Thomas Malory was born in 1414-1420 in England and came from a gentry family. He developed a criminal record in the 1440s including assault, theft, and attempting to murder the Duke of Buckingham. Malory was imprisoned for many years starting in 1451 while awaiting trial for his crimes. While in prison, he wrote Le Morte d'Arthur, one of the earliest books printed in English, which became the basis for later Arthurian works and cemented his fame.

1. The Life
of
Thomas
Malory

2. Early Age
Thomas’ Criminality Thomas’ Imprisonment El Morte D’Arthur
• Born around 1414-1420 into an
English gentry family, Sir Thomas
sent his first couple of decades in
quiet obscurity, aside from
campaigning at the Siege of Calais in
1436. By 1441 he had been knighted
and had developed a growing
interesting in politics.

3. Thomas’ Criminality
Early Age Thomas’ Imprisonment El Morte D’Arthur
• In 1445 he had became M.P. for his
country and over the next few
years developed a starting
talent for lawlessness. In 1444 he
had been charged with assault
and theft, and in 1450 Malory tried
to ambush and murder the Duke of
Buckingham.

4. Thomas’ Criminality
Early Age Thomas’ Imprisonment El Morte D’Arthur
•He allegedly raped Joan Smith
not once but twice, stole goods
from her husband, extorted
money, pilfered cattle, and
destroyed the Duke of
Buckingham’s hunting lodge.

5. Thomas’ Imprisonment
Early Age Thomas’ Criminality El Morte D’Arthur
• in 1451 Malory was imprisoned at
coleshill, but escaped two days later
by swimming the moat at night. He then
twice raided come abbey alongside a
band of outlaws, stealing a great deal
of money and harassing the monks.
Malory was captured in 1452 and thrown
into a London prison where he sent 8
years awaiting trial.

6. Thomas’ Imprisonment
Early Age Thomas’ Criminality El Morte D’Arthur
• After he bailed out, he was caught
stealing horses and places in a
Colchester Jail, but fought his way
through guard and escaped. He was
recaptured and returned to London
Prison, but freed by royal pardon in
1460 however, by 1468 Malory was
back in Newgate prison, where he
would die in 1471.

7. Le Morte D’ Arthur
Early Age Thomas’ Criminality Thomas’ Imprisonment
• le morte d’arthur formed the Basis for
t.h. white’s 20th cantury series of
novels, ‘‘ the onceand future king’’. this
series in turned the basis for the
Broadway musical ‘‘camelot’’, which
was filmed in 1967, and the first book in
the series, ‘‘the sword in the stone’’,
formed the basis for the Disney movie
of the same name.

8. Le Morte D’ Arthur
Early Age Thomas’ Criminality Thomas’ Imprisonment
• although, technically, malory wrote ‘‘le
morte d’athur’’ in middle english , his
middle english, unlike chaucer’s, is
virtually indistingguish from
shakeseare’s elizaBethan english,
because of the way the language had
change between the late fourteenth and
late fifteenth centuries. Le Morte
d’arthur was one of the earliest Book to
be rinted in the English Language.

9. • while in newgate he turned to writing, creating the immortal
‘‘le morte d’arthur’’ ,which would win him eternal fame. the
truth behind the seemingly contradictory nature of Sir
Thomas Malory is hotly debated, and may never be fully
known

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