Women and Witchcraft in Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur

This article considers how the theme of witchcraft within Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur can be examined alongside real examples of women accused of witchcraft in the late Middle Ages. It argues that Malory was influenced by contemporary events and his work includes references his audience could associate with. These real witchcraft accusations were made by influential men against women in order to indirectly attack their male political enemies. Reading of both Malory’s fictional accounts and the records of actual trials enriches our understanding of how accusations of witchcraft came to be politically important in fifteenth-century England.