All ye that be lovers call unto your remembrance the month of May, like as did Queen Guenever, for whom I make here a little mention, that while she lived she was a true lover, and therefore she had a good end.

This sentence comes from Sir Thomas Malory’s late-medieval Arthurian compilation, *Le Morte Darthur* (completed c. 1469–1470; first printed by William Caxton in 1485). Malory frequently addresses “ye” (the audience) in a sermonic, reflective tone, pausing the narrative to draw moral or emotional lessons from the fates of Arthur’s court. Here he invokes May—conventionally the month of love in medieval lyric and romance—and uses Queen Guinevere as an exemplum: despite the tragic consequences of courtly love in the Arthurian story, Malory frames her as a “true lover” who ultimately meets a “good end,” aligning her final repentance and withdrawal from courtly life with late-medieval ideals of penitence.

Malory’s apostrophe to “lovers” blends courtly celebration with moral retrospection. May stands for the season of desire and remembrance, but the reference to Guinevere turns that seasonal trope into a meditation on fidelity of feeling and the possibility of spiritual resolution after worldly passion. Calling her a “true lover” does not erase the narrative’s adultery and political ruin; rather, it suggests that constancy, depth of affection, and eventual penitence can coexist. The phrase “she had a good end” points to the medieval conviction that one’s final state—repentance, humility, and preparation for death—can redeem a life marked by error, making Guinevere’s conclusion exemplary for readers.