his own words, ‘This child will always be shooting or casting
darts, and is glad to see battles and prancing knights.’
He was also trained in all the feudal arts of chivalry – arts that included
hunting, riding, hawking and archery. His earliest biographer, writing in the
sixteenth century, described him as ‘outstanding from youth for his heroic spirit
and for many remarkable gifts’. At the age of fourteen, in fact, he went to war
against France in the retinue of the Earl of Warwick. He served as a ‘lance’ at
Calais and four years later he was mentioned at a muster roll in Normandy. In
that capacity he may have participated in the siege of Rouen, and was part of the
army under the command of Henry V. It is perhaps not coincidental that Henry
V was often compared to the legendary Arthur.
In 1433 or 1434, while he was in his early twenties, Malory inherited the
familial estate; eight years later he became a knight, the goal of all chivalric
ambition. He also became Justice of the Peace, Member of Parliament, and
Sheriff of Warwickshire. These were all highly significant positions,