Arthur's Round Table Research Articles

Arthur pendragon Camelot evolution in merlin: A virtual fan art in the computation age

This paper inspects Arthur Pendragon Camelot evolution in Merlin, the research review on the Citadel of Camelot, Camelot Administration, Knights of Camelot, Early History of Camelot, The Intensification of The Once and Future King, Map of Camelot, and the Sovereignty of Arthur. Camelot Castle is the castle where the royal family live, and where the court is held. The citadel houses a garrison of at least 12,000 men and had never fallen in a siege before Morgause's invasion by her immortal army. It is currently the home of Guinevere Pendragon, the Queen of Camelot after her husband King Arthur Pendragon. In virtual fan art, Arthur Pendragon is shown to be a very wealthy kingdom as it offers a prize of a thousand gold coins for participation in its tournaments. Camelot is widely known for its laws banning all forms of magic and enchantments on penalty of death, usually by burning or beheading. However, the meter theater illustrates of Merlin who is Arthur's servant, secret protector, and best friend, and Gaius's ward and apprentice. Serves as an unofficial member of Arthur's Round Table and is a direct enemy of Mordred and Morgana. Waiting for Arthur to rise again. He is destined to protect Arthur so he can unite Albion under one high King.

Medieval Courtly Literature, Royal Patronage and World Harmony (III)

La musique vainc le diable, comme doit avoir dit Pythagore. Cette étude aborde le problème, pour la troisième fois déjà et à nouveau sur les traces de Stephen Jaeger, qui a défendu à ce propos aussi la thèse que bon nombre de ces principes spéculatifs tombaient dans la littérature vernaculaire. On suggère que l'harmonie cosmique est réunie à la Cour médiévale, telle que la Table Ronde d'Arthur, et que l'équilibre sous-entendu dans le concept de l'harmonie du monde se reflète. volens nolens, à la cour des rois médiévaux, princes et évèques (Jaeger, Origins of Courtliness). Une seconde analogie soutient que le concept d'harmonie cosmique correspond à la sphère sociale et humaine; comme le préconise Boethius, les humains peuvent aiguiser leur caractère en répondant convenablement à l'harmonie cosmique, conduisant ainsi à une connaissance personnelle plus profonde. Trois thèmes sont discutés: a) les buts de l'échelle de valeur de la littérature médiévale raffinée; b) l'arrière plan de la notion d'harmonie cosmique -que l'on retrouve dans la description de la Perfection, ou Homme Nouveau, une «union mystérieuse»- et qui est décrite dans deụx traités importants du douzième siècle, la Cosmographia de Bernardus Silvestris et l'Anti­claudianus de Alan of Lille. La dernière préoccupation est le but de l'harmonie du monde étant donné qu'elle suggère une fusion raffinée du divin et de l'humain, du cosmic et du social, du terrestre et du céleste, du macrocosme et du microcos­me.

