Offering a new reading of Malory¿s famed text, Le Morte Darthur, this book provides the first full-length survey of the alterations Malory made to female characters in his source texts. Through detailed comparisons with both Old French and Middle English material, Siobhán M. Wyatt discusses how Malory radically altered his French and English source texts to create a gendered pattern in the reliability of speech, depicting female discourse as valuable and truthful. Malory¿s authorial crafting indicates his preference for a certain ¿type¿ of female character: self-governing, opinionated, and strong. Simultaneously, the portrayal of this very readable ¿type¿ yields characterization. While late medieval court records indicate an