The Alliterative Morte Arthure is a 4346 line Middle English poem, retelling the latter part of the legend of King Arthur. The poem is one of the most significant works in the short-lived revival of alliterative verse in the 14th century. Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion in 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the... King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Great Britain, where he appears as the ideal of kingship in both war and peace. ... The Old English epic poem Beowulf is written in alliterative verse. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ...

The author of the poem is unknown. In his history of Scotland, Andrew of Wyntoun mentions a poet called Huchown who he says made a "gret Gest of Arthure,/And þe Awntyr of Gawane,/Þe Pistil als of Suet Susane" [great history of Arthur,/And the Adventure of Gawain,/The Epistle also of Sweet Susan]. This "Gest of Arthure" is often thought to be a reference to what is now known as the Alliterative Morte Arthure but the fact that Morte Arthure seems to have been written in a Midlands dialect, the fact that Huchown may have been Scottish and the dialect of the extant Epistle of Sweet Susan appears to be that of North Yorkshire. The only manuscript source for the Morte Arthure is the Lincoln or Thornton manuscript written sometime in the early 14th century by a scribe called Robert of Thornton. It may have been that Robert of Thornton adapted and "translated" Huchown's work or that both used an older common source now lost. Andrew of Wyntoun (?1350-?1420), author of a long metrical history of Scotland, called the Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, was a canon regular of St Andrews, and prior of St Serfs in Lochieven. ... Midlands English is a group of dialects of the English language. ...

The story is adapted from books IX and X of Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain. It contains numerous episodes which are not in Geoffrey's work such as the round table and suggests either the poet using other works such as Wace's Roman de Brut or Layamon's Brut—where the table is first mentioned—or at least a familiarity with mythology. Some parts do not have a clear source and may have originated with the poet. Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. ... Geoffrey of Monmouths Historia Regum Britanniæ (English: The History of the Kings of Britain) was written around 1136. ... For other uses, see Round Table (disambiguation). ... Wace (c. ... Roman de Brut Roman de Brut or Brut is a verse literary history of England of 14,866 lines written in Anglo-Norman by Wace. ... Layamon, or Laȝamon (using the archaic letter yogh), was a poet of the early 13th century, whose Brut (c. ... Brut is an Old English poem compiled and recast by the priest Layamon. ...

Compared to many of the other depictions of Arthur's story, the 'Alliterative Morte Arthure is a far more realistic version of events. There are few of the fantastical elements which often surround the legend and the story focused more on Arthur's skill as a warrior king. The stress placed on chivalric duty in the contemporary Gawain and the Green Knight is in the Morte Arthure of a more practical nature and has more to do with personal loyalty. Also the Morte Arthure is less clearly part of the romance genre than Gawain and other Arthurian poems and more like a chronicle of the times. It contains little of the magic and symbolism of these other works, with no mention of Merlin, although it does use the literary device of the dream vision common in courtly romance and Chaucer. Arthur is a more political and also flawed ruler, the story is not just based in a small realm but is always placed within a wider European situation and this Arthur is more clearly christian then other versions. Woman under the Safeguard of Knighthood, allegorical Scene. ... Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th century metrical romance recorded in a manuscript containing three other pieces of an altogether more Christian orientation, which are linked by a commonality of dialect usage. ... As a literary genre, romance refers to a style of heroic prose and verse narrative current in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. ... The word Merlin may refer to: Merlin (wizard), the wizard, associated with King Arthur, or things concerning him: Prophetiae Merlini (The Prophecies of Merlin) by Geoffrey of Monmouth, later added into the Historia Regum Britanniae Vita Merlini, by the same author Merlin, a medieval poem by Robert de Boron Merlin... The courtly romance or roman courteois was a genre of aristocratic entertainment in narrative verse popular in the Middle ages. ... Chaucer: Illustration from Cassells History of England, circa 1902 Chanticleer the rooster from an outdoor production of Chanticleer and the Fox at Ashby_de_la_Zouch castle Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. ...

An example of the differing style of the alliterative version of the story is the treatment of Mordred. He is not simply the villain of the piece as he is in other poems but is a complex character with a varying personality. One mark of the prevalence of christian morality in the poem is that even Mordred cries and seems to be repentant around line 3886. Mordred or Modred (Welsh: Medraut) is a legendary figure of Britain, known in Arthurian legend as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. ...

Although the majority of Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur is closer to the style of Gawain and French versions of the legend, the second part of Malory's work, King Arthur's war against the Romans, is based mainly upon the earlier alliterative work. Sir Thomas Malory (c. ... Le Morte dArthur (The Death of Arthur)—the title is actually spelled as Le Morte Darthur in the first printing and also in some modern editions—is Sir Thomas Malorys compilation of some French and English Arthurian romances. ...

External links

• The Alliterative Morte Arthure from Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library

• http://www.sfsu.edu/~medieval/Volume5/Floyd.html A discussion of the changes in character Arthur and Mordred go through