Was King Arthur Real or not? I answer all of theses questions stated in the Introduction.

Essay by w0224814High School, 12th gradeA+, October 2003

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Who was the legendary hero, King Arthur? Did he really exist? Is their enough evidence to reveal this great mystery? To begin to understand the legends surrounding these famous character, readers need to answer important questions: Did Malory recreate a long lost hero Arthur, or were the legends and characters all in his imagination?

Thomas Malory is almost certain to be Sir Thomas Malory, of Newbord Revell, Warwickshire. He was born "into a gentry family that had lived for centuries in the English Midlands near the point where Warwickshiure, Leicestershire, and Northanmptonshire meet".(Field, 115) Of Thomas Malory's early years not much is known. When he was 23, records reveal that he was a "respectable country landowner with a growing interset in politics."(115) In 1141 Thomas Malory became dubbed a knight. Two years later Sir Thomas Malory married Elizabeth Walsh of Wanlip, and they had a son named Robert. In 1141 that same year, Malory began to start living a destructive lifestyle.

He was charged with wounding and kidnapping Thomas Smith, and stealing his goods but later the charges were dropped. "He now was evidently a violent, lawless individual who committed a series of crimes, including poaching, extortion, robbery, and murder."(Field,114) From 1451 and on most of his life was spent in prison. Historians suspect he probably did most of his writings there. Malory received a royal pardon, in 1460, and was never tried for any of his past crimes. Six months later Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel died. This is when some one discovered "Morte Darthur".

So did Malroy's life style have anything to do with King Arthur or was it just his imagination? "After hundreds years of pursuit one has managed to name a founding individual consistent with Arthurian literature and the chronological time he would have...