Who was Sir Thomas Malory?
the identity of this writer remained an unsolved problem. Mr. Sidney Lee, in the Dictionary of National Biography, was compelled to admit that he could find no one of that name fulfilling the necessary conditions. Of direct evidence we have very little; in the concluding passage of the book the author asks the prayers of the reader for “Syr Thomas Maleore knyght”, and states that the book was ended “the ix. yere of the reygne of Kyng Edward the fourth.” William Caxton, in his preface, says that he printed the book “after a copye unto me delivered whyche copye Syr Thomas Malorye dyd take oute of certeyn bookes of frensshe and reduced it in to Englysshe”; in his colophon he repeats this statement, adding that he himself is responsible for the division of the work into books and chapters, and that it was printed in 1485. It will be noted that Caxton does not say that he received the book from Malory, only that he had received a copy made by Malory; from this Professor Kittredge draws the
” in 1897. [ See also a summary of Le Morte d’Arthur ] In brief: according to the Kittredge version Thomas Malory lived at Newbold Revell in Warwickshire, England. He served in France under the earl of Warwick and was a Lancastrian during the Wars of the Roses. He was knighted in 1442 and entered the British Parliament representing Warwickshire in 1445, then in around 1450 he turned towards a life of crime, being accused of armed assault and rape. Being imprisoned for most of the 1450s (mostly in London’s Newgate Prison) Malory the “knyght presoner” wrote an Arthurian legend which he named ‘The noble and joyous historye of the grete conquerour and excellent kyng, Kyng Arthur’ and died shortly after its completion (c. 1470).
