Megan G Leitch & Kevin S Whetter 
Arthurian Literature XXXIX 
A Celebration of Elizabeth Archibald

‘Delivers fascinating material across genres, periods, and theoretical issues.’ TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT



This volume is a special issue dedicated to Professor Elizabeth Archibald, who has had such an impact on, and made so many significant contributions to, the field of Arthurian Studies. It maintains its tradition of diverse approaches to the Arthurian tradition – albeit on this occasion with a particular focus on Malory, appropriately reflecting one of Professor Archibald’s main interests.



It starts with the essay awarded this year’s D.S. Brewer Prize for a contribution by an early career scholar, which considers the little-known debt owed by early modern sailors to Arthurian knighthood and pageantry. The essays that follow begin with a wide-ranging account of manuscript decorations and annotations in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s
Historia, before turning to the Evil Custom trope in
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Further contributions explore the formalities of requests and conditions in Malory’s ”Tale of Gareth’, emotional excess and magical transformation in several scenes across the
Morte Darthur, tensions between public and private and self and identity in Malory’s ‘Sankgreal’, and friction between the (external and imposed) law and (internal and subjective but honourable) code of chivalry, especially apparent in Malory’s final Tales. The last article examines the ways in which Mordred’s origins in modern Arthurian fiction build on Malory’s false, or forgotten, promise to relate Mordred’s upbringing. The volume closes with a short tribute to Elizabeth Archibald, highlighting her leadership in the field and her encouragement of scholarly collaboration and community.

Table of Content

1. The Derek Brewer Essay Prize: Playing Arthur: Making the Elizabethan Mariner –
Felicity Brown

2. Ignoring Arthur: Patterns of (In)Attention in Manuscripts of Latin Histories –
Siân Echard

3. ‘Þe place þat ȝe prece to ful perelous is halden’: The Evil Custom in
Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight – David F. Johnson

4. ‘aske bettyr, I counseyle the’: Requests, Conditions, and Consent in Malory’s ‘Sir Gareth of Orkney’ –
Hannah Piercy

5. Supernatural Transformation in Malory’s
Le Morte Darthur – Natalie Jayne Goodison

6. Personal Piety and ‘semyng outeward’: Self and Identity in Thomas Malory’s ‘Tale of the Sankgreal’ –
Martha Claire Baldon

7. Evil Will and Shameful Death: Revisiting Law in Malory’s
Morte Darthur – Elizabeth Edwards

8. The Return of the Return of Mordred –
Cory James Rushton

About the author

ROBERT ROUSE Associate Professor, Department of English at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.