50 Fun Facts About Le Morte D'Arthur

At the truce before Arthur's last battle in Le Morte d'Arthur, what bites a knight and makes him draw his sword?

An adder slides out of a heath bush and stings his foot, and both armies take the flash of his blade for treachery. Each side had orders to attack if a single sword was drawn.

Sir Thomas Malory apparently finished Le Morte d'Arthur around 1470 while living where, by his own closing words?

In prison is the usual reading: he calls himself a knight prisoner and ends the book asking readers to pray for his deliverance. The leading candidate was jailed repeatedly and once escaped by swimming a moat.

In Le Morte d'Arthur, the sword in the stone and anvil appears one Christmas in a churchyard in which city?

London is where the lords gather to pray for a king, and Malory admits he cannot say whether the church was St Paul's. Arthur draws the sword on New Year's Day, on an errand during a tournament.

From whom does Arthur receive his second, more famous sword in Malory, after rowing out to an arm in the water?

The Lady of the Lake lets him take it in return for a gift to be named later. When she comes to court to claim it, her price is a knight's head, and she loses her own instead.

Which king fathers Arthur in Le Morte d'Arthur after Merlin gives him the likeness of the Duke of Cornwall?

Uther Pendragon had promised the child to Merlin as the fee for the trick, so the baby is carried away to be fostered. Igraine's real husband had died in battle hours before the visit.

Which knight, Lancelot's son, pulls a sword from a floating stone at Camelot and goes on to achieve the Holy Grail?

Galahad also sits unharmed in the seat that destroys anyone unworthy, where his name is found written. His father had knighted him that very morning.

Which printer, the first to set up a press in England, published Le Morte d'Arthur in 1485?

William Caxton also reshaped the text, cutting Malory's eight tales into 21 books and writing a summary for every chapter. Only two copies of that first printing are known to exist.

Which T. H. White retelling of Le Morte d'Arthur makes a young Thomas Malory a character in its closing pages?

The Once and Future King borrows the Latin verse that Malory says is written on Arthur's tomb. In White's ending the old king sends a page called Tom home before the battle, to keep the story alive.

To which death is Guinevere condemned for treason in Le Morte d'Arthur, before Lancelot rides in to save her?

Burning at the stake is a sentence Malory has her face three times. At the last, Lancelot's charge kills two unarmed knights and turns their brother into his bitterest enemy.

Which sorceress, Arthur's half-sister, is one of four queens who carry off the sleeping Lancelot in Le Morte d'Arthur?

Morgan le Fay and her companions lock him in a castle and order him to take one of them as a lover or die there. He refuses all four and is freed by a king's daughter who needs a champion.

Although Le Morte d'Arthur is written in Middle English, its title, meaning the death of Arthur, is in which language?

French, in its Anglo-Norman form; modern grammar would want 'la', since the noun is feminine. Malory seems to have meant the name for his final tale only, but it ended up on the whole book.

Malory wrote Le Morte d'Arthur during which 15th-century English conflict, in which he is thought to have changed sides?

Wars of the Roses loyalties may explain his troubles with the crown: the Yorkist king left a Thomas Malory out of four general pardons by name.

Which American humorist wrote an 1889 time-travel satire after a friend urged a copy of Le Morte d'Arthur on him?

Mark Twain quoted whole passages of Malory in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. He later called the friend who pointed the book out in a shop the godfather of his novel.

Which American novelist left unfinished a retelling of Malory titled The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights?

John Steinbeck rented a cottage in Somerset to research it and worked from the manuscript text rather than the printed one. He stopped in 1959, and it was published only after his death.

Which cycle of twelve poems by Alfred Tennyson retold Malory's tales for Victorian readers between 1859 and 1885?

Idylls of the King moves through the seasons of a single year, from spring at the start of Arthur's reign to his last fight in midwinter.

Which young artist's first big commission was illustrating an 1890s Le Morte d'Arthur for publisher J. M. Dent?

Aubrey Beardsley was a 20-year-old insurance clerk when he took the job, and its stark black-and-white pages launched the style that made his name.

Which 1981 John Boorman film, shot in Ireland with Nigel Terry as Arthur, is loosely based on Le Morte d'Arthur?

Excalibur gave early screen roles to Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne and Ciarán Hinds. Its script folds two of Malory's queens into a single sorceress, played by Helen Mirren.