There and Back Again: A Malorian Wild Man’s Tale

In Malory's Morte d'Arthur, Lancelot and Tristram form, in many ways, two sides of the same Arthurian coin. They are consistently referred to as the two best knights, and are considered to be nearly equal in terms of prowess and chivalry. Their similarities even extend to the structural parallels between their many adventures, although their actions demonstrate that they prioritize their chivalric values differently. Placed side by side, Lancelot and Tristram often present different answers to the same scenario: when faced with conflict between their knightly duties and faithfulness to courtly love, for example, Lancelot consistently chooses courtly love (and, more specifically, Guinevere) over his knightly duties, while Tristram consistently chooses his chivalric efforts over his relationship with Isode. The tension that stems from the two knights being forced to choose between two chivalric ideals results in their participation in parallel episodes in which they separate from civilization and become wild men. These wild-men episodes function as a Bakhtinian carnival and allow Tristram and Lancelot to escape the rigid confines of chivalric society and experience a temporary change in their place in the social order. Their experiences follow the traditional medieval wild-man episode type and culminate in the knights' reintegration into courtly society. This reintegration, however, does not signal a resolution of the conflict, and both Tristram and Lancelot must face the tragic consequences of their earlier choices. The carnivalesque wild-man episodes in Malory, while they affirm the world order, ultimately demonstrate that the world order itself is broken.Lancelot is well-known as the best knight of Arthur's Round Table, both by Malory scholars and by Malory's text itself;1 many scholars have also noted Tristram's resemblance to Lancelot and the narrative parallels between their many adventures.2 These similarities are not original to Malory as he borrowed his material from French sources. As Renee L. Curtis has observed, the Prose Tristan relies heavily on the Prose Lancelot, and similarities between the two should be expected.3 Since Malory borrows from both of these texts, it is not surprising that these similarities also appear in his work. While Donald Schueler agrees that Lancelot and Tristram 'should be considered correlative,'4 he also asserts that 'the whole point of Malory's comparison is that all the qualities which the two men have in common are less important than the one matter in which they differ-that is, their importance to Arthur's comitatus.5 Schueler argues that Tristram is a free agent since he does not belong to the Round Table for the majority of the tale. He is, in fact, reluctant to join and is pressured into membership by Arthur.6 Schueler claims that this free agency allows him to avoid the conflict between chivalric duty and courtly love which Lancelot repeatedly faces.7 Maureen Fries, although she rejects Schueler's conclusion, concurs that 'Malory depicts Tristram's career as contradictory to the Arthurian oath.'8 She paints a picture of Tristram as a 'counter-hero' who serves as 'a symbol of the decay of the Arthurian world from its own ideals.'9 While D. Thomas Hanks, Jr. agrees that The Book of Sir Tristram marks the beginning of the decline of Arthur's kingdom, his assessment of Sir Tristram contrasts starkly with that of Fries as he suggests that Tristram, far from being a symbol of chivalric decay, is 'Malory's chosen agent of gentility.'10 Kevin Grimm also presents Tristram as the gentlest of knights and argues that Tristram's 'jantylness' is infectious. Sir Lamerok so admires him that he begins emulating Tristram's gentility, and it subsequently spreads to other knights as well.11 In addition, Nancy H. Owen and Lewis J. Owen claim 'that Tristram himself is meant to epitomize the glory of Arthurian chivalric life in full flower seems obvious.'12Incorporating ideas from all of these sources, this study explores the idea that Tristram and Lancelot represent both the best and worst of Arthurian society. …

Malory’s Anatomy of Chivalry: Characterization in the Morte Darthur by Paul R. Rovang (review)

PAUL R. ROVANG, Malory's Anatomy of Chivalry: Characterization in the Morte Darthur. Madison and Teaneck: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2015. Pp. xxi, 201. isbn: 978-1-61147-778-8. $75In Malory's Anatomy of Chivalry: Characterization in the Morte Darthur, Paul R. Rovang offers the first book-length study of Malory's art of characterization to be published since Robert Henry Wilson's exemplary 1934 study Characterization in Malory: A Comparison with His Sources. Rovang offers fifteen chapters that discuss sixteen Malorian characters: Arthur, Mark, Gawain, Lancelot, Tristram, Galahad and Perceval, Gareth, Kay, Dinadan, Mordred, Palomides, Guenevere, Isolde, Morgan le Fay, and The Lady of the Lake. Rovang's book differs from both Dorsey Armstrong's 2003 Gender and the Chivalric Community in Malory's Morte d'Arthur and Kenneth Hodges' 2005 Forging Chivalric Communities in Malory's Le Morte Darthur in that it focuses on individual characters rather than groups of characters. It also differs from Beverly Kennedy's 1985 Knighthood in the Morte Darthur in two ways: it examines monarchs and women as well as knights, and it focuses on the development rather than the classification of Malory's characters. Rovang does not engage in source study; instead, he 'examines Malory's thematic characterization of individual rulers, knights, and ladies in keeping with the twin trajectories of his history of the Round Table and contemporary English history' (xv).By presenting a series of separate yet related studies of Malory's characters as either positive or negative examples of or influences on chivalry, Rovang reflects what Le Morte Darthur is: a 'history of the Round Table [containing] a series of self-contained yet closely related tales' that provide readers with models of virtue and vice (xvii). Rovang uses these studies to demonstrate how kings, knights, and female figures contribute to the creation, undermining, and inevitable destruction of the chivalric ideal that Arthur's Round Table fellowship embodies. As he studies an impressively large number of Arthurian characters, the author engages in close-reading of Malory's book and frequent citation of literary criticism on Le Morte Darthur that make this work an insightful and useful introduction for students.Most Malory specialists will readily accept Rovang's conclusion that Malory's Morte Darthur engages readers today because it develops 'flawed, believable, flesh-and-blood characters . . . [that] exemplify different facets and varieties of . …

