Textual-Historical
“This Round Table was ordained of Arthur that when his fair fellowship sat to meat their chairs should be high alike, their service equal, and none before or after his comrade. Thus no man could boast that he was exalted above his fellow, for all alike were gathered round the board, and none was alien at the breaking of Arthur’s bread.” - Wace’s Roman de Brut (1155)
The concept of the Round Table emerges not from the earliest Arthurian tales but as a literary innovation in the 12th century, evolving from historical and folkloric roots into a symbol of chivalric ideals. The earliest Arthurian narratives, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136), describe Arthur's court as a gathering of noble warriors from distant lands, emphasizing a code of courtliness: "such a code of courtliness in his household that he inspired peoples living far away to imitate him." However, no round table is mentioned; instead, Arthur's retinue reflects Welsh traditions like those in Culhwch and Olwen, where Arthur boasts an expansive entourage, stating, "[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.”
The first clear mention is Wace’s Roman de Brut (1155), where Arthur has a round table made to end rank quarrels among his magnates: “their chairs should be high alike, their service equal, and none before or after his comrade.”
Layamon, adapting Wace into Middle English a few decades later, turns the etiquette note into narrative: a Christmas feast erupts into violence; a Cornish craftsman offers to build “a table… that would easily seat a good hundred or more… side by side, so no knight seemed the highest.”
“And so Leodegrance delivered his daughter Guenever unto Merlin, and the Table Round with the hundred knights, and so they rode freshly, with great royalty…” And elsewhere: “When Arthur marries Genevere, her father gives Arthur the Round Table, at which 150 men can sit.” - Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur
The Round Table proper debuts in 1155 with Wace's Roman de Brut, a Norman-French adaptation of Geoffrey's work. Wace introduces it as Arthur's solution to disputes among his barons over seating precedence at feasts: Arthur created the Round Table "to prevent quarrels among his barons, none of whom would accept a lower place than the others." This innovation may draw from Celtic traditions, such as mystical household items like Saint Carannog's floating altar, which Arthur attempted to use as a table, or even Roman amphitheaters like those at Caerleon or Chester, though no archaeological evidence supports a direct link. Local folklore also associates Arthur with circular landmarks, such as "King Arthur's Round Table" near Penrith, Cumbria—a Neolithic henge later romanticized as a jousting site.
By the early 13th century, Layamon's English Brut expands Wace's idea, attributing the table's creation to a Cornish carpenter after a violent Yuletide brawl over rank: the table was made enormous yet portable, ensuring no head or hierarchy.
“Now a table I’d make you, exceeding fair, that would easily seat a good hundred or more. Side by side, so no knight seemed the highest. When you journey, it might then go with you, to be set where you wish, as you might decide. Ne’er would you fear, to the world’s end, ever, that some fierce knight might engender a fight, for the high and the low shall there be equals.” - Layamon’s Brut (c. 1200)
In Wace and Layamon, it's a utilitarian symbol of peace, preventing feuds. Robert de Boron's Merlin (c. 1200) elevates it: Merlin constructs it for Uther Pendragon, modeling it after Joseph of Arimathea's Grail Table, which seated 13 with one perilous empty seat for Judas's betrayer. Merlin warns, "this seat must remain empty until the coming of the knight who will achieve the Grail." The Round Table mirrors this, with the Siege Perilous left vacant: "only the greatest knight in the world could sit in this deadly chair, and that knight would be the true Grail Knight."
In the 13th-century Lancelot-Grail (Vulgate Cycle), the table seats up to 150 knights at Camelot, becoming the hub for the Grail quest. Galahad, not Perceval, claims the Siege Perilous, signaling the quest's onset and the era's end. The Didot Perceval has Perceval initiate the quest by sitting there. Italian texts like La Tavola Ritonda distinguish an "Old Table" for Uther from Arthur's "New Table." Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (1485) synthesizes these, portraying the table as a wedding gift from Leodegran, Guinevere's father, after Arthur's marriage: "Leodegan gave the Round Table to Arthur as a wedding gift. This table could seat 150 knights." Malory emphasizes its role in fellowship, with knights swearing oaths of chivalry.
