Malory: The Knight Who Became King Arthur's Chronicler

by Christina Hardyment

Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur (1469) is one of the best-known books in the world. Virtually all modern versions of the Arthurian legends are derived from its energetic, memorably phrased and remarkably individual telling of the stirring exploits of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Yet the identity of the fifteenth-century knight who wrote it has remained an enigma for centuries. The only known records of his life imply that he was a criminal, accused of rape, ambush, rustling and attacks on abbeys, and in prison for most of his life.

Using evidence from new historical research and deductions from the only known manuscript copy of Malory's masterpiece, Christina Hardyment resolves the contradictions into a thrillingly exciting life, marked by great achievement as well as deep disgrace. She reveals Malory as an experienced soldier who fought against the French with Henry V in France and was closely connected with the Knights Hospitallers' battles against the Turks in Rhodes, an expert on tournaments who was a connoisseur of literature, and a loyal subject deeply involved in the troubled politics of the Wars of the Roses who intended his great work to inspire the princes and knights of his own times to high endeavours and noble acts.

Christina Hardyment has not only given Sir Thomas Malory a life worthy of King Arthur's greatest chronicler, she has also set it against a fascinating background: the age which marked the high-water mark of medieval chivalry but which was also an essential bridge from the Middle Ages to the modern world.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Medieval, Arthurian, Literary Criticism, Literature

656 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2005

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although there are few documents recording the life of Thomas Malory, Hardyment makes excellent use of what there is, working it into a broad portrait of Lancastrian England and the Wars of the Roses that are the context for Malory’s work. A particularly fascinating aspect of this biography is Hardyment’s explication of the many parallels between the political and cultural world of Malory’s England and the story of King Arthur—Malory did more than translate existing Arthurian romances, he adapted them as an embodiment of the chivalric ethic and practice of his times, creating an enduring masterpiece of English literature.

[hh · Rating 2 out of 5]

i want to say i liked this book, but the writing is a little too chatty for my tastes in history/biography. and there's just WAY too much conjecture. this book could more rightly be called a piece of historical forensic fiction (if such a category existed). hardyment recreates the milieu of malory's england with style and grace, giving the reader an often engaging portrait of life in the 1400s. i never got to know malory as well as his historical moment, though - a real issue with a biography. the bigger issue, for me, was that the biography that hardyment does tell is based on her own gut feelings and suppositions. sometimes she provides convincing evidence for her theses. more frequently, she assaults the reader with a deluge of names and family connections as a means of supporting her argument; these sections are both boring and unconvincing as evidence. further, it's difficult to reconstruct a life based mostly on what a text supposedly reveals about the author's personality. if someone tried to recreate my life based on my published works, i'd hate to see what they'd come up with and very much doubt the composite would match me.

if you've an interest in the time period or in english politics, i'd recommend this. hardyment has a gift for laying out the subtleties of political intrigues at a particularly interesting moment in the history of the british monarchy.

[Old-Barbarossa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Due to the lack of records there is a lot of guess work in this, all based on what appears to be sound reasoning though, and pointed out as guess work by the author. Seems very well researched, impressive bibliography.
The first half of this can be a bit dry at times as it sets the scene and establishes the background for Malory's life. Interesting times indeed, the 100 Years War, the War Of The Roses and all the political and fuedal manipulation that was going on. The importance of pagent is made plain, which is reflected in Morte and it's many tournaments. The importance of loyalty and blood too.
Explains a fair bit about the Caxton printed Morte and the more recently discovered Winchester manuscript version.
Also goes into the complex legal and political background. Looking at Malory's arrests, escapes, charges, accusers, and also the wealth and respect he ended his life with.

[Jane Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

As other reviewers have said, there isn't much actual biography here, because so little is known about Malory. But Hardyment's speculations are backed up by serious research, and we do get a detailed look at the times in which he lived. It is, I agree, a little too detailed in places, but she doesn't dwell on the battles in the way that a male writer might well have done, and it's an excellent account of the 15th century.

[Redsteve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better history than biography. If you cut out all the rampant speculation*, this book would probably be about 1/5 as long as it was.

* By "speculation" I'm including the lengthy historical digressions along the lines of: It is possible that Malory might have done such and so... followed by several pages of details of places he might have gone or events he might have witnessed.

