SOURCE: Field, P. J. C. Introduction to Le Morte Darthur: The Seventh and Eighth Tales, edited by P. J. C. Field, pp. 33-67. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1978.

In the following excerpt, Field provides an overview of Malory's Morte Darthur, focusing on issues of authorship, structural unity, and sources.

Sir Thomas Malory

Although Sir Thomas Malory lived a thousand years later than the events that gave his story its origin, not much more is known with certainty about him than about the historical Arthur. All that is certain is found in his book, mostly in the explicits (the closing words) of the eight tales that make up the Morte Darthur. In the explicit to the last tale, he tells us his name, that he was a knight and a prisoner, that he wanted his readers to pray for him, and that he finished his book between 3 March 1469 and 4 March...