EN392 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Winchester College, House Of Tudor, Single Combat
EN392
Sir Thomas Mallory – Morte Darthur
Intro to Mallory
• War of the Roses in 15th century
o Rivalry amongst candidates for the throne
o Before Tudor dynasty comes into power
▪ Everything goes to hell in a handbasket
• “ir suggests he sered a part i the war
o Put in jail for much of his life- accounts (rape, stole silver from church alter whilst drunk)
• Encyclopedic works – tries to include just about everything (Arthur & the Round Table)
• Sudden interest in Arthurian myths once again
o 5th century beginnings
o Did a real king exist at one point or another?
o 1500 printing
• I 5 he pritig eoe popular, Mallor’s Morte Darthur was one of the most popular
prints
• Manuscript discover at Winchester School in England (1930?)
o Expert went in and found it and did an edit called works
▪ Is it one work or several?
▪ Questions of unity
o Number of specific things about the author such as a request for prayer while in prison
o Is a prisoner expected to produce a text? Will it change the character of writing?
• Translation from French
• Arthurian tradition begins in Celtic world which eventually moves over to France
o Idea of eig a perfet ouit
• Returns to England by the end of the medieval period about Arthur in English
Text Reactions
• Confusing text
• So many knights and names that the round table becomes an institution that everyone wants to
joi ad it’s like a astig all for a realit sho – do they have the qualifications?
o Brings up a question of reputation
• Beautiful prose
• Central English work on Arthur
• Newer versions – poems on it or rewritings
• Back to the knightly stuff – very nostalgic
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Beginning and End
• Most celebrated parts of the text
• Middle Book of “ir Trista is reall hard to follo
o Argued that this is deliberate and reflective of the confusion surrounding his own
society
o Leads up to the holy grail narrative
• Who Arthur is at the beginning of his career ( pg. 777)
• Strongly articulated beginning and end
• “tor of Arthur’s life iography)
Arthur’s Reign
• Civil war Feud between Gawain & Endevine
• Messianic figure
• Society and country is out of joint with one another
• Need a king to join them and rule
• Contemporary battle sites relations
• The ideal kingship and what it may include
o Does the king need also be a hero?
o Does he need to be a great knight and exude those knightly virtues?
• Fisher king – the king is tied to the land; if the king is bad, the land is bad and vice versa
• Succession of someone who is competent (old king) to make way for the new one
o Sacrifice in Celtic and early English times – fertility exercise for the land
o Pagan traditions
o Difficult to prove but mythological associations are there in the Arthurian traditions
• Magic foundations
o Spiritual world or even God is indicating the king should have this title
• Sword is there because of the Arch Bishop and is very influenced by the church
• Arthur is conceived by very unusual circumstances
o Father disguised by Merlin in lust for a woman and Merlin says sure
o Essentially rapes a woman when she thinks it is her husband
o Conceived before king and queen are married
o Is the line of kingship proper or okay here?
o Justification on the spiritual side to make up for this
• Marries Guinevere as she is important as a political figure to salve the political situation
• The queen is crucial to Arthur as a political part of him for the round table
• Lancelot – personal betrayal and act of treason against the kingdom
• Magical beginnings => ambiguity = strongly suggestive or predictive of what is set to occur
o Struggle to keep this ideal stuff going
o Resurgence of political turmoil
find more resources at oneclass.com
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