Le Morte d'Arthur

Le Morte d'Arthur (originally spelled Le Morte Darthur, Middle French for “the death of Arthur”) is a reworking of traditional tales by Sir Thomas Malory about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the Knights of the Round Table. Malory interprets existing French and English stories about these figures and adds original material (e.g., the Gareth story).

Le Morte d'Arthur was first published in 1485 by William Caxton, and is today perhaps the best-known work of Arthurian literature in English. Many modern Arthurian writers have used Malory as their principal source, including T. H. White in his popular The Once and Future King and Tennyson in The Idylls of the King.

Authorship

The exact identity of the author of Le Morte D'Arthur has long been the subject of speculation, owing to the fact that a number of minor historical figures bore the name of "Sir Thomas Malory", but scholarship has increasingly supported the notion that the author was the Thomas Malory who was born between the years 1400-1410 to Sir John Malory of Newbold Revel, Warwickshire. Sir Thomas inherited the family estate in 1434 after his father died and is believed to have engaged in a life of crime punctuated with long periods of imprisonment. As early as 1433, he was seemingly indicted for theft and, in 1450, it was alleged that he was involved in attempted murder, robbery, rape, and extortion stemming from a cattle raid. He was imprisoned in Coleshill but escaped and soon after robbed the Cistercian monastery. Malory was once again arrested in 1454, but two years later he was released through a royal pardon.

Merlin (series 1)

Series one of Merlin, a British fantasy television series, began on 20 September 2008 and ended on 13 December 2008. Regular cast members for the first series include Colin Morgan, Bradley James, Katie McGrath, Angel Coulby, Anthony Head, Richard Wilson, and John Hurt as the voice of the Great Dragon. The first series contained thirteen episodes, with 7.15 million tuning into the premier and 6.27 for the series finale.

Series 1 was the only series to be comprised completely of stand-alone episodes.

Before the series finale, the BBC confirmed that the series was renewed for a further 13 episode second series. Series two premiered on 19 September 2009.

Plot

Merlin, Arthur and Camelot must work together to protect the great kingdom against dark sorcery. But Merlin faces a tough challenge in hiding his dark secret from his best friends. Because the only way to fight magic... is with magic.

Cast

Starring