The Arthurian Book in Print: Reading the Debts and Desires of the Early Modern English Nation

William Caxton's edition of Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur , published in 1485 at the end of the Wars of the Roses, established a pattern that would continue throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: the appearance of printed Arthurian books during transitional or otherwise volatile moments in the history of the early English nation. Sustained demand for the printing of Arthurian texts across two turbulent centuries in English history suggests a widespread bond among readers, the legendary king, and the English nation.;King Arthur's recurrent role as an English cultural icon with the capacity to bridge moments of instability is variously evident in several genres: history, romance, pageantry, and drama. While the central texts under consideration in each genre-based chapter are well known in the historical and literary canons, a constellation of lesser-known and/or reprinted texts in each genre illustrates the wide reach of the Arthurian book and extends the definition of "who counts" as a formative member of the nation. Thus, this study not only acknowledges the Arthurian text's ability to satisfy the debts that writers and monarchs owed to their literary and royal predecessors; it also highlights the Arthurian book as a response to the desires of publishers and readers. The continual demand for Arthurian books ranging widely in cost and quality suggests a more varied group of contributors to forming a "nation under Arthur" than has previously been considered. This study's closing gesture reflects its wider examination of the debts and desires of the English nation: John Milton's decision to abandon his plans to write about Arthur has often been taken as evidence that Arthur had ceased to be a useful national icon by the seventeenth century. However, the appearance of Arthurian books in print well after the English Civil Wars suggests that writers' decisions to look elsewhere for icons capable of smoothing national transitions did not necessarily denote a waning interest amongst Arthur's widely-varied readership. On the contrary, the legend enjoyed a continued role in the lives of the English reading public, which never failed in its demand for Arthurian histories, romances, pageants, and plays in print.