Biography of Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel

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Biography of Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel
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His father, John Malory

• Esquire with land in three English Midland
  counties (Warwickshire, Leicestershire and
  Northampton shire)
• Public officeholder in Warwickshire twice
  sheriff, five times a member of Parliament and a
  justice of the peace
• Married Philippa Chetwynd, and they had at least
  three children including Thomas in 1416ish

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Malorys early years
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The Good

• By the age of 23, Thomas seems to be following in
  his fathers footsteps as a respectable landowner
• By 1441, he has been knighted and is Sir Thomas
• Marries Elizabeth Walsh, and has a son Robert
• 1445 elected M.P. for Warwickshire

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The Bad

• 1443 Malory charged with wounding and
  imprisoning Thomas Smith and stealing his goods.
• Nothing seems to come of the charges, and as seen
  before, he is elected to public office in 1445
• Political turmoil in the late 1440s/early 1550s
  and the War of the Roses

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The UGLY or Malory makes Chaucer look like a
saint

• Alleged actions and a downward spiral
• 1/4/1450 Malory and a number of other armed men
  lay an ambush for the Duke of Buckingham near
  Newbold Revel
• 5/23/1450 rapes Joan Smith at coventry (and not
  the abduction kind)
• 5/31/1450 extortion
• 8/6/1450 rapes Joan Smith again, and steals
  from her husband
• 8/31/1450 some more extortion
• 1451 responsible for the theft of 7 cows, 2
  calves, 335 sheep, and a cart (Buckingham
  attempts to apprehend him)
• Imprisoned more than once escapes and swims
  across a moat, is bailed out a few times, fights
  his way out once, and is pardoned
• Later expressly left out of royal pardons

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The Morte

• Written in part (or perhaps wholly) during
  Malorys multiple incarcerations
• Completed 1469/1470, not long before
• Morte de Malory 3/14/1471, possibly while still
  a prisoner at Newgate. Buried at Greyfriars
  Church

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Controversy!

• How are we to handle the discrepancy between the
  way Malory lived his life and the virtues held up
  in Le Morte Darthur?
• Easiest way is to claim that the Newbold Revel
  Malory isnt the right Malory
• 16th Century John Bale associates Malory with
  Welsh origins
• Other possible Thomas Malory candidates, as
  public records are fragmentary, often
  contradictory and sometimes fraudulent
• Most scholars, however, accept the Newbold Revel
  Malory as the writer/compiler of the Morte

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Sources

• Field, P.J.C. Malorys Life Records. A
  Companion to Malory. Ed. Elizabeth Archibald
  and A.S.G. Edwards. Cambridge D.S. Brewer,
  1996.
• Mathews, William. The Ill Famed Knight. Berkeley
  University of California P, 1966.
• Shepherd, Stephen H.A. "Malory Life Events."
  Foreword. Le Morte Darthur. By Sir Thomas
  Malory. New York Norton Company, 2004.
  Xxiv-xvii.
• "Thomas Malory." Wikipedia. 1 Apr. 2009
  lthttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malorygt.