Round Table

The Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around
The Round Table
which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying
that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155
by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of Arthur's fabulous retinue. The
symbolism of the Round Table developed over time; by the close of the 12th century
it had come to represent the chivalric order associated with Arthur's court, the
Knights of the Round Table.

Contents
Evrard d'Espinques's painting of
History King Arthur presiding at the Round
Later development Table with his Knights (1470)
Round Table tournaments Plot element from Arthurian
Winchester Round Table
legend
See also
First appearance Roman de
References
Brut (1115)
Bibliography
Created by Wace
External links
Genre Chivalric
romance

History In-story information

Type Fictional table
The Round Table first appeared in Wace's Roman de Brut, a Norman language
adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae finished in 1155. Element of stories King Arthur
Wace says Arthur created the Round Table to prevent quarrels among his barons, featuring
none of whom would accept a lower place than the others.[1] Layamon added to the
story when he adapted Wace's work into the Middle English Brut in the early 13th century, saying that the quarrel between Arthur's
vassals led to violence at a Yuletide feast. In response a Cornish carpenter built an enormous but easily transportable Round Table to
prevent further dispute.[1] Wace claims he was not the source of the Round Table; both he and Layamon credited it instead to the
Bretons. Some scholars have doubted this claim, while others believe it may be true.[1] There is some similarity between the
chroniclers' description of the Round Table and a custom recorded in Celtic stories, in which warrio
rs sit in a circle around the king or
lead warrior, in some cases feuding over the order of precedence as in Layamon.[1] There is a possibility that Wace, contrary to his
own claims, derived Arthur's round table not from any Breton source, but rather from medieval biographies of Charlemagne—
notably Einhard's Vita Caroli and Notker the Stammerer's De Carolo Magno—in which the king is said to have possessed a round
table decorated with a map of Rome.[2]

Though the Round Table itself is not mentioned until Wace, the concept of Arthur having a marvelous court made up of many
prominent warriors is much older. Geoffrey of Monmouth says that after establishing peace throughout Britain, Arthur "increased his
personal entourage by inviting very distinguished men from far-distant kingdoms to join it."[3] The code of chivalry so important in
later romance figures in as well, as Geoffrey says Arthur established "such a code of courtliness in his household that he inspired
peoples living far away to imitate him."[3] Long before Geoffrey, Arthur's court was well known to Welsh storytellers; in the romance
Culhwch and Olwen, written around 1100, the protagonist Culhwch invokes the names of 225 individuals affiliated with Arthur.[4] In
fact, the fame of Arthur's entourage became so prominent in Welsh tradition that in the later additions to the Welsh Triads, the
formula tying named individuals to "Arthur's Court" in the triad titles began to supersede the older "Island of Britain" formula.[5]
Though the code of chivalry crucial to later continental romances dealing with the Round Table is mostly absent from the earlier
Welsh material, some passages of Culhwch and Olwen seem to prefigure it, for instance when Arthur explains the ethos of his court,
saying "[w]e are nobles as long as we are sought out: the greater the bounty we may give, the greater our nobility, fame and
honour."[6]

Though no Round Table appears in the early Welsh texts, Arthur is associated with various items of household furniture. The earliest
of these is Saint Carannog's mystical floating altar in that saint's 12th century Vita; in the story Arthur has found the altar and
attempts unsuccessfully to use it for a table, and returns it to Carannog in exchange for the saint ridding the land of a meddlesome
dragon.[7] Arthur's household furniture figures into local topographical folklore throughout Britain as early as the early 12th century,
with various landmarks being named "Arthur's Seat", "Arthur's Oven", and "Arthur's Bed-chamber".[8] A henge at Eamont Bridge
near Penrith, Cumbria is known as "King Arthur's Round Table".[9] The still-visible Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon has been
associated with the Round Table.[10] and has been suggested as a possible source for the legend.
[11]

In 2010, following archaeological discoveries at the Roman ruins in Chester, some writers suggested that the Chester Roman
Amphitheatre was the true prototype of the Round Table[12] but the English Heritage Commission, acting as consultants to a History
.[13]
Channel documentary in which the claim was made, declared that there was no archaeological basis to the story

Later development
The Round Table takes on new dimensions in the romances of the late 12th and early 13th century, where it becomes a symbol of the
famed order of chivalry which flourishes under Arthur. In Robert de Boron's Merlin, written around the 1190s, the wizard Merlin
creates the Round Table in imitation of the table of the Last Supper and of Joseph of Arimathea's Holy Grail table. This table, here
made for Arthur's father Uther Pendragon rather than Arthur himself, has twelve seats and one empty place to mark the betrayal of
Judas. This seat must remain empty until the coming of the knight who will achieve the Grail. The Didot Perceval, a prose
, and the knight Percival sits in the seat and initiates the Grail quest.[1]
continuation of Robert's work, takes up the story

The prose cycles of the 13th century, the Lancelot-Grail cycle and the Post-Vulgate Cycle, further adapt the chivalric attributes of the
Round Table. Here it is the perfect knight Galahad, rather than Percival, who assumes the empty seat, now called the Siege Perilous.
Galahad's arrival marks the start of the Grail quest as well as the end of the Arthurian era.[1] In these works the Round Table is kept
by King Leodegrance of Cameliard after Uther's death; Arthur inherits it when he marries Leodegrance's daughter Guinevere. Other
versions treat the Round Table differently, for instance Arthurian works from Italy often distinguish between the "Old Table" of
Uther's time and Arthur's "New Table."[14]

