Buchara state university m. Bakoeva, E. Muratova, M. Ochilova english literature

with the Norman conquerors. Later in England such poets were
called minstrels and their art o f composing romances and ballads
and singing them was called the art o f minstrelsy.
A number o f romances were based on Celtic legends, especially
those about King Arthur and the knights. The heroes o f these
romances, unlike the characters of church literature, were human
beings who loved, hated and suffered. Their worship of fair ladies
motivated the plots o f the stories.
In the 15,h century Sir Thom as M alory (1395? -1471)
collected the romances about King Arthur and arranged them in a
series o f stories in prose, intelligible to any modern render. The
words in Malory’s sentences have a beauty o f movement, which
cannot escape unnoticed. The stories began with the birth of Arthur
and how he became the king, then related all the adventures of
King Arthur and his noble knights and ended in the death o f these
knights and o f Arthur himself.
The work was published in 1485 by Caxton, the first English
printer, at Westminster (London), under the title o f “Sir Thomas
Malory’s Book o f King Arthur and o f His Noble Knights o f the
Round Table”. The book was more widely known as “Morte
d’Arthur” (old French for “Death o f Arthur”).
This epic in twenty-one books reflects the evolution o f feudal
society, its ideals, beliefs and tragedies. Malory’s romance is the
most complete English version o f stories about King Arthur.
Supplem ent
The Medieval Romance
In the medieval period the term “romance” meant a long
narrative in verse or prose telling o f the adventures o f a hero.
These stories o f adventure usually include knights, ladies in distress,

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