The Death of King Arthur and the Legend of His Survival in Sir Thomas Malory's 'Le Morte Darthur' and Other Late Medieval Texts of the Fifteenth Century
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THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR AND THE LEGEND OF HIS SURVIVAL IN SIR THOMAS MALORY'S 'LE MORTE DARTHUR' AND OTHER LATE MEDIEVAL TEXTS OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY by John Kenneth Brookes Withrington Thesis submitted for the degree of D. Phil Centre for Medieval Studies University of York March 1991 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements iv Declaration iv Abstract v Abbreviations vi INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: THE PASSING OF ARTHUR AND THE RETURN OF THE KING 10 The Arthur Of The Chronicles 11 The Arthur Of Romance 14 The Arthur Of Folklore 17 The Hexameter Epitaph: 20 Known Examples of the Hexameter Epitaph 21 The Hexameter Epitaph, Chronicle Accounts and the Glastonbury Exhumation 22 Glastonbury and the Epitaph for St. Joseph of Arimathea 25 The Unorthodox Tradition 27 Summary 28 CHAPTER TWO: THE CHRONICLES OF JOHN OF FORDUN AND WALTER BOWER 31 Late Medieval Scottish Attitudes To King Arthur 32 The Death Of Arthur In The Chronicle Of John Of Fordun: 34 The First Sub-Group 35 The Second Sub-Group 37 The Third Sub-Group 38 . The Death Of Arthur In Walter Bower's Scotichronicon: 40 Bower and the Death of Arthur 41 The Death Of Arthur In The Chronicles Of John Of Fordun And Walter Bower 43 CHAPTER THREE: THE CHRONICLE OF JOHN HARDYNG 47 John Hardyng: The Long And Short Versions Of The Chronicle 47 Arthurian Material In The Short Version Of Hardyng's Chronicle 49 Arthurian Material In The Long Version Of Hardyng's Chronicle 52 Hardyng And The Death Of Arthur 59 1 CHAPTER FOUR: ARTHURIAN MATERIAL IN THE WORKS OF JOHN LYDGATE 61 References To King Arthur In The Works Of John Lydgate: 63 Resoun and Sensuallyte 63 Troy Book 65 The Popularity of Lydgate's Fall of Princes 67 The Death Of Arthur In The Fall Of Princes: 72 Lydgate's Version of the Death of Arthur: The Text 72 Lydgate's Version of the Death of Arthur: The Implications 75 Conclusion 79 CHAPTER FIVE: THE DEATH OF ARTHUR IN MALORY'S 'MORTE DARTHUR' 81 Critical Responses To Malory's Version Of The Death Of Arthur 81 The Death Of Arthur In The Mor t Artu 83 The Death Of Arthur In The Stanzaic Morte Arthur 86 Malory's Version Of The Death Of Arthur: 89 Intimations of Mortality 89 Strange Images of Death: Violence and Battle Narrative 91 Malory and the Passing of Arthur 98 APPENDICES Appendix One: Anthology of References to the Death of Arthur and the Legend of his Return, including Illustrative Material 103 Appendix Two: MSS of the Fordun/Bower Corpus 120 Appendix Three: The Death of Arthur in the Long Version of Hardyng's Chronicle, B.L. MS Lansdowne 204 123 Appendix Four: A Description of B.L. MS Lansdowne 699, together with a Collated Edition of the Arthurian Section from Lydgate's Fall of Princes 128 Appendix Five: Caxton, Malory and the Roman War 163 Appendix Sixc Malory's Arithmetic 174 NOTES Introduction 177 Chapter One 179 Chapter Two 191 Chapter Three 196 Chapter Four 199 Chapter Five 205 Appendix Four 211 Appendix Five 213 Appendix Six 219 BIBLIOGRAPHY 221 111 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For the audience the list of acknowledgements is usually a necessary evil, while for the author it remains the only opportunity to thank in print those to whom he is indebted. The gentle reader may wish accordingly to pass by this page, but I should like to extend my thanks to the following who, over more years than I care to remember, have encouraged me to pursue my research, providing both practical and moral support: Dr Howard Erskine-Hill, Professor Jill Mann, Professor Tony Edwards, Professor Mark Lambert, James Simpson, Professor D.E.R. Watt, and above all, to Karen Hodder. In especial my gratitude is due to Peter Field and Felicity Riddy, whose scholarship, enthusiasm, friendship and willingness to gladly teach has been a source of constant inspiration. My thanks are due also to the staff of the Manuscripts Room at the British Library, at Duke Humphrey's library in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and the Pierpont Morgan Library of New York who have all assisted me in the course of my research. I am grateful in addition to the Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, to the President and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford and to the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Dalhousie for permission to examine several manuscripts referred to in the course of this thesis. On the personal side I should like to record my debt to my parents, who provided the fmancial guarantee which enabled me to abandon a career in banking to embark upon the less renumerative but infinitely more stimulating world of academic research. Finally, an acknowledgement