Word: knyght
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...KNYGHT was ther, and he was war and wys Who hadde him worde from nygh apothecaries That thogh the clerkes worthy al did sem Hir lechoury hadde longe in proces been. The knyght then in a loude tonge rendred That al by lak of vertu was engendred, And he could mak swyft remedie with powre By shortenyng hir synnyng tyme an houre...
MAISTERS were ther also, nyne or tin Who knew the clerkes ech as single men, And on the knyght they turned al ful sore To aske hadde he been listing by the dore. But from afar the worthy knyght was wys And knew he well what oft hadde scape his eyes...
When it comes to the King Arthur story, a myth is as good as a mile. Just about all anyone knows of the historical Arthur is that he lived in the 6th century. Nine hundred years later, when "Syr Thomas Maleore, knyght" put together Morte d'Arthur, he was already synthesizing a well-encrusted legend, the sources of which he "dyd take oute of certeyn bookes of frensshe and reduced it in to Englysshe." Another 400 years and the parfit gentil knights in the pious allegories of Alfred Lord Tennyson startlingly resembled iron-padded Victorian cricketers, later followed...
King Arthur of Britain lived about 525 -if at all. Legend encrusted his name almost at once. Nine hundred years later the Arthurian Cycle was already decadent when "Syr Thomas Maleore Knyght" wrote his Morte d'Arthur. Another 500 years later, with Tennyson's pious allegories, Mark Twain's farce, John Erskine's sophistications, etc., King Arthur was still going strong...
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