Thomas Malory's Arthurian Chronicle: a study on the Legendary King and comparison with his antithetical counterpart Henry VI

Of all the mythical figures in medieval European history, King Arthur plays a role as fundamental as it is mysterious. Whether it is reality or fiction, his image has shaped the literary production of dozens of authors including high-sounding names such as Chrétien De Troyes and Thomas Malory. The latter provides for the study a profile equally shrouded in mystery and uncertainty due to homonymous and reduced official information arrived to date. Malory remains to this day, as widely expressed in the dissertation, the father of the most complete Arthurian chronicle. The analysis of the work "Le Morte d’Arthur" allowed a general overview of the life of King Arthur to provide a complete picture of the most relevant events of his legendary existence, in order to outline a precise profile to be compared with the real figure of King Henry VI. This study was carried out with the aim of answering the following question: "What led Thomas Malory to write Le Morte d’Arthur?" In this context, a chiasm has been identified and outlined in relation to the female and male figures belonging to the two families under analysis. At the final juncture of this dissertation, it seemed appropriate to conduct a survey of a sample of 200 people in order to outline the modern conception of the legend of King Arthur. The answers obtained show a summary knowledge of some crucial aspects of the legendary King’s life, but appear surprisingly detailed in the case of some questions, especially concerning the Knights of the Round Table. Through this collection of answers, it was also possible to make an analysis of the influence of media and cinema on the modern perception of the figure of King Arthur. The study of Arthur’s profile has thus enabled a heroic figure to emerge and establish itself as a model of reference and benchmark for those who dominated Europe in the following centuries, as could be analysed and outlined in any future studies.