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The Round Table was first mentioned by
Robert Wace in
1155 in his book Roman de Brut, who regarded the table as
not merely a physical table but also a code of the highest
order of chivalry.
In this story,
King Arthur introduced the Round Table to his
knights because it meant that they were all equal in their standing with
the king and with one another for a round table had no head.
Robert Wace's French is still understandable to
us today, though it has much of the succinctness of Latin.
Pur les nobles baruns
qu’il out,
Dunt chescuns mieldre
estre quidout,
Chescuns se teneit al
meillur,
Ne nuls n’en saveit le
peiur,
Fist Arthur la Roünde
Table
Dunt Bretun dient
mainte fable.
Illuec seeient li
vassal
Tuit chevalment e tuit
egal;
A la table egalment
seeient
E egalment servi
esteient;
Nul d’els ne se poeit
vanter
Qu’il seïst plus halt
de sun per.
For the noble barons (or
lords) that he had around him,
Each of whom considered
himself the best,
And of whom no one could
have said who was the least,
Arthur created the Round
Table,
About which the Britons
(or Bretons) tell many stories.
The
vassals (or nobles) used to sit at it,
All at
favoured places, and all equal;
They
were seated at the table as equals,
And were
served their food as equals;
None of
them could boast that he had a seat
Which was of
higher dignity than his friend.
The English poet
Layamon expands, in his own version of Roman de Brut, on
Robert Wace’s
account of the Round Table. Layamon was from around Worcester, and his
version is a Middle English translation of Robert Wace. He relates that,
hearing of a brawl that broke out at
King Arthur’s court during a meal, a
Cornish craftsman offered to make a Round Table at which 1600 warriors
could be seated and which King Arthur could take with him when he travelled.
In later literature
the origin of the Round Table is ascribed to Merlin. In
Robert de
Boron’s Merlin of about 1200 AD, those who sit at it are seen as
members of a chivalric fellowship of equals; but one seat is said to
remain empty until it is filled by a knight greater than all other
knights. He will be the one who will win the
Quest for the Holy Grail.
This seat became known as the Siege Perilous.
Inspired by such
literature, enormous festival developed, which were known as Round
Tables, in which knights jousted and fought in combat in homage to
King Arthur and his knights. The whole medieval image we have of King Arthur
began in this period, when lords of the day sort to imitate the honour
and ideals of the Knights of the Round Table.
The
first of such tournaments was held in 1223 in
Cyprus, and they became increasingly popular throughout Europe in the
Middle Ages. In England they are recorded as taking place at least eight
times between 1242 and 1345. Even Edward III pledged to re-establish the
fellowship of the Round Table. The famous Round Table in the Great Hall
of Winchester Castle is now dated to around 1275, and was probably
created for one of these grand tournaments.
According to the Vulgate Cycle, the
Round Table was made by
and originally belonged to Uther Pendragon, who then made it the
property of King Leodegrance of Cameliard. When Leodegrance's daughter,
Guinevere,
married King Arthur, it was given to him as a wedding gift.
The
Knights sat
around the Round Table to show that each and every one belonged to a
fellowship of warrior Christian brothers.
Thomas Malory states that
their chivalrous code told the knights not to murder; to be merciful; to
be loyal to their king; to respect ladies and widows; to not crave
worldly-riches; to fight for their lands and country; to
protect
one another with one's life; to seek honour; and to worship God. The
most famous seat was the 'Siege Perilous,'
which had been placed there by Merlin as an aspiration for those who would be the most
pure of knights.
The number of knights which the table could seat is
highly disputed. Anything for over about twenty-five sitters would be
quite unwieldy. This is the number of places set on the well-known
Winchester Round Table and this is eighteen feet in diameter. The names
were said to have been written by Merlin in magical gold paint which
miraculously changed along with the occupants.
This famous Round Table at
Winchester Cathedral was thought by Thomas Caxton, who wrote the preface
to Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur, to be the original Table. Many round
tables, often in imitation to the original, were made, and many still
survive. King Edward III had his own round table at Windsor Castle that
was said to be 200 feet wide. In 1344 Edward III established a fellowship of the Round Table. Four years
later, the pledge was to become the Order of the Garter.
Apart from the famous Round Table on display in the great
hall of Winchester Castle, travellers around the country will find
other Round Table at various locations in Britain. There is the famous
Arthur's Round Table Stone Circle, at Mayburgh in Cumberland.
Arthur's Table, at Caerleon in Monmouthshire,
Bwrdd Arthur, at Llanddona in Anglesey,
King's Knot, at Stirling in Stirlingshire, and
Pen y Fan, near Brecon. These unusual places may all have been
ancient royal meeting places. The most intriguing is Arthur's
Table at Caerleon. This is a local name for the vast amphitheatre at the old
Roman town. Even when ruinous in King Arthur's day, this would still have formed an ideal for
place for gatherings in what is traditionally a region strong in
Arthurian legend. |
The Round Table
