Contested Language in Malory's Morte Darthur ― The Politics of Romance in Fifteenth-century England

Malory's Morte Darthur , which transformed the sprawling thirteenth-century French Vulgate Cycle romances for fifteenth-century English readers, is often seen as the culmination of the medieval Arthurian tradition and a consolidation of Arthur's reputation as a perfect chivalric ruler. Examining Malory's political language, this study challenges the accepted view of Arthur's kingship and the role of the Round Table fellowship. Considering a range of historical and political sources, Ruth Lexton suggests that Malory used a specific lexicon to engage with contemporary problems of kingship and demonstrates that the Morte interrogates the collapse of the English monarchy during the Wars of the Roses..

Ruth Lexton teaches English at Wellington College, UK. She has taught medieval and early modern literature at Bates College, Barnard College and Columbia University, USA. She received her PhD in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University where she was the recipient of the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship. She has published articles in the Journal of English and Germanic Philology, The Fifteenth Century, and Exemplaria.