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    The Knights of the Round Table
    The Knights of the Round Table
    The Knights of the Round Table
    Ebook158 pages1 hour

    The Knights of the Round Table

    By Daniel Mersey and Alan Lathwell

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    The Knights of the Round Table were the original knights in shining armour, and this book is for anyone who is interested in fantastical tales of bravery or the actual history behind the stories. In medieval Arthurian tradition, Arthur often takes a back seat in the most exciting stories, appearing at the beginning and end of each to set the scene and conclude the tale. The central character is instead one of the Knights of the Round Table, each of whom is confronted with a wide variety of challenges and quests ranging from fighting monstrous creatures and rescuing damsels in distress to coping with courtly love and intrigue. Although Arthur is the best-known character from these stories his key knights – including Lancelot, Gawain, Perceval, and Tristan – are almost equally well known. This volume provides a collection of the most famous and interesting tales of the Knights of the Round Table, including the historical and literary background to the stories.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateJan 20, 2015
    ISBN9781472806185
    The Knights of the Round Table
    Author

    Daniel Mersey

    Daniel Mersey has spent more than three decades leading miniature armies to spectacular defeat on tabletop battlefields. He has won no medals and his armies will never salute him. Daniel has been writing books, gaming articles, and rulesets since the 1990s. His rulebooks for Osprey Publishing include two Origins Award-nominated titles, Lion Rampant and Dragon Rampant, and the UK Games Expo Judges' Award-winning Rebels and Patriots (with Michael Leck). In 2021, Daniel was appointed as the University of Edinburgh's first ever Games Designer in Residence.

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      Book preview

      The Knights of the Round Table - Daniel Mersey

      INTRODUCTION

      In a magical, timeless land named Logres – now known as the British Isles – the brave Knights of the Round Table served Arthur, the great king of legend and folklore. Questing far and wide across the land, these armoured warriors upheld the king’s chivalric values, righted wrongs, and maintained law and order. Together these knights formed the Order of the Round Table: an elite band of warriors from Logres and overseas.

      The Round Table symbolized Arthur’s desire for equality and fairness: although the knights seated at the table were proud and privileged warriors serving a powerful king, there was no head or foot of the table and therefore it lacked hierarchy and symbolized something other than the feudal system of lords and vassals. The 12th century writer Robert Wace explained that Arthur used this table to placate the nobles who served him, as none would agree to sit at a humbler place than his peers. The number of knights seated at the Round Table varies according to storyteller; most often 150 or 300 seats were at the table, although Robert de Boron placed just 50 knights around it and Layamon claimed 1,600 (at what would presumably be the world’s largest piece of furniture). Arthur’s Round Table was located at his court and castle of Camelot. Its first written appearance in Arthurian legend was in Wace’s Roman de Brut (completed 1155), which was an adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s earlier Historia Regum Britanniae. Wace noted that the Round Table was not his own invention, but originated in an earlier tale from Brittany.

      Some of Arthur’s knights had weaknesses and on occasion they would fail dramatically, yet none lacked bravery. Many of the stories about Arthur’s knights highlight the perils of ill-chosen action as much as they celebrate good deeds, and as such they informed a real-life code of honour for medieval nobles and set the standards by which chivalry was to be judged.

      Although King Arthur was introduced as a key character in medieval literature by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the early 12th century, the most influential works about Arthur’s knights were written by Chrétien de Troyes later in the same century, and by Sir Thomas Malory in the 15th century. Many other deeds of the Round Table evolved across Europe and although the origins sit squarely in medieval England and France, adventures from other countries are interweaved and popular embellishments were made by 19thand 20th-century authors. My own retellings are inspired by sources as varied as modern films and Victorian children’s books in addition to the original medieval stories: every writer of Arthurian lore adds their own ornamentation. Inevitably the narrative in a book of this length cannot furnish each story in its entirety: a bibliography of scholarly and at times challenging works of medieval and later literature which tell the whole story may be found at the end of this book.

      Lancelot slays a dragon; many of Arthur’s knights fought and overcame such creatures including Yvain and Tristan. By Arthur Rackham from Alfred W Pollard’s The Romance of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table (1910). (Alamy)

      The chapters in this book describe a diverse selection of the adventures of Arthur’s knights from his coronation, through his ascendancy, and up to the appearance of the Holy Grail. Many of the later deeds of the Knights of the Round Table are far darker and relate to the arduous quest for the Grail and the eventual downfall of Arthur. As a consequence, the Grail Quest’s most famous knights – including Galahad, Perceval, and Bors – are not principal characters in this book. Arthur’s rise to power and kingship, alongside his place in Celtic folklore and post-Roman British history are covered in my companion volume (Myths & Legends 4: King Arthur).

      The Knights of the Round Table have evolved into an integral part of Western culture, remaining popular in fields so diverse as stories for children, as the setting for television series and movies, and as a building block of modern fantasy roleplaying and computer games. The legend of Arthur and his knights lives on and reinvents itself for new audiences time and time again.

      AN ARTHURIAN LITERARY TIMELINE

      Stories of the Knights of the Round Table were told first by English and French writers between the 12th and 15th centuries; even today, most books of Arthurian fiction draw inspiration from these and are little changed from the originals. Below is a list of some of the most influential works of Arthurian legend dating back to the 12th century AD.

      PROLOGUE: THE ORDER OF THE ROUND TABLE

      In the old days of Logres, those days of knights and dragons, the Britons fought between themselves in a bloody civil war. The many and petty kings of the island each desired the title of Pendragon: the High King.

      A noble named Uther eventually hacked a clear path to become Pendragon with the help of the powerful wizard Merlin; after Uther’s death a boy named Arthur was revealed as his secret son, the boy proving his right to rule by pulling a magical sword from a stone. King Arthur fought many battles to secure his throne, gathering a growing band of loyal knights to fight alongside him. When the wars were won, Arthur proved to be an honourable and fair ruler and yet more knights and kings flocked to his castle of Camelot to serve him.

      When Arthur married his graceful queen Guinevere, the wedding present from her father King Leodegrance was the Round Table. This oaken slab symbolized the democracy that Arthur staunchly upheld: no knight would sit at the head of this table – not even the king himself – and every seat was of equal worth.

      Around this table at the royal court of Camelot, Arthur gathered his most loyal and skilful warriors; at this emblematic table, alongside Guinevere and Merlin, Arthur acted in the best interests of his people and his realm, seeking advice and receiving support from those seated with him. These knights became members of Arthur’s Order of the Round Table, dedicated to upholding his laws and acting with honour and chivalry above all other desires.

      Arthur urged his warriors to venture out on quests to right wrongs, defeat fantastical monsters, and defend the kingdom… armed with shield and lance, war-horse and armour, they became known as The Knights of the Round Table.

      THE FIRST QUEST OF THE ROUND TABLE

      The marriage of King Arthur Pendragon and Guinevere was a grand spectacle attended by the great and good of all Logres. Arthur’s knights were in high spirits as the king knighted more young warriors on his wedding day: among them were Arthur’s nephew Gawain and Tor, the son of Arthur’s ally King Pellinor. The people of Camelot were equally joyous, wonder spreading at the beauty and grace that was Guinevere. Even Merlin, sorcerer to the

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