[Nicole Cober-Lake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this biography of one of the most well-known of the Arthurian writers in English. Hardyment takes a creative approach to the problem of the gaps in medieval records of Malory's life by giving plenty of weight to his historical context - both in general terms, tracing the unfolding narrative of the Wars of the Roses that colored all political and artistic activity of the time, and in more particular terms, constructing several plausible narratives of Malory's potential activities by extrapolating from the better-known circumstances of his associates and evaluating the evidence for each. For example, while it is known that Malory served in Britain's wars in France, historians do not always know the precise location of his deployment in a given year. Hardyment uses existing records of Malory's own feudal allegiances and those of his family, along with muster rolls of the forces of these lords, to suggest several possibilities for his whereabouts. She outlines some of the historical, cultural, and military experiences he might have encountered in each scenario, and speculates as to whether specific scenes from the Morte D'Arthur might preserve traces of what their author himself saw or did.

Hardyment's close attention to the details of medieval life makes for vivid reading, and she skillfully deploys her knowledge of its customs to illuminate the significance of the facts we do have. This is nowhere more evident than in her treatment of Malory's criminal record. The fact that Malory was arrested on multiple occasions and spent years in prison for crimes that sound very shocking today, including "rape" and armed attacks, has often been a stumbling block for literary critics and admirers of his work. However, Hardyment unpacks the legal definition of "rape" in use during the middle ages to explain that this term did not necessarily refer to sexual assault, but could denote any form of kidnapping or physically removing a woman from her home, including the consensual elopements of privileged daughters or the willing rescue of battered wives. She also surveys contemporary court records to demonstrate that most noblemen accused of crimes similar to those alleged against Malory suffered far less punishment than he did. This conclusion leads her into a consideration of evidence, drawn from his writing and from his known feudal allegiances, for Malory's possible involvement to a higher degree than previously thought in the politics of the day. Hardyment's aim is clearly to justify an author whose work she loves, and at times her arguments rely on the assumption that someone who wrote tales that emphasize courtly virtues such as honor and courteous treatment of women could not have behaved in ways that contradict those values - an assumption that can feel naive at times. Likewise, some of her speculations that other, unnamed offenses really lie behind the official charges - including the idea that Malory could have been the anonymous author of political propaganda, or a spy passing information to exiled Lancastrians - have a romantic air to them. Nevertheless, Hardyment always acknowledges when she is speculating, and the depth of her research lends a certain plausibility to some of these possible pasts. I found them consistently intriguing and thoroughly enjoyable.

I would recommend this book to anyone with a serious interest in Malory, chivalry, or medieval history. Given its length and level of detail, however, it is not for the casual reader.

[Iconoclast · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a somewhat tedious slog through fifteenth century war and politics (too many names, Ms Hardyment), coupled with a misguided attempt to sanitise Malory and exonerate him of moral guilt in his various recorded exploits of theft, rustling, and his notorious abduction of Joan Smith. My question is: why bother? Is the Morte d'Arthur any less of a masterpiece if Malory was a thief and a rapist? Of course not. Perhaps the reason people feel the need to try and prove that Malory was a good guy is that they don't want to face the fact that a bad guy can write a great book. Well, that's their problem.

I went into this book thinking Malory himself probably fell a long way short of the ideals he praised in his writings, and I came away of the same opinion. Okay, perhaps he didn't force himself on Joan Smith, but he still abducted another man's wife and had sex with her. It is just possible that Hardyment's sanitised Malory is a true portrait, but the evidence is ambiguous, and it is equally possible that he was a ruffian, or something between the two. The trouble is that nothing survives of Malory himself but his highly romanticised writings about King Arthur. You really cannot deduce much about a man's character from what he writes. People will write anything.

Apart from placing too much reliance on Malory's writings, Hardyment's other mistake is to suppose that because all the people who were persecuting him were bad hats, Malory must have been one of the good guys. That's like claiming that because one street gang is full of thugs, the street gang they fight against must be full of angels.

There are some fun parts of the book, notably the wars with the French and the struggle for the kingship between Henry VI and Edward IV, but too much of it is concerned with the minutiae of rather dull intrigues for the narrative to catch fire. I admire Hardyment's detailed knowledge of the period, but detail sometimes drags a book down rather than giving it life.

