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Sir
Thomas Malory
Early Life and Family
This assumed author
of the Arthurian legend was born into a family that was just one class below nobility. These well-bred people have lived for centuries in the
English Midlands between
Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Northampton shire . He was conceived
by Sir John Malory and his wife Philippa around 1400-1410 and inherited his
father’s estate in 1433.
Knight-Life
William Dugdale’s Antiquitres of Warwickshire
(1656) conveys that Sir Thomas Malory served with Richard Beauchamp, Earl of
Warwick from 1436 until Beauchamp's death in 1439. Malory continued in
this service with Richard Neville who became Earl by marring Beauchamp's
daughter. During this contribution, Malory fought at Calais in 1436
and in the Wars of the Roses. He was also in the last battles of the
Hundred Years’ War. Possibly because of his prestigious acts of courage in
battle, Malory was awarded knight of
Warwickshire and a little
later became a Member of Parliament in 1445 . As the wars raged on the Earl
of Warwick betrayed Edward IV and converted to the Lancastrian side in
1468-1469. This action ruined his reputation, and he is now called a
traitor by such people as William Shakespeare. It is reckoned that Malory
was also disloyal to Edward IV based on his past acquaintances with Warwick.
Criminal Career
However,
this betrayal was not an unusual act based on Malory’s already
ravaged reputation. In 1450, he was arraigned of assaulting and daring to
murder Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and of abducting and maybe even
raping the wife of
another man twice in the same year. Malory also raided
the Cisterian Abbey of Blessed Mary Combe just one year later in 1451.
Beginning in 1451 Malory was imprisoned a total of eight times escaping
twice by violent means. During this time prisoners such as Malory were
able to use their assets for their own best interest. In his snug cell at Newgate, Malory
wrote most of his collected works with access to a monastic library.
There he died perhaps of the plague shortly after he finished his work on
March 14, 1471 and was buried nearby at the Chapel of St. Francis of Grey
Friars.
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This page was created
by Mary Jones.
Last updated 1/07/02