Round Table tournaments

During the Middle Ages, festivals called Round Tables were celebrated throughout Europe in imitation of Arthur's court. These
events featured jousting, dancing, and feasting, and in some cases attending knights assumed the identities of Arthur's entourage.[15]
The earliest of these was held in Cyprus in 1223 to celebrate a knighting. Round Tables were popular in various European countries
through the rest of the Middle Ages and were at times very elaborate; René of Anjou even erected an Arthurian castle for his 1446
Round Table.[15] On December 19, 1566, Mary, Queen of Scots gave a feast in Stirling Castle with 30 guests at an imagined replica
of Arthur's table during themasque-themed celebrations of thebaptism of the future James VI.[16][17]

Winchester Round Table

The artifact known as the "Winchester Round Table", a large tabletop hanging in Winchester Castle bearing the names of various
knights of Arthur's court, was probably created for a Round Table tournament.[18] The current paintwork is late; it was done by order
of Henry VIII of England for Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's 1522 state visit, and depicts Henry himself sitting in Arthur's seat
above a Tudor rose. The table itself is considerably older; dendrochronology calculates the date of construction to 1250–1280—
during the reign of Edward I—using timber from store felled over a period of years.[19] Edward was an Arthurian enthusiast who
attended at least five Round Tables and hosted one himself in 1299, which may have been the occasion for the creation of the
[18]
Winchester Round Table.[18] Martin Biddle, from an examination of Edward's
financial accounts, links it instead with a tournament Edward held near Winchester
[20]
on April 20, 1290, to mark the betrothal of one of his daughters.

Media related to Round Table of Winchester at Wikimedia Commons

See also
Knights of the Round Table The Winchester Round Table
List of Arthurian characters

References
1. Kibler, William W. (1991). "Round Table." In Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopaedia, p. 391. New
York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
2. Walters, Lori J., "Re-examining Wace's Round Table", in: Keith Busby, Christopher Kleinhenz (eds.), Courtly arts and
the art of courtliness, DS Brewer, 2006, p. 721-744.
3. Geoffrey, p. 222.
4. Padel, p. 17.
5. Bromwich, p. lxvii.
6. Padel, p. 21.
7. Padel, p. 42.
8. Padel, p. 102.
9. Thomas, pp. 428–429.
10. Ottaway, Patrick; Michael Cyprien (1987).A traveller's guide to Roman Britain(https://books.google.com/books?id=
MtkOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA35&dq=caerleon+%22round+table%22#v=onepage&q=%20%20%22round%20table%22&f
=false). Historical Times. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-918678-19-5.
11. Castleden, Rodney (1999).King Arthur: The Truth Behind the Legend(https://books.google.com/books?id=F28cAoR
ntJwC&pg=PA148&dq=caerleon+%22round+table%22#v=onepage&q=caerleon%20%22round%20table%22&f=fals
e). Routledge. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-415-19575-1.
12. Evans, Martin (July 11, 2010)."Historians locate King Arthur's Round Table" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne
ws/7883874/Historians-locate-King-Arthurs-Round-T able.html). www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
13. Pitts, Mike (November 2010). "Britain in Archaeology".British Archaeology. York, England: Council for British
Archaeology (115): 8. ISSN 1357-4442 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1357-4442). "The claims...have no basis
whatever in the archaeological evidence"
14. Hoffman, Donald L. (1991). "Tavola Ritonda." In Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, p. 444. New
York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
15. Lacy, Norris J. (1991). "Round Tables." In Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, p. 391. New York:
Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
16. Stevenson, Joseph, ed.,The History of Mary Stewart by Claude Nau, (1883), pp.cxlviii-cl, from [British Library]
Sloane Mss. 3199 fol.264 and Ashmole. Mss. 840 fol.99
17. Warnicke, Retha M. Mary Queen of Scots. Abingdon, England: Routledge. p. 133.ISBN 978-0-415-29182-8.
18. Ashe, Geoffrey (1991). "Winchester." In Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, pp. 518–519. New
York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
19. Biddle, Martin (2000). King Arthur's Round Table: an archaeological investigation. Woodbridge, England: Boydell and
Brewer. p. 182. ISBN 0-85115-626-6..
20. Biddle (2000: 361–392)

Bibliography
 Bromwich, Rachel (2006). Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain. University Of Wales Press.
ISBN 0-7083-1386-8.
Geoffrey of Monmouth; Thorpe, Lewis (1988). The History of the Kings of Britain. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-
044170-0.
Lacy, Norris J. (ed.) (1991). The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
Loomis, Roger S. (1959). "Arthurian Influence on Sport and Spectacle".Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages.
Oxford.
Padel, O. J. (2000). Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature. University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1689-1.
Rouse, Robert; and Cory Rushton (2005).The Medieval Quest for Arthur. Tempus, Stroud. ISBN 0-7524-3343-1.
Thomas, Charles (1953). "Folklore from a Northern Henge Monument". Folklore. 64 (3): 427–429.
doi:10.1080/0015587x.1953.9717383. JSTOR 1256826.

External links
Timeless Myths - Knights of the Round T
able
The 14th Century Round Table in Winchester, Hampshire, UK

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Round_T

able&oldid=844660759"

This page was last edited on 6 June 2018, at 08:39(UTC).

Text is available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of theWikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.