The Gentry Context for Malory's Morte Darthur. by Raluca Radulescu. Arthurian Studies, 45. Cambridge: D. S. brewer, 2003. Pp. viii + 165. $75.

The gentry is the social class from which came the romance writer, Sir Thomas Malory, and which served as the primary reading audience of his Morte Darthur. In this well-researched but brief study, Raluca Radulescu investigates political aspects of fifteenth-century gentry culture and applies that understanding to the sections of the Morte that treat Arthur's kingship. The book falls into five parts: an introduction; two chapters on the gentry—their political attitudes as derived from their correspondence and book ownership; and two chapters of application to Malory, centered on the themes of worship and service, lordship, and counsel and governance. Her introduction locates this study in the political crises of the reigns of Henry VI and Edward IV; it articulates the gentry's role in local politics as keepers (and breakers) of the king's peace and in national politics as counselors to the king. Radulescu's approach to Malory through the gentry's letters and books is not new, but her careful distinction of the gentry from the nobility and her steady focus on their role in politics is.

Karen Cherewatuk
St. Olaf College