Malory Daily @malorydaily - Tumblr Blog

Welcome to Malory Daily!

STARTING SEPTEMBER 3RD 2023.

Following in the footsteps of many other daily Substack editions, this is the companion Tumblr blog which will collect and collate resources, discussion, and thoughts on Le Morte D'Arthur.

This is a daunting project, as Le Morte D'Arthur is 21 books long, although each chapter is very short, but it's such a complex text that there will be a lot to discuss, and I hope to include an accompanying semi-academic post with each chapter on an interesting topic, ranging from critics interpretations, text/myth variations, character studies, an examination of the themes, and general analysis.

Use the tag #malorydaily for posts, discussions, thoughts, fan art of Thomas Malory, Gawain & Lancelot kissing, etc,

The Substack

September 2023 timeline.

Full timeline.

[NEW!] Gdrive of resources

Hosted by @tchaikovskyed. Feel free to send me any suggestions on how things could be improved or what you'd like to see more of.

#arthuriana #arthurian mythology #arthurian legend #medieval #arthurian literature #medieval literature #thomas malory #medievalism #king arthur #le morte d'arthur #medieval lit #malorydaily

currentlycryingaboutlancelot

crazy that merlin is like “despite the horrific circumstances of my birth, I choose to reject the evil destiny expected of me and instead to live an upright life” then proceeds to lead like, the most evil life imaginable

irregularjohnnywiggins

Merlin: Henceforth and from hereon, I shall be a good, honest, upstanding Christian.

Also Merlin: *Has no idea what any of that means.*

Every single post until the end is queued now, so we shouldn't have any interruptions for the last 3 books. We're really close to the end!

Book 19: starting Feb 11

Book 20: starting March 1

Book 21: starting April 1

#malorydaily

Hi, I seem not to have received chapter in February yet, is it me or is something wrong?

Not at all! I had to take a quick unscheduled break to catch up with queuing the upcoming chapters to avoid more breaks in the future, we are starting again in 2 days, on the 11th of Feb!!!

#malorydaily #guys surely there has to be an easier way to queue these things #like i feel like i am not doing it efficiently enough

a-funeral-pyre

I forgot that "Lancelot gets shot in the ass" is a part of the plot

Hey there! I wanted to thank you for starting this readalong :) It's not a book I would have tackled by myself, it felt too archaic and complex to be "for me" but your project made it seem doable and even fun! I followed along with the daily emails for maybe 3 months, then (literally) lost the plot and realized short daily snippets weren't working for me. After a break, I picked the book up again this fall to read in longer sessions. I really found myself getting dragged in, got into the flow of the language, and enjoyed myself more than I had thought possible! Finished the book on New Year's Eve and I never would have done that if you hadn't started Malory Daily. Thank you so much!

hey if I have even managed to get one more person reading Le Morte D'Arthur, I consider this project a success. congratulations on finishing the book!!!!

#malorydaily #as for the rest of us we still have a long way to go

Hey guys -- the next book will be a little late to start because I'm unfortunately quite ill at the moment :( see you on Jan 5th!

#malorydaily

fuckyeaharthuriana

Arthur's different genealogies from the book "Heroes of the Round Table" by Mike Dixon-Kennedy.

we will return on the first of December... it's the beginning of the end yall

#malorydaily

gymnopedie

so frustrated with the goings-on in the last few chapters of book 11 of le morte d’arthur! honestly, poor sir launcelot

he’s tricked into bedding dame elaine via witchcraft (because she takes on the visage of queen guenever, and the fact that that successfully gets launcelot to sleep with her still astounds me given that guenever is wedded to arthur… the prevalence of non-monogamy in these stories is very surprising to me), and when launcelot comes-to he’s very ashamed of himself and is rebuked by queen guenever (which on the one hand i understand but also, like, he was magicked)

and then sir launcelot gets tricked again by elaine’s handmaiden brisen, comes-to, goes to talk to guenever, is severely rebuked by her to the point of self-defenestration, and then dame elaine has the audacity to claim to sir bors, “I said never nor did never thing that should in any wise displease him” (chapter 9) and blame guenever’s rebuke for launcelot’s madness and disappearance??? pretty sure launcelot was very much displeased to realize he was tricked into laying with elaine!!!

the man literally can’t catch a break

i don’t know much about sociocultural expectations at the time of le morte, but i know that knights sometimes had unrealistic (by today’s standards) expectations placed upon them… but i just can’t understand why sir launcelot is considered to be so spiritually lacking (chapter 6) for laying with dame elaine while under a spell, or why queen guenever is blamed so heavily for launcelot’s disappearance, and i seriously don’t understand why dame elaine and dame brisen don’t receive any rebukes other than from guenever, particularly when “witchcraft/spellcraft/magic is bad” has sort of been a running theme throughout the books (unless i’m misremembering)…?

these are genuine questions by the way, so if anyone is able to answer them i’d appreciate it!

tiodolma

I like to think that the dame brisen/elaine lancelot was a rehash of the whole merlin/uther/ygraine scenario.