Wace (1155). Arthur founds the Table to equalize his vassals (note: Wace implicitly keeps the king above the circle—equality among barons, not with the sovereign).
Layamon (c. 1200–1215). A portable, very large wooden table; created after a Yuletide brawl; seats “a good hundred or more.”
Robert de Boron & the Grail-prose tradition (early 13th c.). Merlin links Arthur’s Table to an earlier Grail Table (itself patterned on the Last Supper) and introduces the Siege Perilous, the empty, deadly seat reserved for the Grail achiever. The Queste del Saint Graal explains the symbolism: “the Round Table was meant to signify the round world and the canopy of the planets,” and it ties the Feast of Pentecost at court to the Grail’s epiphany.
Vulgate/Post-Vulgate cycles (13th c.). The Table becomes the administrative and spiritual hub of Camelot; seats vary by text, but the key feature is the Siege Perilous.
Malory (1485). Leodegrance gives the object itself (with knights) to Arthur as a wedding gift: “I shall give him the Table Round… when it is complete, there is an hundred knights and fifty.”
Malory also preserves the cosmological gloss: “Merlin made the Round Table in tokening of the roundness of the world.”
“After this table the Round Table was constructed, not without great significance, upon the advice of Merlin. By its name the Round Table is meant to signify the round world and the round canopy of the planets and the elements in the firmament, where are to be seen the stars and many other things. Wherefore one may say that in the Round Table the world is accurately symbolised. For you can see that from all countries where chivalry is established, whether Christian or pagan, the knights come to the Round Table. And when God gives them grace to become companions, they esteem themselves more fortunate than if they had gained the whole world, and we can see how for it they leave their fathers and mothers and wives and children. You have seen this happen in your own case. For since you left your mother and became a companion of the Round Table. you have had no desire to return, but rather you were at once possessed by the gentleness and brotherhood which are bound to exist between those who are companions” - Queste del Saint Graal (as translated by W.W. Comfort
Mythical Meaning
“Merlin made the Round Table in tokening of roundness of the world, for by the Round Table is the world signified by right, for all the world, Christian and heathen, repair unto the Round Table; and when they are chosen to be of the fellowship of the Round Table they think them more blessed and more in worship than if they had gotten half the world; and yet have seen that they have lost their fathers and their mothers, and all their kin, and their wives and their children, for to be of your fellowship.” - Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur
A table is a place you sit at. To eat, drink and be merry. To talk about stategy, war. To discuss governance, diplomacy….. You come to the table and you sit and engage in a group shared experience and project.
Esoteric traditions link it to Atlantean wisdom-temples or stellar origins from Sirius, the "Tear of Isis," with zodiac symbols on its rim: "This tradition further states that it was originally brought from the stars, from Sirius.” Esoteric lore claims Merlin based it on Atlantean templates
The Gathering of Heroes Highlights the importance of collaboration, shared ideals, and the creation of a sacred fellowship.
The Round Table as the table of the inner zodiacal temple of the adept. The Round Table is not just in Camelot—it is within the aspirant, always waiting to be reassembled.
The 13th seat that is the vacant seat, the Seige Perilous, must be left open as a reminder of the True Knight.
Symbolism: The Round Table: The unbroken circle of equality, where no knight holds precedence over another. Camelot: The utopian ideal of a harmonious and just society.
The Round Table mirrors the zodiac, with Arthur/Jesus at the center as the Sun, surrounded by 12 knights/disciples, symbolizing cosmic harmony.