to someone whose faith and practical help has made the completion of this thesis seem less of a Sisyphean task: whether entering a state of matrimony is adequate recompense I leave to her, but my thanks above all to my wife Roz. DECLARATION Parts of this thesis have already been published, or are about to be published, in whole or in part in the following: 'The Arthurian Epitaph in Sir Thomas Malory's More Darthur', in Arthurian Literature VII, ed. Richard Barber (Cambridge 1987), pp 103-44; 'King Arthur as Emperor', Notes and Queries 233 (1988), pp 13-15; 'Caxton, Malory and the Roman War', Studies in Philology (forthcoming). ABSTRACT In Le Mode Darthur, Sir Thomas Malory adopts an equivocal attitude to Arthur's death which contradicts known sources in favour of an apparent digression, and which accentuates the author's apparent uncertainty: some men, he remarks, believe Arthur did not die, and that he may yet return. This sentiment is summarised in the haunting epitaph Malory reports is said to be on the tomb: "Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus." Critics to date have generally assumed that Malory was uncertain what to believe. Using the epitaph as a leitmotif, this thesis argues that Malory deliberately chose what was a relatively well known phrase in order to avoid stating overtly the fact of Arthur's death. A survey of attitudes up to and including the fifteenth century will show that the legend of Arthur's survival and return, the 'Briton hope', was invariably viewed ironically. A detailed discussion of Fordun's Chronica Gentis Scotorum, Bower's Scotichronicon and John Hardyng's Chronicle, all involving detailed analyses of unpublished manuscript material, reveals hitherto unobserved examples of the epitaph, including a new variant, as do manuscripts of Lydgate's Fall of Princes. In both historical and literary texts therefore, the above epitaph -- dated to before 1385 -- was widely used, and all indications are that Arthur's death was accepted unquestioningly. The Fall is also suggested as a possible source for Malory's version. The thesis concludes with a discussion of why Malory should have risked surprising his audience through his apparent deference to the Briton hope. Close textual analysis with reference to identified sources shows Malory suppressing detail concerning Arthur's ftnal hours, accentuating the horror of battle and enhancing the mysterious. Reluctant to risk an anti-climax to his tale, distracting from the actual conclusion to the Morte, Malory seizes upon an epitaph which artistically absolves him from the need to confirm or deny Arthur's death. ABBREVIATIONS ALMA Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages AMA Alliterative Mode Arthure BBSIA Bulletin Bibliographique de la Societe Internationale Arthurienne BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands Library B.L. British Library B.N. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris Bod. Bodleian Library, Oxford CGS Chronica Gentis Scotorum DNB Dictionary of National Biography Fall Fall of Princes JEGP Journal of English and Germanic Philology MA La Mort le Roi Artu MD Le Morte Darthur Med. Aev. Medium Aevum MLN Modem Language Notes MLR Modem Language Review MP Modem Philology *NM Neuphilologische Mitteilungen N & Q Notes and Queries PQ Philological Quarter4, SMA Stanzaic Morte Arthur SP Studies in Philology vi INTRODUCTION Thus of Arthur I fynde no more wrytten in bokis that bene auctorysed, nothir more of the verry sertaynte of hys dethe harde I never rede, but thus was he lad away in a shyp wherein were three quenys; that one was kynge Arthur syster, quene Morgan le Fay, the tother was the quene of North Galls, and the thirde was the quene of the Waste Londis... Now more of the deth of lcynge Arthur coude I never fynde, but that thes ladyes brought hym to hys grave, and such one was entyred there whych the ermyte bare wytnes that sometyme was Bysshop of Caunturbyry. But yet the ermyte knew nat in sertayne that he was veryly the body of kynge Arthur. For thys tale sir Bedwere, a knyght of the Table Rounde, made hit to be wrytten; yet som men say in many partys of Inglonde that kynge Arthure ys nat dede, but had by the wyll of Oure Lorde Jesu into another place; and men say that he shall corn agayne, and he shall wynne the Holy Crosse. Yet I woll nat say that hit shall be so, but rather I wolde sey: here in thys worlde he chaunged hys lyff. And many men say that there ys wrytten uppon the tumbe thys vers: HIC IACET ARTHURUS, REX QUONDAM REXQUE FUTURUS1 With its elegant simplicity, this epitaph sums up the enigmatic fate of Arthur, the Once and Future King: like a phoenix, he will apparently rise again. Arthur has remained, for the British, an obsession to be celebrated in verse, prose, drama and the visual arts. Milton considered an Arthurian theme for his epic, only to abandon it in favour of one more elevated, that of Man's first disobedience.