I noticed one error, not of history, but of natural history. She mentions miniver in chapter 4, and says that it was made from the fur of the grey squirrel. Since the grey squirrel was only introduced into England in the nineteenth century, this is impossible. Miniver was no doubt actually made from the white belly-fur of the red squirrel.

[William Guerrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur is the definitive telling of the King Arthur legends, arguably the greatest work on chivalry ever written. But it now seems clear that Malory wrote it while imprisoned on charges of armed assault, rape, extorsion, kidnapping, theft, and numerous violent robberies. It seems that the knight who created the great paean to chivalry was himself a bully, thug, thief and rapist.

Unwilling to accept that verdict, in this book medieval scholar Christina Hardyment attempts to acquit Malory, constructing a impressively researched biography of the man she describes as "an upright and decent fifteenth-century gentlemen." She follows the path of Malory's fascinating life to Rhodes and France and back to England, interweaving his story with Arthurian literature. While conceding that her portrait is "riddled with guesswork," she attempts to put the charges against Malory into the context of the tumultuous time in which he lived and wrote, diving deeply into the intrigues and power struggles, both in Malory's community and in England at large. There is something interesting to learn on nearly every one of this book's 600+ pages.

In the end, I am not convinced that she is correct that Malory was the victim of "ten years of malevolent harassment." Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed her book.

[Bethany Pehora · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I understand Hardyment’s plan to rehabilitate the reputation of Malory but the story became slightly lost in her recounting of the wider history of the mid-fifteenth century. In addition, those unfamiliar with late medieval law may have trouble following the fate of the titular knight.

[Olga Vannucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

There once was an Englishman, Malory,
Who told well the tales of old history.
He took the old narrative,
Added on his experience,
Embroidered with valor and chivalry.

[Matthew Gilmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book.

[Susie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As others have said, this is a biography based mostly on guesswork, taking the few-known facts and piecing them together with what is known of the times that Malory lived in. It's a rather strange biography in a way, because there are even disputes as to when this particular Malory was born, as there were a few Thomas Malorys in that time. So to give an idea of a “complete biography”, the author gives reasoning to surmise which Malory is most likely the author of Le Morte Darthur, even disregarding the opinion of some others in this, then starts from the “beginning”, as in birth and childhood, etc. So you get an idea of the complete life of someone born to Malory’s station, from child to squire to knight to death, with all the wars and scandals in between. Yet, as said above, it includes a lot of guesswork. For instance, in the periods when there is no mention of a likely Malory, the author takes what is known of the period and Malory’s background to suggest that he might be in one of a few places, either at war or at home not doing that much. The responsibilities of Malory’s station were such that, if there’s no mention, then he’s either assisting his local lord in the war, or he’s in prison still/once more.

Also, one thing that this author does surmise, based on the explicits from Malory’s own text, plus the politics of the time, is that it is very unlikely that many of the charges against Malory, including those of being a “rapist”, are correct. If someone is seen to be on the wrong side of the political fence, or upsets someone more powerful, conflicting interests, etc., then it is likely that a lot of charges were fabricated.

The author paints the picture of a noble knight and political activist. Being as I read Le Morte Darthur afterwards, it is a preferred image to have in mind when reading Malory’s text itself.

Final rating: ★★★☆☆ – Sort of liked/OK

[Katharine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very frustrating book in some ways. The author depicted the times Malory lived in excellently but had to rely far too much on supposition to fix his place in them. When so many facts about Malory are disputed or mysterious there is really too little solid information for a biography. A massive amount of research had obviously gone into this book and many of the guesses made about what Malory was doing are probably correct, but there was just too much use of "possibly", "maybe" and "might have been". It's a pity because the author's view of Malory is quite plausible, but unsubstantiated.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have heard anything about Sir Thomas Malory most likely it was the story about the charge of rape brought againist him. Hardyment goes into what the charge could mean and looks at rape in terms of the time that Malory lived in. True, much of which is in the book is guess work, but Hardyment is honest enough to say that it is guess work.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Malory's Morte D'Arthur, so I looked forward to this biography ... but hard facts about Malory are apparently so thin on the ground, Hardyment lets fly with a constant stream of "he might have—" and "he could have been—." I can accept a certain amount of speculation, but not this much. And Hardyment's attempt to interpret Malory through his writing doesn't fly, like arguing a man who wrote about pure romantic love obviously couldn't have had an arranged match. Ultimately this is a 125 page book that got padded out to about 400.