Morte Arthur: Two Early English Romances

Anonymous

Translated by Andrew Boyle

2 chapters · about 5 h

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The opening

MORTE ARTHURE

Here begins Morte Arthure in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Amen for charity’s sake. Amen.

Now may great glorious God through His own grace and the worthy prayers of His good Mother shield us from shameful deeds and sinful actions; and give us grace to so guide and govern our lives here in this unhappy world that through goodly living we may reach His Court, the Kingdom of Heaven, when our souls shall depart and be severed from our bodies, to dwell and abide for ever blissful in the presence of God himself. And may He enable me to utter words at this moment that shall be neither void nor vain, but doing honour unto God and pleasant and profitable to all folk that shall hear them.

All ye that care to listen or love to hear of men of ancient time and of their strange deeds; how they were faithful in their law and loved Almighty God, hearken unto me with favour and keep silence and I will tell you a tale both noble and true of the prince-like men of the Round Table who excelled in chivalrV and were noble chieftains in their deeds; they were wise men at arms, valiant in action, holding shame always in dread; kind men and courteous were they, learned in courtly manners; how they overcame with many honourable deeds and slew Lucius the Evil who was Lord of Rome and conquered that kingdom by craft of arms. Hearken, now to me and hear this story.

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About this edition

The words
Andrew Boyle's English translation, copied word for word.
Left out
  • Page numbers and running heads from the printed pages, in 17 places
  • The Everyman's Library series page (“EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY / EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS”) (3 blocks)
  • Notes and pages added by translators, editors or publishers, in 9 places
  • The title page and opening pages before chapter 1
  • The scanning library's number on the copy (“m 101342”)
  • A preface, foreword or afterword
  • A speck the OCR read as “i”
  • A speck the OCR read as “r”
  • Other material that isn't the author's
  • The source website's menus, layout and notices
  • A speck or stray mark the OCR read as “r”
  • A speck or stray mark the OCR read as “I I I”
  • A speck or stray mark the OCR read as “^”
  • A speck or stray mark the OCR read as “i”
  • A speck or stray mark the OCR read as “II”
  • A speck or stray mark the OCR read as “J” (2 blocks)
  • The scribe's closing line (“Explycit le morte Arthur.”), as the colophon of the first poem is left out
  • The printer's imprint (“THE TEMPLE PRESS, PRINTERS, LETCHWORTH”) and the scanning library's number (2 blocks)