What Arthurian sources inspired Idylls of the King?

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Lithograph portrait of Alfred, Lord Tennyson with wavy hair, a full beard, and a serious expression, shown in three-quarter view wearing a dark coat. — Alfred, Lord Tennyson Portrait of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, lithograph published in *The Modern Portrait Gallery*, 1890.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King was based largely on Sir Thomas Malory’s late 15th-century prose work, Le Morte Darthur.123

While Malory’s compilation served as the primary source, it is important to note that Malory himself had synthesized his narrative from various earlier French prose romances. Tennyson adapted these traditional legends to reflect the moral atmosphere of the Victorian era, often imbuing the source material with his own thematic concerns regarding the decline of an idealistic society.2413