Dear supporter,

Today I write humbly. I am writing to thank each and every one of you who has supported my translation of the Alliterative Morte Arthure (King Arthur's Death), an epic poem written anonymously in the fourteenth century. Today, the book is 100% funded. You have made this possible. This is your story too.

As with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which I also published last year (and to which many Arthur supporters also contriibuted), the poem is more than a poem. It is an allegorical work of astonishing pace, detail and power.

I have worked tirelessly to match the metre, the pace, the alliteration and the historical relevance of this magnificent work. My illustrations have also taken a different turn to reflect what I see as the true message of this poem: that pride almost always comes before a fall.

Penned somewhere in Lincolnshire/Yorkshire in the last quarter of the 14th Century, it has a unique and unusual voice which shines an altogether different light on the history of its times. While Edward III entered his dotage, the Black Prince tottered to an early death, and Richard II swung between vanity and tyranny, someone, somewhere, sat down to write this poem in a stark address to those who ruled above.

As we all know, the ultimate price of vanity is a shattered mirror. Leadership is often just one small step away from vanity; these days, the  message of this stunning work could not be more relevant.

I thank you deeply for enabling its voice to be heard again and I hope and trust that I am, in its delivery, its truest servant.

 

Michael Smith

Author, Translator, Printmaker