Very little is known about Sir Thomas Malory (c.1405–1471). Although he seems to have led a quiet life in his younger years, he began having trouble with the law in 1451. He was arrested for attacking a religious house, then faced further charges for escaping from prison and for other crimes. By some accounts, Malory spent most of his life after 1451 in prison. During this time, the War of the Roses (1455–1485) raged in England, and Malory's involvement in an unsuccessful revolt against Edward IV landed him in prison again in 1468. Malory was definitely in prison when he completed the manuscript for Le Morte d'Arthur around 1469. He died two years later, while still in prison.

The Arthurian romances of thirteenth-century France greatly influenced Malory's work. He translated these prose narratives into English and used them as the basis of his romantic masterpiece, Le Morte d'Arthur. Unlike Chaucer and other English writers who wrote primarily narrative poetry, Malory was the first to master the narrative prose form.