Though both of these Middle English romances focus on King Arthur’s final years at war abroad, Mordred’s rebellion in his absence, and the king’s death in battle, they reveal different aspects of the medieval Arthurian legend and differ sharply in tone, style, characterization, and plot. Drawn from chronicle history, the Alliterative Morte Arthure presents Arthur as a warrior king leading from the field, and its realistic depictions of fourteenth-century warfare and besieged European cities starkly contrast with Arthurian tradition’s usual fantasy and romanticism. The Stanzaic Morte Arthur, a condensation of the episodic French romance La Mort Artu, instead centers around the discovery of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guenevere’s affair and the dissolution of Arthur’s knights into warring factions. This volume of Larry D. Benson’s groundbreaking work, revised and updated by Edward E. Foster, incorporates recent scholarship and once again makes these important poems available for teaching and research alike.
