PREFACE
Sir Thomas Malory has given us no account of himself or his family, but he has left his name and his work. The name Malory is found connected with estates in Yorkshire in the sixteenth century, and with estates in Leicestershire in that which follows. As the name of the knight to whom we owe the Morte Darthur, it is found written not only Malory or Malorye, but also Maleore. It occurred to me some years ago that this fact lent countenance to the statement ascribed to Leland and others, that Sir Thomas Malory was a Welshman; for Maleore reminded me of Maylawr, Maelawr or Maelor, the name of two districts on the confines of England and Wales: a ‘Welsh Maelor’ is included in the County of Denbigh, and an ‘English Maelor’ in that of Flint. How such a name could readily become a surname may be seen from the designation, for instance, of a lord of the two Maelors in the twelfth century, named Gruffud Maelawr. Literally rendered, this would mean ‘Griffith of Maelor.’ Similarly, the name of a Welsh poet of the fifteenth century, Edward ab Rhys Maelor, might now be rendered ‘Edward Price of Maelor.’
Since then Dr. Sommer, in a Supplement to the second volume of his great edition of the Morte Darthur, has called attention to the following passage in Bale’s Illustrium Maioris Britanniæ Scriptorum, fol. 208 verso:—
“Thomas Mailorius, Britannus natione, heroici spiritus homo, ab ipsa adolescentia uariis animi corporisque dotibus insigniter emicuit. Est Mailoria (inquit in Antiquarum Dictionum Syllabo Joannes Lelandus) in finibus Cambriæ regio, Deuæ flumini uicina. Quam et alibi a fertilitate atque armorum fabrefactura commendat. Inter multiplices reipublicæ curas, non intermisit hic literarum studia, sed succisiuis horis uniuersas disparsæ uetustatis reliquias, sedulus perquisiuit. Vnde in historiarum lectione diu uersatus, ex uariis autoribus undique selegit, de fortitudine ac uictoriis inclytissimi Brytannorum regis Arthurii.”
The first edition of Bale’s work was published at Ipswich in 1548, while Malory s Morte Darthur was only completed by him in 1469. These dates are not so far apart that we must suppose either Bale or Leland unable to obtain reliable information concerning Malory’s history and origin. Bale’s statement that Malory was Britannus natione, that is to say, Welsh, brings
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