King Arthur & Gawaine

Sir Gawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He appears very early in the legend's development, being mentioned in some of the earliest Welsh Arthurian sources and is famous for fighting the Green Knight. He is one of a select number as one of the greatest knights. In this book he battles Sir Lancelot who mistakenly killed his brother Sir Gareth. King Arthur is a legendary British King who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention and his historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians. Le Morte D'Arthur was one of the earliest printed books in England, published by William Caxton in 1485. Most of the later works are derivative of Malory's as is this series of books. According to William Claxton, Sir Thomas Malory's original book titled Le Morte D'Arthur (The Death of Arthur) was finished in the ninth year of Edward IV. It was about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. It is considered to be the last important English book written before the introduction of the printing press into England. Caxton's story of how the book was brought to him and why he printed it may be read in his preface in Volume One, Book One. Claxton's own story of how the book was brought to him and why he printed it may be read in his own preface. From this we learn also that he was not only the printer of the book, but to some extent its editor also, dividing Malory's work into twenty-one books, splitting up the books into chapters. If the reader wants to read all the books in Volume One and/or Volume Two they may be purchased under the title "Times and Death of King Arthur." The original text from the introduction to chapters in Malory's books is added below chapter titles in this book to help give a flavor to how things were written in the fifteenth century. This edition retains the chapters of Malory's Book IV, Volume I, and an attempt has been made to retain his work while making it easier for the reader to follow the story using modern English and updated spelling.