“In one version of the Arthurian mythos, the Round Table was part of the dowry of Guenivere upon her marriage to King Arthur. According to the esoteric tradition, the table was built according to the design of the Archmage Merlin, based upon a template of one of the wisdom-temples of Atlantis. This tradition further states that it was originally brought from the stars, from Sirius, the "Tear of Isis." This stellar symbolism is reinforced by the symbols of the twelve constellations of the zodiac upon the table's rim. This is the same symbolism found in the belt worn by The Fool in the first tarot card of the major keys. The zodiac represents time and space, which is also the meaning of Eden, the garden in which Adam and Eve were placed. In the myth, the Grail appears upon the Table Round when the king and all his knights are gathered for court on the feast of Pentecost. Pentecost, or Whitsun, as it is also called, occurs fifty days after Easter (Christ's resurrection) and celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples when they are gathered together, in the same upper room in which they had celebrated the Last Supper with their master. The Divine Spirit descends like tongues of fire.”
“Leodegan gave the Round Table to Arthur as a wedding gift. This table could seat 150 knights. According to Robert de Boron's Merlin (1200), Merlin had constructed the Round Table for Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father. Merlin had designed the table using the Grail table as a model. Joseph of Arimathea had designed the Grail Table to only seat 13 people. However, the 13th seat was the Perilous Seat (Siege Perilous) which no one might sit on without dying. So the Perilous Seat was left vacated. Like Joseph's table, only one seat was left vacated at the Round Table: the Siege Perilous. Merlin warned Arthur and the other knights that only the greatest knight in the world could sit in this deadly chair, and that knight would be the true Grail Knight.”
Appearance
Medieval romances are vague. A rare “materialization” survives at Winchester: a 13th-century oak table (18-foot diameter), repainted c.1516 with Tudor imagery; it’s an artifact of later reception, not an Arthurian original.
Descriptions portray it as massive, circular, often of wood or silver, seating 150 (per Malory) or varying numbers. Layamon calls it "enormous but transportable."
Esoteric views add zodiac engravings on the rim, symbolizing time and space like the Tarot's Fool's belt.
Historically, Winchester Castle's 13th-century Round Table (18 feet diameter, oak) was painted with Arthurian motifs in the 16th century, though not original.
How many seats? The number shifts by author: Layamon implies ~100+; Malory states 150; Grail-linked texts stress 12(+1) typology via the Siege Perilous. There is no single canonical count in medieval literature.
What it represents
equality and unity: "The unbroken circle of equality, where no knight holds precedence over another."
It embodies chivalric ideals—collaboration, justice, Camelot's utopia.
Christian links to the Last Supper and Grail Table add spiritual depth, with the Grail appearing at Pentecost
Esoterically, it mirrors cosmic harmony,, or zodiac cycles.
Grail prose makes the circle a cosmogram: the board “signif[ies] the round world and the canopy of the planets,” and Pentecost becomes the liturgical moment when Spirit descends and the Grail appears to the fellowship.
Malory echoes the same: the Table is “in tokening of the roundness of the world,” and membership binds knights by a sacred ethos (Malory’s Pentecostal Oath).
From Chrétien onward “Round Table” names both the literal table and the order gathered around it—the fellowship as a living body.
Equity without erasing hierarchy. Equality binds the barons under a still-transcendent center— a circle of peers gathered around a higher axis.
The Breaking of the Round Table
“Jesu mercy, how may this be? said the king… Alas, me sore repenteth, said the king, that ever Sir Launcelot should be against me. Now I am sure the noble fellowship of the Round Table is broken for ever…” - Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur
The Table’s fellowship unravels before the Grail quest and finally shatters in the Lancelot–Guinevere crisis and the Mordred war.
Some late prose cycles imagine dispersal or destruction, but Malory’s emphasis is ethical and communal collapse rather than the physical object’s fate.
The table's fate mirrors Camelot's downfall. In the Post-Vulgate Cycle, King Mark destroys it during his invasion after Arthur's death and the knights' civil wars.
Malory depicts its splintering into warring factions, with many knights dead:
Some legends imply it vanishes with Avalon; others, like folklore, tie it to surviving artifacts,