The reason why dame brisen and lady elaine aren't rebuked is because the child conceived was a prophesied big deal holy child who will fulfill the grail quest, galahad.

It's all about who gets to be born. For merlin/uther/ygrain, the golden kid was arthur.

Same thing happened to robert de boron!merlin enchanting king ban and a princess (who's dad was an ally of arthur) to have sex with each against their wills so that ector de maris would be born (since he was going to be one of the top knights in the future)

The actions to get that golden prophesied kid being conceived isn't considered an evil deed no matter how nonconsensual it is as long as the child is essential for the "Greater good" (no matter what that means)

amashelle

Yes.

Also, the ladies aren’t punished because, though the narrative specifies sorcery, the idea that all women are either seductresses or nuns is a common medieval thought. Writers are often trying to balance the idea that the best life is a celibate life with the fact that celibacy does nothing to replenish the human race. Adding the witchcraft is meant to be more a testament to Lancelot’s morality than a condemnation of the ladies: mere seduction would not have been enough to get him to break chastity, while women are always tricking men into wanting them and doing bad things to them (we STILL see this in modern rape culture: it’s always the woman’s fault when a man gives in to sexual urges).

My understanding, and maybe I’m the one misremembering now, is that Lancelot was not denied the grail because of the date-rape sex but be because, despite his desire to serve God and find the grail, his desire for Guenever was greater. That is, he continued to entertain lustful thoughts for the queen and could not forsake them in favour of being celibate in body as well as mind (the whole ‘whosoever looketh upon a woman in lust has already committed adultery with her in nis mind’ thing).

#!!!!!

Chapters seem not to have been sent for the last two days. Is it me or is there some kind of unscheduled break?

queue ran out and I didn't notice :( thanks for letting me know!!! We will get back to Malory today

#malorydaily

Happy 1 year of Malory Daily! Thanks to everyone who has read & is still reading. We still have a little way to go until the end of the book so stay tuned for more knightly adventures...

#malorydaily

currentlycryingaboutlancelot

You know how you mentioned damsels in distress in medieval times? I’m just wondering if you have any interesting examples

i’m assuming you’re asking about the “damsels causing distress” in medieval literature post that I made and yeah for sure! the one that comes to mind first is meleagant’s sister in knight of the cart by chretien de troyes. it’s a 12th century poem (like a long poem, roughly 7000 lines). lancelot gets kidnapped by a knight named meleagant and is lamenting his horrible fate in a tower, crying and sobbing and very much unable to do anything to get out. all the sudden meleagant’s sister rolls up with a pickax to break him out—she owed him a favor (after he cut off a guy’s head at her request earlier in the poem) and I guess is not on good terms with her brother. she creates a pulley contraption I think to get the pickax to him and he’s able to break the tower enough to escape. I think this instance is funny because it is so reverse damsel in distress (the knight being the helpless one in the tower) but yeah this poem has both the “sever this man’s head for me please” thing that comes up a lot in arthurian lit and her kind of playing the role of a knight.

the requests for severing men’s heads comes up TONS in the 15th century book le morte d’arthur by thomas malory, particularly at the beginning of the book. in the story of balin and balan, a knight named balin draws this lady’s sword that can only be drawn by a worthy knight, then leaves to go questing. two minutes later another lady shows up and says hi king arthur can you please please please grant me a gift please just a little gift? and he’s like ok sure. and she says great, either give me the head of sir balin or the lady who was here with the sword. arthur takes back his offer (understandably) although balin ends up beheading her (because apparently she killed balin’s mom, so also a lot going on with this lady). about two chapters later we switch to the quest of sir tor. he meets a beautiful young lady who is like hi sir knight can you please please please do me a little favor please could you? and he says sure and you guessed it—the favor is to behead a knight she doesn’t like (the knight killed her brother). this happens a LOT but these are the two examples I remembered. there are very often damsels riding around camelot seeking bloodshed for their grievances and causing distress. the knights never see it coming too lmao. every time they promise whatever she wants and then are like like “damn I think I’m gonna have to kill this guy”

#recommendations