Editing Round Table (section)

==Legend==
{{see also|Knights of the Round Table}}

The Round Table first appeared in [[Wace]]'s ''[[Roman de Brut]]'', a [[Norman language]] adaptation of Geoffrey's ''Historia'' finished in 1155. Wace says Arthur created the Round Table to prevent quarrels among his barons, none of whom would accept a lower place than the others.<ref name="NAE">Kibler, William W. (1991). "Round Table." In [[Norris J. Lacy|Lacy, Norris J.]] (Ed.), ''The New Arthurian Encyclopaedia'', p. 391. New York: Garland. {{ISBN|0-8240-4377-4}}.</ref> [[Layamon]] added to the story when he adapted Wace's work into the [[Middle English]] ''[[Brut (Layamon)|Brut]]'' in the early 13th century, saying that the quarrel between Arthur's vassals led to violence at a [[Yule|Yuletide]] feast. In response, a [[Cornwall|Cornish]] carpenter built an enormous but easily transportable Round Table to prevent further dispute.<ref name="NAE" /> 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.<ref name="NAE" /> There is some similarity between the chroniclers' description of the Round Table and a custom recorded in Celtic stories, in which warriors sit in a circle around the king or lead warrior, in some cases feuding over the order of precedence as in Layamon.<ref name="NAE" /> 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.<ref>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, pp. 721–44.</ref>

[[File:Apparition saint graal.jpg|thumb|left|300px|King Arthur's knights, gathered at the Round Table, see a vision of the [[Holy Grail]]. From a manuscript of ''Lancelot and the Holy Grail'' (c. 1406)]]

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 (Robert de Boron poem)|Merlin]]'', written around 1200, the magician [[Merlin]] creates the Round Table in imitation of the table of the [[Last Supper]] and of [[Joseph of Arimathea]]'s [[Holy Grail|Grail]] Table. Made of silver, the Grail Table was used by the followers of Arimathea after he created it as directed by a vision of Christ,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bybtr90cGbcC&pg=PA79|title=The Cambridge History of French Literature |isbn=9780521897860|last1=Burgwinkle|first1=William|last2=Hammond|first2=Nicholas|last3=Wilson|first3=Emma|date=24 February 2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> and was taken by him to [[Avalon]] (later identified with [[Glastonbury Tor]], but this connection was not mentioned by Robert<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.matterofbritain.com/htmlpages/legendliterature2.html|title=King Arthur: Literature of the Legends--Robert de Boron|website=www.matterofbritain.com}}</ref>). This version of the Round 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 Iscariot|Judas]]; this seat, must remain empty until the coming of the knight who will achieve the Grail. The Didot ''Perceval'', a prose continuation of Robert's work, takes up the story as the knight [[Perceval]] sits in the seat and initiates the Grail quest.<ref name="NAE"/>

[[File:Sir Galahad is Brought to the Court of King Arthur.png|thumb|"Sir Galahad is brought to the court of King Arthur", [[Walter Crane]]'s illustration for ''King Arthur's Knights'', abridged from ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' by [[Henry Gilbert (author)|Henry Gilbert]] (1911)]]

The prose cycles of the 13th century, the [[Lancelot-Grail]] (Vulgate) Cycle and the [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]], further adapt the chivalric attributes of the Round Table but make it and its fellowship much larger, with many more seats and usually dozens of members at any given time. 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.<ref name="NAE"/> 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 like ''[[La Tavola Ritonda]]'' (''The Round Table'') often distinguish between the knights of the "Old Table" of Uther's time and those of Arthur's "New Table".<ref>Hoffman, Donald L. (1991). "Tavola Ritonda." In [[Norris J. Lacy|Lacy, Norris J.]] (Ed.), ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia'', p. 444. New York: Garland. {{ISBN|0-8240-4377-4}}. </ref> In the Post-Vulgate, the Table is eventually destroyed by [[Mark of Cornwall|King Mark]] during his invasion of [[Logres]] after the deaths of Arthur and almost all of the Knights, many of whom in fact had killed each other, especially in internal conflicts at the end of the cycle. {{clear left}}