The Return of the (Once and Future) King: Tolkien's Ring, Arthur's Round Table, and Unholy Grail Quests

When Antoine Fuqua's King Arthur was released in July 2004, it came only six months after the final installment of Peter Jackson's epic adaptation of The Lord of the Rings; the roots, style, and ae...

A Note on Parker's Spenser: Hard-Boiled Detective Turned Super Hero

A Note on Parker's Spenser:Hard-Boiled Detective Turned Super Hero James Golsan (bio) In an interview for this piece, Robert B. Parker states that his character, Spenser, the hard-boiled Boston P.I. who has been featured in over thirty novels, is exactly "what he appears to be." Indeed, Spenser is a straightforward character from novel to novel. Various other characters notice his size, the scar tissue around his eyes as indicator of a boxer's past, and (for women and the occasional gay man) his sex appeal. These traits are readily apparent early. Push further through the pages and one finds Spenser to be tough, morally straight, uncompromising in his own behaviors despite chaos in one form or another expanding around him. It is this steadiness that bears addressing. Spenser is a detective by both design and trade; Parker states that he was attempting to re-create Philip Marlow in his original conception of the Boston P.I. What Parker has actually done, particularly as the series has progressed, is create a sort of hard-boiled super hero, strong as ten men, ageless, and essentially bullet proof. Uncomplicated virtue can be a difficult thing to portray well. Many noir heroes of modern works are complicated by one personal downfall or another. Jake Gettys of Chinatown is drawn as money motivated and fundamentally selfish; the hero of Polanski's noir classic sinks himself into the mystery at hand primarily to clear his own name. Jump forward thirty years and examine Brian Johnson's Brick, the half parody, half homage to older noir films, in which high school sleuth Brendan Fry seeks answers to the death of his girlfriend. Brendan is stained by the sins of his past, his ties to the high school's drug dealing power structure. Perhaps the most notable character related to Spenser is Allan Moore's Rhourshack, the moral absolutist of Watchmen, the celebrated graphic novel. This is because Rhourshack, in a thoroughly non-traditional sense, is a "super hero" not bound by the rules of society, ruthless and efficient in his calling, and most importantly, powered by an ethos rather than physical gifts—Rhourshack believes he understands the world, and the human condition, completely: "we spin alone, in darkness. God is not watching." This conviction makes him stronger than those around him; at least he believes as much. [End Page 159] Spenser draws from a similarly powerful ethos. Asked about his great strength in both A Savage Place and Playmates, Spenser states he has it "because his heart is pure." In A Catskill Eagle, a CIA agent named Yves repeatedly refers to Spenser as "young Lochinvar," a reference to the most righteous knight of Arthur's round table. Similar statements are common enough in the series so that their weight cannot be dismissed. Spenser is obviously being somewhat ironic with his pure heart comment, but indeed, his strength, on both a moral and physical level, really is that of ten. Although Spenser lives by his own moral code (one that allows violence and sexual promiscuity, yet prohibits disloyalty and dishonesty), he violates that code, in significant fashion, only twice during the course of the Spenser novels. In Mortal Stakes, the third book in the series, he sets up and murders Frank Doehr, a malevolent shylock, in defense of his clients. Though the action is performed to help the innocent, it is a pre-meditated act of murder, unique to the Spenser cannon. His other significant moral failing takes place in A Savage Place, in which he commits an act of infidelity toward Susan Silverman with Candy Sloan, an act made more significant in that the infidelity is on an emotional level, rather than a physical one. In Spenserian vernacular, this constitutes a major sin, and interestingly, Candy is the one who dies for it. Beyond these two lapses, however, Parker's P.I. is pure, at least as per the rules of the world he lives in. The rules he follows, and that those "like him" follow (Hawk, his long time friend and cohort, the Boston Police lieutenant Martin Quirk, Captain Healy of the state police, to name a few) and live by...

