43 h 54 minAudiobook16 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does loyalty cost when love, family, and a king demand different things?
A boy draws a sword from a stone, but winning a crown is only the beginning. In Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur, King Arthur fights to hold his throne and gathers the knights of the Round Table. Their fellowship promises honor in a world of proud rivals, dangerous quests, and divided hearts.
Sir Launcelot du Lake sets the standard for courage, yet his love for Queen Guenever strains his loyalty to Arthur. Gareth rides out to prove his worth, while Tristram loves Isode, who is promised to his uncle. Through these linked adventures and the search for the Holy Grail, Malory asks what happens when solemn promises pull people apart.
What you’ll discover
- A crown under threat Follow Arthur from the sword in the stone into the struggle to secure his kingdom.
- Honor put to work Ride with knights whose vows face hard tests in rescues, tournaments, and rivalries.
- A kitchen boy's courage Meet Gareth, who hides his noble birth and sets out to prove himself through deeds.
- Love against loyalty Feel the strain as Launcelot and Guenever's bond threatens the fellowship they belong to.
- The Holy Grail quest Discover how the search for a sacred vessel tests the knights of the Round Table.
Who will love it
For readers who love legends, knights, quests and the roots of fantasy, and for anyone who wants the source behind countless films and novels.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A secret birth and a sword in stone
- Arthur wins a kingdom and makes friends
- Strange swords, wounded kings and bitter strokes
- Lancelot rises as the best knight
- Gareth, the kitchen boy who becomes a knight
- Tristram and Isode, a love that cannot be mended
- The Grail quest tests every knight
- Love, rivalry and the strain on the court
- What the book is really about
- How Malory tells it and why it endures
Who’s who
- King ArthurThe young king who draws the sword from the stone, founds the Round Table, and tries to rule justly over proud and quarrelsome men.
- Sir Launcelot du LakeThe strongest and most admired knight at court, loyal to the king, yet pulled by a love that threatens everything he serves.
- Queen GueneverArthur's wife, a woman of great standing at court, whose bond with Launcelot places her at the center of its tensions.
- MerlinThe wizard who arranges Arthur's birth and rise, guides him with prophecy, and is later taken from the story.
- Sir Gareth of OrkneyA hidden nobleman who serves as a kitchen boy, then rides out to rescue a besieged lady and prove his worth.
- Sir TristramA knight of Cornwall, gifted in war and music, bound by love to Isode though she is promised to his uncle King Mark.
- Sir GalahadLauncelot's son, a pure young knight who is destined to take the seat reserved for the finder of the Holy Grail.
- Sir GawainArthur's nephew and a leading knight of the Round Table, fierce, proud and fiercely loyal to his family.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 43 h 54 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 16 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear La muerte de Arturo in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
La muerte de Arturo
by Sir Thomas Malory · 1469
A boy draws a sword from a stone, and a fellowship of knights faces the competing claims of love, loyalty and honor.
ChallengingOver 20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Le Morte Darthur is the fullest English telling of the legend of King Arthur. Sir Thomas Malory, an English knight, wrote it in the late 1460s, and by his own account he finished it in the ninth year of King Edward the Fourth.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A secret birth and a sword in stone
The book opens in the days of King Uther Pendragon, who rules Britain. Uther falls in love with Igraine, the wife of the Duke of Cornwall, and war breaks out between the two men. Uther turns for help to Merlin, a wizard and adviser who works through enchantment and foresight. Merlin agrees to help, but he asks for a price, and the price is the child who will come from this union.
The child is Arthur. Soon after his birth, Merlin takes him away and gives him to a good knight, Sir Ector, to raise in secret. Arthur grows up believing that Ector is his father and that Sir Kay is his brother. He knows nothing of the crown that waits for him. Malory gives this early section a quiet, almost fairy-tale tone.
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What is Le Morte Darthur about?
It tells the story of King Arthur from his birth and the sword in the stone to the Round Table, the quests of its knights, the search for the Holy Grail, and the fall of the fellowship.
Who wrote Le Morte Darthur and when?
Sir Thomas Malory, an English knight, wrote it in the late 1460s while in prison. He died in 1471, and William Caxton printed the book in 1485.
What does Le Morte Darthur mean?
It is French for the death of Arthur. The title was given by Caxton to the whole book, though most of it deals with the adventures of the knights, not only with Arthur.
The author
Thomas Malory
1405–1471 · Medieval English Arthurian writer
English writer, author of Le Morte d'Arthur.
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