The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Malory

by P.J.C. Field

`A tour de force of historical scholarship and detective work... so good it sets the mind racing.' LITERARY REVIEW [Frank McLynn, 08/93]Malory's stories of King Arthur and the Round Table have been widely read for centuries, but their author's own life has been as variously reported as that of any Arthurian knight. The first serious attempts to identify him were made in the 1890s, but the man who then seemed most likely to have written the book was later found to have been accused of attempted murder, rape, extortion, and sacrilegious robbery and to have spent ten years or more in prison. Could this be reconciled with the authorship of the most famous chivalric romance in English? Other candidates for authorship were proposed but there was little consensus. This book gives the most comprehensive consideration of the competing arguments yet undertaken. It is a fascinating piece of detective work followed by a full account of the life of the man identified as theMalory. Close consideration of individual documents, many of which were entirely unknown in 1966, when the last book on Malory's life appeared, makes possible a fuller and more convincing story than has ever been told before.P.J.C. FIELDis Reader in the Department of English at the University of Wales, Bangor.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

230 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wouldn't describe this as a biography in the strict sense of the word, but more an attempt to identify the correct author of Thomas Malory's Arthurian Romances.

Field begins this work by showing that William Matthews Yorkshire Malory is false and establishing that Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel is in fact the correct author and then gives a history of the social context of the times that Malory lived in by constructing the biography around Malory's life records and the history of the period.

A well researched and level headed approach towards establishing the identity of Thomas Malory.

[Mark Adderley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and level-headed biography of Sir Thomas Malory. Read it slowly, though--it's very densely written.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was tempted to not write a review since I had the pleasure of studying under Professor Field at the University of Wales, Bangor. Having stated such:

Professor Field charts a course through some of the more difficult aspects of pinning down the actual author of the Morte Darthur. His arguments are concise, but in some cases not brief. The material is handled extremely well for the subject at hand. I recommend a reader take any notes they feel appropriate, for the material is dense, and there is a great deal of it to sift through.