A manuscript of Le Morte d'Arthur, unknown until a schoolmaster found it in 1934, is now kept by which institution?

British Library shelves now hold it, and ink smudges on its pages match the first printer's type, proof that it sat in his workshop. Its scribes used red ink lavishly.

A note at the end of Le Morte d'Arthur dates its completion to the ninth year of which English king's reign?

Edward IV had reigned since 1461, which puts the finish in 1469 or 1470. A rival retook the throne in autumn 1470, and the leading candidate for the author died five months later.

Which knight's story is the longest of the eight tales in Le Morte d'Arthur, filling about a third of the whole work?

Tristram gets two whole books, even after Malory cut the original romance down to about a sixth of its length. The tale breaks off before the hero's death, which is only mentioned in passing later.

Which knight raises the infant Arthur as his own son in Le Morte d'Arthur, after Merlin carries the baby away?

Ector realises the boy must be king only when the sword leaves the stone, and kneels to him at once. The one reward he asks is that his own son be made seneschal of all Arthur's lands.

In Malory, for which foster brother, who has left his own blade behind, does young Arthur pull the sword from the stone?

Sir Kay at first claims he drew it himself, then admits the truth when his father makes him swear on a book. Years later Lancelot borrows his armour and unhorses knights who mistake him for an easy target.

Which piece of Arthur's gear does Merlin call worth ten of his sword in Malory, since its wearer cannot lose blood?

The scabbard is later stolen by the king's own half-sister and thrown into deep water. From then on he can be wounded like any other man.

Warned by Merlin that his destroyer is newly born, Arthur sets adrift the noble babies born on which day in Malory?

May Day babies are packed into a ship that breaks up on the rocks, yet Mordred, the one he feared, is washed ashore and raised by a good man. Many lords blame Merlin more than the king.

Which enchantress learns magic from the besotted Merlin in Le Morte d'Arthur, then seals him under a great stone?

Nimue is no villain in Malory: she goes on to save Arthur's life more than once and is among the women who bear him away after his last battle.

Which knight with two swords deals the Dolorous Stroke in Le Morte d'Arthur and later kills his own brother unawares?

Balin strikes the blow with the spear that pierced Christ's side, and three countries are laid waste by it. The sword he leaves behind is set in a floating stone for a better knight to draw.

What does King Pellinore hunt in Le Morte d'Arthur, a creature whose belly sounds like thirty couple of hounds?

The Questing Beast has a serpent's head, a leopard's body, a lion's haunches and a hart's feet. It falls silent only while it drinks, and the chase later passes to a Saracen knight.

Which Roman emperor demands tribute from Arthur in Le Morte d'Arthur and dies in the war that follows?

Lucius is fictitious, and Arthur answers his demand by marching on Rome and being crowned emperor there. The first printed edition cut this tale to less than half its manuscript length.

At which Christian feast do the knights of the Round Table renew their oath every year in Le Morte d'Arthur?

Pentecost is when they swear never to murder, always to grant mercy to those who ask it and to help women in need. The oath is Malory's own invention.

Malory tells readers that Camelot is the older name of which English city, where a medieval Round Table still hangs?

Winchester gets the credit in Malory's own words, but his printer disagreed and pointed readers to ruins in Wales instead. The table in the city's castle dates from the 13th century.

Which knight twice hides Arthur's sword in Le Morte d'Arthur before finally throwing it into the water as ordered?

Sir Bedivere is caught out both times because he reports seeing nothing but wind and waves. He ends his days as a hermit beside the tomb, and Malory credits him with having the tale written down.

To which vale is the dying Arthur carried by barge at the end of Le Morte d'Arthur, hoping to be healed?

Avalon is his hoped-for cure, but Malory will not say he reached it: a hermit soon shows a fresh grave where ladies brought a body at midnight. Some men say, he adds, that the king will come again.

Which nephew of Arthur grows three times stronger each morning until noon, a secret gift that almost beats Lancelot?

Gawain got the gift from a holy man, and the king quietly set court duels for mid-morning to favour him. In their last fight his opponent simply defends until midday, then strikes him down.

Which knight works a year in Arthur's kitchens in Le Morte d'Arthur under the mocking nickname Beaumains?

