Caxton Prints Le Morte d'Arthur

1485

William Caxton edited and printed Sir Thomas Malory's vast prose retelling of the Arthurian cycle. Malory had written it in prison. The printing gave English its foundational myth in fixed, shareable form: the Round Table, the Grail, Lancelot and Guinevere, a king asleep on an island waiting to return. Malory composed the work while imprisoned for robbery and attempted murder, and its meditation on loyalty and betrayal may reflect his own circumstances.