Le Morte Darthur is undoubtedly the last definitive interpretation of the Arthurian myth before the dawn of the English Renaissance. Yet the identity of its author, Sir Thomas Malory, the knight prisoner, remains as elusive and as mysterious as the knights who inhabit his book. Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire was born into a gentry family that had lived for centuries in the English Midlands near the point where Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and Northamptonshire meet. His father, John Malory, was an esquire with land in all three counties, but was primarily a Warwickshire man, being twice sheriff, five times M.P. and for many years a justice of the peace for that county. John married Philippa Chetwynd, and they had at least three daughters, and one son, Thomas, who was probably born in 1416. Knighted in 1442, he served in the Parliament of 1445. He was evidently a violent, lawless individual who committed a series of crimes, including poaching, extortion, robbery, and murder. Most of his life from 1451 was spent in prison, and he probably did most of his writing there. Malory's original book was called The Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights of the Round Table and was made up of eight romances that were more or less separate. William Caxton printed the work in 1485 and gave it the misleading title of Morte d'Arthur. The last medieval English work of the Arthurian legend, Malory's tales are supposedly based on an assortment of French prose romances. The Morte d'Arthur is noted for its excellent dramatic narrative and the beauty of its rhythmic and simple language. It is the standard source for later versions of the legend.Author of the most famous and influential prose version of the legends of King Arthur, about whom little personal information is known. The title, "Le Morte D'arthur," is taken from the epilogue of William Caxton's landmark illustrated edition of 1485.
