Literature: Le

1. Le Morte d'Arthur

   Completed in 1470 and published by Caxton in 1485 as one of the first books to use modern printing, this fifteenth-century work by Sir Thomas Malory comprises a series of episodes from the legendary life of King Arthur. It is regarded as the first great prose work in English literature, but in actual fact only the last eight books of the series are titled Le Morte d'Arthur.

   The series omits a few of the tales, and contains many inconsistencies, particularly its multitude of women named Elaine and wounded kings. However, it still remains the main English source of the Arthurian legends and is an undoubted literary masterpiece.

   
   

2. Le Tornoiment de l'Antichrist

   A French poem by Huon de Mery that tells how he, the poet, went to an enchanted spring in Broceliande, where Bras-de-fer, the chamberlain of the Antichrist, rode up. Together they rode to the scene of a mighty battle, where the forces of Heaven, which included Arthur and his knights, were fighting the forces of Hell.