National Icon: The Winchester Round Table and the Revelation of Authority

With its numinous aura the Winchester Round Table displays critical transitions in the conception of English royal authority at the turn of the medieval and early modern periods. (JW) A. TABLE OF CONTENTS 'Thys is the rownde table of kyng Arthur,' begins the inscription at the center of the expansive object, suspended high in the Great Hall of Winchester Castle. The object (Figure 1)-a tabletop eighteen feet in diameter, originally about three-quarters of a ton in weight1-is by now a familiar reference point in discussions of Arthuriana. From the late Middle Ages to the modern period, it has attracted the attention of a range of chroniclers, courtiers, poets, scholars, and publicists, from John Hardyng, William Camden, and Michael Drayton to Thomas Warton, William Savage, and contemporary commentators.2 Whatever its relation to an elusive King Arthur, the Winchester Round Table has for hundreds of years been a fi xture of the Arthurian establishment. In recent years the modern academy has also developed an increasingly established approach to questions about its material and conceptual origins. That approach has acquired particular authority with a meticulous research project conducted by Martin Biddle and others that began in the 1970s and that culminated in the year 2000 with the publication of King Arthur's Round Table: An Archaeological Investigation. Though the book, with its fascinating fi ndings, has deservedly reached a wide audience, perhaps it would be in order to indicate briefl y what seems to me its basic orientation to the Winchester Round Table-before I suggest some further points of view. From the perspective of this archaeological investigation the Winchester Round Table emerges primarily as an expression of political, chivalric, and imperial aims in late medieval and early modern England. The original circular table itself, evoking the legendary realm of early Britain, may have been made at Winchester in the late thirteenth century to celebrate the arrangements of that Arthurian enthusiast, Edward I, for the dynastic marriages of his children.3 The top of the table may have been hung in the Great Hall in the mid-fourteenth century by Edward III, as his plans for a new Round Table fellowship at Windsor evolved into the founding of the Order of the Garter.4 The tabletop was eventually painted (for the fi rst time) in the early sixteenth century, as Henry VIII invoked his authoritative royal predecessor to promote his drive for imperial power in Europe at large.5 This kind of emphasis on worldly programs has an indisputable point. Such programs play a fundamental role in the Arthurian legend since the twelfth century, when Geoffrey of Monmouth makes Arthur an imperial successor to the legendary founder of Britain, who dreams of a promise that his descendants will be sovereigns of the 'whole world.'6 There is no question that the sixteenth-century design of the Winchester table gives such an imperial agenda contemporary form. As shown in the close-up in Figure 2, at the center of the table is the composite Tudor Rose, an expression of national consolidation after the fi fteenth-century Wars of the Roses. The array of expanding bands from the interior circle to the perimeter is dominated by the imposing fi gure of Arthur, with one hand possessing a sword and with the other controlling an orb of sovereignty. And not only does the sixteenthcentury work portray Arthur with a contemporary type of imperial crown on his head. It gives the very face of Arthur features resembling those of Henry VIII himself.7 Henry, in effect, uses the primal fi gure of Arthur to authorize himself and his aims. The far-reaching investigation underlying King Arthur's Round Table is fundamental to any subsequent treatment of the Winchester table, and I am deeply indebted to it. The study offers a probing analysis of archival records, and it situates the table in a wide variety of historical contexts. …

