Malory: The Knight Who Became King Arthur's Chronicler

Virtually all modern versions of the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are derived from a single book: Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur (1469), one of the world's most renowned literary works. Yet the author, a fifteenth-century knight, has remained an enigma for centuries. Existing historical records imply that Malory was a criminal--accused of rape, ambush, rustling, and attacks on abbeys--and was imprisoned for most of his life.

Using evidence from new historical research and deductions from the only known manuscript copy of Malory's celebrated work, Christina Hardyment brilliantly resolves the contradictions about an extraordinary man and a life marked equally by great achievement and devastating disgrace. Malory is the fascinating chronicle of a loyal soldier enmeshed in the tangled politics of the Wars of the Roses. It is the story of a connoisseur of literature and exemplary writer who created a masterpiece meant to inspire princes and knights to high endeavors and noble acts.

Author: Christina Hardyment
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 06/26/2007
Pages: 672
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.71lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.05w x 1.39d
ISBN: 9780060935290

Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 01/01/2017 pg. 48

About the Author
Hardyment, Christina: -

Christina Hardyment read history at Newnham College, Cambridge, and has twice held the Alistair Horne Historians' Writing Fellowship at St. Antony's College, Oxford. She is a writer and broadcaster with wide interests, and lives in Oxford, England.