Tales of King Arthur

Why it’s on the list: The Arthurian cycle as a school text — the sword, the Round Table, Lancelot and Guinevere, the Grail quest, and the collapse of the fellowship at Camlann.

Where I heard about it

• Founders Classical Academy — on the tenth-grade reading list at this classical school in Lewisville, Texas, posted by the Classic Learning Test in September 2026 as an example of what a classical curriculum assigns. It opens the medieval year, ahead of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight — the cycle first, then the single greatest poem written inside it. Full eight-year sequence: Founders Classical Academy Reading List.

About this edition

The list names no edition or author. The material runs from Geoffrey of Monmouth through Chrétien de Troyes to Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur of 1485, which is the source most retellings draw on.

Connections

• Founders Classical Academy Reading List — the curriculum this came from; 56 unique titles across 5th through 12th grade.
• Classical Education — the movement whose canon this list is.
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Thomas Malory
• Literature