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp (review)

Reviewed by: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp Karen Coats Yancey, Rick The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp. Bloomsbury, 2005339p ISBN 1-58234-693-3$16.95 R* Gr. 5-8 When Alfred Kropp's uncle approaches Alfred with a scheme to get rich simply by stealing a sword from a building where Uncle Farrell is the night watchman, Alfred knows it will turn out badly but goes along nonetheless. The sword is in fact Excalibur, the weapon that can heal as well as kill and that renders its wielder invincible. Mogart, who commissioned the theft, kills Alfred's uncle and then proceeds to kill all but one of the remaining knights (descendants of the original knights of Arthur's Round Table) who have sworn to protect the sword. Bennacio, the last knight, finds Alfred, who begs to be allowed to go with Bennacio to try to recover the sword and thus atone for his theft. Alfred is, of course, an unlikely hero, surprising no one so much as himself as he finds the fortitude to continue his quest despite the horrific violence he meets at every turn. Yancey's genius here lies in the felicitous juxtaposition of the magnificent, almost sacred, nature of the quest and the mundanity of Alfred's approach to it. Alfred is as aware of his moral and intellectual failings as was T. H. White's Lancelot (from whose line, it turns out, he descends), but whereas Lancelot's self-deprecation is tragic, Alfred's is by turns touching and funny. Set against Bennacio's dignity and single-mindedness, Alfred's very contemporary teenage sensibility keeps reality squarely at the center of this otherworldly adventure: "Maybe my destiny was to be the sword-wielding savior of the world, and wouldn't that just make Amy Pouchard regret not giving me her cell phone number!" The grim, ragged humor of Alfred's narration actually serves to strengthen the gravity of emotion and tragedy that haunts the narrative—with the death of Bennacio, one is left with the sense that a great idea has left the world, along with the power to realize it. Copyright © 2006 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Royal Policy and Malory's Round Table

King Arthur's Round Table, as Malory portrays it in 'The Tale of King Arthur', does not exist for the disinterested promotion of chivalric virtue. It is rather an instrument of rule, through which a kingly patron recruits noble retainers to serve the specific, chiefly military, needs of his reign

King Arthur's Round Table: An Archaeological Investigation. Martin Biddle

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsKing Arthur's Round Table: An Archaeological Investigation. Martin Biddle Charles T. WoodCharles T. Wood Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Speculum Volume 78, Number 3Jul., 2003 The journal of the Medieval Academy of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1017/S0038713400131586 Views: 3Total views on this site Copyright 2003 The Medieval Academy of AmericaPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

King Arthur's Round Table: An Archaeological Investigation

King Arthur's Round Table: An Archaeological Investigation

:King Arthur's Round Table: An Archaeological Investigation

:<i>King Arthur's Round Table: An Archaeological Investigation</i>

King Arthur's Round Table: An Archaeological Investigation by Martin Biddle (review)

King Arthur's Round Table: An Archaeological Investigation by Martin Biddle (review)

The philosopher and the field archaeologist: Collingwood, Bersu and the excavation of King Arthur's Round Table

It is not generally known that a famous philosopher, Robin Collingwood, and an influential field archaeologist, Gerhard Bersu, excavated the same prehistoric monument in successive seasons. Their preoccupations differed, and their observations were completely inconsistent with one another. This paper relates the progress of that project and reflects on its implications for archaeological theory and practice.

