deliverance and when I am dead, I pray you all pray for my soul. For this book was ended the ninth year of the reign of King Edward the Fourth by Sir Thomas Maleore, knight, as Jesu help him for his great might, as he is the servant of Jesu both day and night." With the exception of the first sentence of the final colophon, all the above references to Thomas Malory as a knight are, grammatically speaking, in the third person singular, which leaves open the possibility that they were added by a copyist, either in Caxton's workshop or elsewhere. However, scholarly consensus is that these references to knighthood refer to a real person and that that person is the author of Le Morte d'Arthur. The author was educated, as some of his material "was drawn out of the French," which suggests a degree of French fluency indicating that he might have been from a wealthy family. A claimant's age must also fit the time of writing. Candidates Since the late 19th century there has been a great deal of scholarly research into the identity of Sir Thomas Malory, author of Le Morte d'Arthur. As detailed below, the earliest modern investigations suggested that Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel was the only Thomas Malory living in 15th century England who was a knight. However, the apparently great age of this candidate at the time of the work's completion has always been a source of contention. In the early 20th century, scholarly revelations of this candidate's extensive criminal record and multiple imprisonments threw further doubt on the matter because of a perceived discordance with the chivalric ideals espoused in Le Morte d'Arthur. The discovery of the Winchester Manuscript in 1934 revealed that the author was in prison at the time of writing; this has generally been taken to support the candidate from Newbold Revel, though the support is ambiguous because that candidate's extensive prison record does not actually include the time of writing. These tensions have inspired scholars to propose alternative identities; most notably, Thomas Malory of Papworth St. Agnes and Thomas Malory of Hutton Conyers. Both are much less attested in the documentary record than the candidate from Newbold Revel. As described in detail below: neither is clearly recorded as having been a knight, but both come from knightly families and could plausibly have been knighted. Both seem to