How Le Morte d'Arthur drew on The Consolation of Philosophy
A documented line of influence: Thomas Malory demonstrably engaged Boethius’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
The Consolation of Philosophy
Boethius · c. 524
Ancient RomeThe influenced
Le Morte d'Arthur
Thomas Malory · 1469
RenaissanceRelevance
5/10
On Le Morte d'Arthur’s page
- Camelot rises and falls on Boethius's Wheel of Fortune — and the Consolation is where the medieval world learned to see it that way
- Read it first and Malory's fatalism clicks into place: Lancelot all but quotes Boethius on the wheel "so moveable," and Arthur dreams of being thrown from it on the eve of ruin
- The philosophy behind the doom — fortune, providence, sin redeemed — is Boethius's, standing quietly behind the swords
On The Consolation of Philosophy’s page
- Boethius popularized the Wheel of Fortune for the entire Middle Ages — and Malory hangs the whole rise and ruin of Arthur's court on it
- Lancelot quotes the Boethian wheel almost verbatim: "fortune is so variant, and the wheel so moveable, there nis none constant abiding"
- Before the last battle, Arthur dreams of being cast down from that very wheel — the Consolation's vision of fortune and providence turned into the engine of Camelot's fall