Malory, Thomas 467Further reading:David Abulafia, A Mediterranean
Emporium: The Catalan Kingdom of Majorca (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994); J. N. Hill-
garth, Readers and Books in Majorca, 1229–1550,2 vols.
(Paris: Centre national de la recherche scientifique,
1991).
Maldon, Battle of This battle inspired a vivid poem in
Old English by an unknown author not long after it
occurred in 991. According to the ANGLO-SAXONCHRONI-
CLES, Danish or Norwegian raiders descended on the
southeastern coast of ENGLAND during the reign of
ÆTHELREDII the Unready, defeated and killed the local
lord in Essex, and extracted huge sums of money as trib-
ute. This chronicle included some facts, but few about
the battle itself and the English leader killed in battle,
Bryhtnoth or Byrhtnoth. Humiliation was emphasized.
Despite King ALFRED’s earlier victories in the ninth cen-
tury, Scandinavian raiders kept returning to attack and
plunder a pathetically divided England. Incompetence,
bad judgment, and treachery marked the Anglo-Saxon
responses. The poet, may have intended his poem as
encouragement to his contemporaries to resist better
such incursions. He celebrated a noble Christian earl’s
fruitless, heroic courage against pagan raiders and
showed contempt for the cowardice and treachery of
many of the other Anglo-Saxon lords.
The poem survived in a much later transcription
from a partially destroyed manuscript. It was a presenta-
tion of the warrior ethos of a Germanic people. This
included acceptance by the lesser nobility of an obliga-
tion to serve lords during periods of war and peace. The
lords were in turn obligated to provide protection if nec-
essary, equipment for combat; clothing, ornaments, prop-
erty; and entertainment and hospitality.
Further reading:Bill Griffiths, trans., The Battle of
Maldon: Text and Translation(Pinner, England: Anglo-
Saxon Books, 1991); Donald Scragg, ed., The Battle of
Maldon, A.D. 991(Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1991).
Mali (a place of the king) The African empire of Mali
was documented from the 13th until the 17th century. It
was concentrated around the banks of the Niger River
and developed from a confederation of the Malinke peo-
ple. In 1230 they were united by Sundiata Keita and the
Mandinka, who established a strong government and
was supported by the GOLD TRADE. By the time of his
death in 1255, he had converted to ISLAM, conquered
neighboring peoples, especially those in GHANA, and had
begun to expand north into the Sahara Desert. This pro-
ject continued under his descendants, and by the 14th
century a major part of western Africa, together with the
countries of the Gambian Valley, was part of the empire
of Mali. Muslim missionaries in the meantime had
spread Islam.
During the reign of Mansa Musa I (r. ca. 1307–37),
the greatest ruler of Mali, the empire reached its greatest
power, prestige, and prosperity, especially from domi-
nating all the routes of the gold trade between black
AFRICAand the Mediterranean. Mansa Musa’s visit, with
perhaps as many as 100,000 people accompanying him,
to CAIROin 1324, on a pilgrimage to MECCA, marked
the height of his and the kingdom’s prestige, legitimiz-
ing Mali as an Islamic country for the Muslim world.
Mansa based his government on the royal Malinke clan,
served by slaves in the bureaucracy and army. His king-
dom was rich, well administered, and safe for foreign
merchants. His capital was at Niani and included TIM-
BUKTUwhere he built palaces and established schools.
His successors lacked sufficient power to maintain
unity. At the beginning of the 15th century, internal
struggles and constant rebellions weakened the state.
The revolt of two of its main cities, Gao in 1400 and
Timbuktu, in 1431, was followed by a general revolt of
northern tribes and the establishment of the SONGHAI.
This led to the disintegration of what was left of the
Mali state.
Further reading:Daniel Chu and Elliott Skinner, A
Glorious Age in Africa: The Story of Three Great African
Empires(Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1990); Pat
McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Song-
hay: Life in Medieval Africa(New York: H. Holt, 1994).malnutrition SeeFAMINE.Malory, Thomas(1414/1418–1471)author of Le Morte
d’Arthur
Little is known about Thomas Malory, except his famous
work itself. There have been nine possible candidates for
this figure. The author was called Sir Thomas Malory or
Maleore; he completed the book in prison in the ninth
year of the reign of King EDWARDIV, between March 1469
and March 1470. He was probably Sir Thomas Malory of
Newbold Revel in Warwickshire. He was born into a fam-
ily of gentry about 1415 and seemed to have had estates
in Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. He might have
served as a member of PARLIAMENT. From 1450 he was
either in prison or on the run from justice. Among a long
list of charges against him were wounding, robbing,
imprisoning, ambush with intent to murder, cattle raid-
ing, extortion, breaking into an abbey, assaulting the
abbot and stealing its property, forcible entry into houses,
rape, and escaping from custody. This Malory received a
pardon in 1455 but was soon back in prison. During the
WARS OF THEROSES, he fought first for the Yorkists, later
for the Lancastrians. This Malory seemed to have been
unscrupulous and rash, barely escaping execution. He
may have died in prison between March 12 and 14, 1471,
having not been included in the general pardons of 1468
and 1470.