ABSTRACT
The Alliterative Marte Arthure is unique among Middle English romances for its reflection of contemporary affairs. All romancers translated their supposedly ancient tales into contemporary terms and, as Shakespeare's Romans are inevitably Elizabethan, so the Arthurian knights of Middle English romance are almost all recognizably late medieval gentlemen, contemporary with their authors in manner, speech, and dress. However, in the Alliterative Marte Arthure the modernization extends even to the action, and many of the episodes seem to have been shaped, at least partially, with an eye to contemporary events. Arthur himself appears not merely as a fourteenth-century king but as a reflection of Edward III, the greatest of fourteenth-century English kings, and his successful campaign against Lucius in France is reminiscent of Edward's famous victories. Even some details of his battle with Lucius's army and his sea-fight with Mordred's fleet have been thought to have been drawn from the actual battles of Crecy and Espagnals sur mer .1 Because of such apparent resemblances to the actual details of Edward's reign, the poem is usually dated in the last years of that reign, from around 1360
This later date does not rule out the possibility that the poet may have patterned his Arthur on Edward III. Though the resemblances between Arthur and Edward are general, they are nonetheless striking.5