Gareth hides that he is the king's nephew, so the steward names him for his fair hands and feeds him with the kitchen boys. When his first adventure comes, he asks to be knighted by Lancelot alone.

What name does Malory give the Round Table seat that destroys any knight who sits in it unworthily?

The Siege Perilous stays empty for years, until letters appear on it naming the one knight it was made for. Merlin had warned that whoever sat there would have no equal.

Guinevere is accused of murder in Le Morte d'Arthur after a knight dies eating which poisoned fruit at her dinner?

An apple had been poisoned for a different guest, one known to love fruit, and the wrong knight took it. The dead man's cousin then charges the hostess with treason before the whole court.

Which knight in Le Morte d'Arthur holds 64 of Arthur's knights captive until Lancelot kills him in single combat?

Turquine hates Lancelot above all men for killing his brother, and mid-fight he offers to free every captive if his opponent proves to be anyone else. The answer costs him his head.

Which knight leads Mordred and twelve others to trap Lancelot in Guinevere's chamber, and dies in the fight at the door?

Agravaine had gone to the king with the affair over his brothers' objections. Lancelot, caught without armour, kills the first man through the door, takes his gear and cuts down all but one of the rest.

Which Saracen knight in Le Morte d'Arthur vows to fight seven true battles before he will accept baptism?

Palomides insists he is already a Christian at heart, and he is finally baptised with his fiercest rival in love standing as godfather. The two then ride to court together.

What is the name of Lancelot's own castle in Le Morte d'Arthur, where he shelters Guinevere and is later buried?

Joyous Gard may be a real place: Malory says some call it Alnwick and others Bamburgh, both in Northumberland. When its lord is banished from court, he renames it for sorrow.

After Arthur's death in Le Morte d'Arthur, what does Guinevere become at Amesbury, refusing Lancelot one last kiss?

A nun is what she makes herself as soon as the news reaches her, blaming their love for the ruin of the Round Table. He answers by taking a hermit's habit for the rest of his life.

Which ruler of Cornwall marries La Beale Isoud in Le Morte d'Arthur after sending his own nephew to fetch her?

King Mark never forgives the pair for the love that follows. Malory has him stab the nephew from behind with a sharpened blade as the younger man sits playing the harp for her.

Which maiden dies of love for Lancelot in Malory and is rowed down the Thames holding a letter?

Elaine, the Fair Maid of Astolat, plans the voyage herself, dictating the letter and asking for a black-draped boat with a single steersman. Tennyson's Lady of Shalott tells a version of the same legend.

In what kind of vehicle does Lancelot ride to rescue the kidnapped Guinevere from Sir Meliagrance in Le Morte d'Arthur?

A cart sent to fetch firewood is all he can find after archers shoot his horse from ambush, and he kills the driver who refuses him. For a long time afterwards he is nicknamed for the ride.

How does Mordred persuade the lords to crown him in Le Morte d'Arthur while the king is fighting in France?

With forged letters reporting Arthur killed in battle, he calls a parliament and has himself crowned. He then tries to marry the queen and, when she shuts herself in a fortress, turns great guns on it.

Near which English cathedral city does Malory set Arthur's final battle against Mordred, on a down close to the sea?

Salisbury is where a hundred thousand are said to lie dead by nightfall, with only two of the king's knights still standing. The day had been fixed for a Monday after Trinity Sunday.

Which knight is the only one of the three who achieve the Grail in Malory to come home to Camelot alive?

Bors keeps his everyday clothes on while a companion takes a hermit's habit, because he always means to go back. At court the king has clerks write down everything he reports.

Which king, Guinevere's father, sends the Round Table to Arthur as a wedding gift in Le Morte d'Arthur?

Leodegrance reasons that his new son-in-law has land enough already, so he sends the table with a hundred knights to sit at it. It has room for fifty more.

Which lover of Arthur's half-sister unknowingly duels Arthur in Le Morte d'Arthur, armed with Arthur's own stolen sword?

Accolon wakes beside a well, is handed the weapon and does not learn who he is fighting until the duel is almost over. He confesses the whole plot and soon dies of his wounds.

Who orders Arthur, on pain of interdict over all England, to take Guinevere back and make peace with Lancelot?

The Pope hands sealed bulls to an English bishop, and Lancelot obeys at once. He rides the queen back to court with a hundred knights dressed in green velvet, each carrying an olive branch.