The Penrith Henges: A Survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England

Detailed topographical surveys and geophysical examinations of the Penrith ‘henges’ were undertaken in order to assess the present state of the monuments for management purposes. At Mayburgh geophysical prospection was designed to assess the validity of the early reports of the presence of two concentric settings of stones. Some possible parallels in Ireland are noted. The nearby site of King Arthur's Round Table was also sampled by geophysical techniques, but was found to be too disturbed for the recovery of any further information as to its original form. The ‘cremation trench’ discovered in pre-War excavations at this site was relocated. The position of the enigmatic Little Round Table was re-established by both topographical and geophysical methods, and its north entrance firmly located. The classification of Mayburgh and of the Little Round Table is considered. The apparent disunity of these three distinctly different monuments within one complex is emphasised—all are traditionally classified as ‘henge-related’, yet the structure and orientation of each site is markedly different. Contemporary topographical considerations are now difficult to reconstruct.

Mystical Fantasy for Children: Silence and Community

To many adult Western readers, the word suggests hermits, monks, the medieval cloister, the isolated inner experience of religious ecstasy and mystery, while the literary genre of fantasy implies knights, pilgrims, travel, supernatural trappings, and heroic activity. The tradition of mysticism is individual and inward; fantasy, communal and active. Mystical writing would therefore seem a contradictory concept, since the moment of mystical insight or religious ecstasy requires long silent preparation and resists linguistic description. Solitary, concentrated on the transcendent moment of spiritual fusion with the deity or the universe, the mystic also loses the self in wordless union with the Logos. As the anonymous author of one fourteenth-century English tract on con- templation states, it is permissible or possible to speak ... of what belongs solely to God. If I dared, I would not (The Cloud of Unknowing, ch. 26, 87).' Despite the difficulties in doing so, mystics like St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila do, of course, describe their expe- riences in words for others, although they continually call attention to the imperfection of those descriptions; as readers, we are forced to interpret their silences but will always feel shut out of full understanding and participation. Even in modernist works of secular mysticism, like Virginia Woolf 's or D. H. Lawrence's, the protagonists (for example, Mrs. Ram- say or Birkin) experience the tension between language and silence and do succeed in communicating their mystical moments to their fellow characters—or sometimes even to us. Adult fantasy, particularly heroic fantasy, is perceived to be a much more expressive and public entity than mystical writing. Yet like the mystics in the religious tradition, its heroes customarily stand alone in the world.2 The knights of King Arthur's Round Table sit together at Pentecost and are united in their silent response to the appearance of the Sangreal, yet they set out alone on their quests. The desire for individual transcendence becomes a sign of the Round Table's dissolution as a social world; instead of drawing the knights together in a tighter bond of friend-

Arthur's Round Table in Hudibras

Previous articleNext article No AccessNotes and DocumentsArthur's Round Table in HudibrasDavid CarlsonDavid Carlson Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes Volume 49, Number 11986 Published for the Warburg Institute and the Courtauld Institute Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/751309 Copyright © 1986 by The Warburg Institute. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

A Note on Arthur's Round Table and the WelshLife of Saint Carannog

A Note on Arthur's Round Table and the Welsh<i>Life of Saint Carannog</i>

Arthur's Round Table and Bran the Blessed

Arthur's Round Table and Bran the Blessed

King Arthur's Round Table—An “Academic Club” in Thirteenth-Century Tuscany

In an impetuous controversy of the kind which was customary between professors and schoolmasters of Dante's age, one Master Mino da Colle di Val d'Elsa, a Tuscan compatriot of Dante's, concludes his answer to a challenging letter by a colleague with the following: “Besides there is one thing which I should not fail to tell you: although I tolerate anything from your bad presumption as far as my person is concerned I would not bear anything said about the Round Table ruled by the magnificent King and consisting of honorable Knights. And since you had these words you should have made them ashes to your mouth [that is: regret them?] so that this most precious Table might not have been terribly offended. From now on, please, refrain from mentioning it.”