Camelot
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This article is about the legendary castle. For other uses, see Camelot (disambiguation).
| Camelot | |
|---|---|
| Matter of Britain location | |
| Gustave Doré‘s illustration of Camelot from Idylls of the King (1867) | |
| First appearance | Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart |
| Created by | Chrétien de Troyes |
| In-universe information | |
| Ruler | King Arthur |
| Characters | Guinevere, Knights of the Round Table, Morgan le Fay |
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur’s realm and a symbol of the Arthurian world.
The stories locate it somewhere in Great Britain and sometimes associate it with real cities, though more usually its precise location is not revealed. Most scholars regard it as being entirely fictional, its unspecified geography being perfect for chivalric romance writers. Nevertheless, arguments about the location of the “real Camelot” have occurred since the 15th century and continue today in popular works and for tourism purposes.
Camelot-WikipediaContents
CAMELOT
Camelot is the castle connected to the famous King Arthur. Camelot’s first appearance was in the early 12th century French Romances.
In French Arthurian romances, its spelling had been changed a lot because the origin of the name is unknown. Its different spellings include Camalot, Camaalloth, Camahaloth, Kamaalot, Camaalot, Kamelot, Kaamelot, Cameloth, Camelot, Gamalot and Kamaelot.
Most authors believe that Camelot is an imaginary kingdom. It has no specified location which made it the best setting used by male romance writers. However, there have been arguments about the location of the realistic Camelot in the 15th-century and the belief was continued in Modern works.
Camelot was widely known as a mythical castle, located in Great Britain, where King Arthur held court. It was known to be the center of the Kingdom of Logres and in Arthurian romances was the location of the round table and accommodated about 150 knights.
FRENCH ORIGINS OF CAMELOT
King Arthur’s stories are widely known from as early as the ninth century. One of the most popular early writers was Geoffrey Monmouth. Geoffrey lived during the 1st-6th century. In his book History of the King of Britain, Monmouth wrote a lot of stories about King Arthur and his favorite magician Merlin, mentioning that Arthur was born at Tintagel.
Nevertheless, Monmouth and other Arthurian writers never mentioned the existence of Camelot.
ITS FIRST MENTION
The first mention of Camelot was in the late 12th-century poem, written by Troyes. The earliest descriptive account of Camelot was in the 13th century, in a series of French romances known as the Vulgate Cycle and Post-Vulgate Cycle.
In the Vulgate Cycle, Camelot was made the Major City of Arthur’s habitation and even after death, his body was laid there.
Norris Lacy wrote that the Vulgate Cycle was composed between 1215-1235 by an unknown Author or Unknown Authors. She writes that the romances run to several thousand pages of text and they offer many characters and displayed lots of adventures that were interlaced with one another intricately. She also highlighted that the Post-Vulgate Cycle was written shortly afterward by an anonymous author. In the mentioned cycles Camelot was described vividly “….was the city most full of adventures that ever was…” though Camelot was in Great Britain, its world was described to be a world of magicians, giants, dragons, and many notable knights.
In MS V (Vatican, Bibiloteca Vaticana, Regina 1725) In the story, the court is mentioned only in passing and is not described. It says,
A un jor d’une Ascension/ Fu venuz de vers carlion/ Li rois
Artus et tenu ot/ cort molt
Riche a Camaalot,/ Si riche com ar jur estut.
King Arthur, one Ascension day, had left Caerleon and
Held a most magnificent court at Camelot with all the
Splendor appropriate to the day.
EARLY DAYS OF CAMELOT
From the Vulgate Estoire del Saint Graal, we learned that an evil pagan king ruled the city in the time of Joseph the Arimethea.
The tale about Camelot began with Joseph of Arimethea. According to the Bible, Joseph donated his tomb for the burial of the Christian Messiah, Jesus. According to Vulgate story, he journeyed to Great Britain and then to Camelot, making the assumption that Camelot was an Islamic city.
According to his recorded words, he said: “it was the richest of the Saracen cities in Great Britain, and it was so important that the pagan kings were crowned there, and its mosque was Larger and taller than in any other city”.
Joseph of Arimethea converted more than a thousand natives of Camelot into Christians. King Agrestes the ruler then who was described as the most wicked man in the world was successfully but falsely converted. After Joseph left Camelot, King Agrestes persecuted all Christians but eventually became crazy and threw himself into the fire.
When Joseph came back to Camelot he saw that Camelot had converted fully to Christianity. The text reads “in the middle of the city he had the Church of St. Stephen the martyr built”. This building remained Camelot’s largest church throughout the Vulgate Cycles with other extra other smaller churches that followed.
Why the unknown authors of the Vulgate Cycle claimed that Camelot was originally an Islamic city is unclear because, in the first century, Islam never existed.
The Post-Vulgate Questeldel Saint Graal provides us with a different biblical era King named Camalis, after whom the name Camelot was given.
Following these examples, Tennyson agrees that the city was ancient and wasn’t established by Arthur.
CAMELOT IN THE DAYS OF ARTHUR
In Geoffery’s grand description of Caerleon, Camelot during Arthur’s era had very impressive architecture, many churches, chivalry, and inhabitants. Geoffery’s description of Camelot was drawn from an already established religion in the Welsh oral tradition of the grandeur of Arthur’s court.
In Chretien’s poem, nothing suggested the degree of significance Camelot would have in modern works. For in his work, Arthur’s chief court was in Caerleon wales, this was the king’s primary base.
According to Lancelot-Grail Cycle, In King Arthur’s time, Camelot was known as a Kingdom or city enclosed by forests and savannahs with a very open space to conduct tournaments for its Knights. One of the many tournaments includes Sir Gawain’s battles against the Saxons and many other adventures. Its main churches St Stephen’s held the remains of Arthur’s greatest warriors.
Camelot maybe a variation of Camulodunum, the Roman name Colchester. The castle was likely to have taken its name from many numbers of rivers with the root word ‘Cam’ which means ‘crooked’ which was definitely the source of Camlann.
Arthur’s time descriptions of Camelot varied. Palamades placed its location on the Humber River while Mallory identified it with Winchester, while writers of the sixteenth century began to associate Camelot with an Old Roman hill fort south of Cadbury.
In recent years, archaeological researches into the Cadbury fort have shown that it was occupied by Britons in the late fifth century. Given that Camelot is a city romanticized, any investigation into the real Camelot is probably futile.
The city was described as a city that stood on the forest hill out of a great plain. It is near to the highway and river leading to the Isle of Shalott. The river banks are covered with willows and aspens that quivers in the breeze and on each side of the fields, rye and barley are stretched to the horizon. The castle is so close to the water that in one of the stories Arthur could see a boat coming into Camelot carrying what seemed to be a dead lady (The Lady of Shalott)
The text mentioned that the city Camelot was wealthy and a well-provided town, but small enough that during a lavish court that so many barons, nobles and knights could not fully be accommodated.
As mentioned in the text, Arthur often held court in the castle. The castle/tower is furnished with the main courtyard, bedrooms places for celebrations and the Round Table.
Though tournaments were held frequently the indigenous of Camelot also enjoyed other less-fatal games. In one story, Lancelot gifted King Arthur with fine chess because he knew that Guinevere his lover is a good player.
There is a rough date for King Arthur’s rule in Camelot because it was mentioned in one of the stories that, an Inscription was found saying the Holy Grail must begin 453 years after the resurrection of Christ ( The Vulgate Cycle discussed the quest for the Holy Grail at length).
MOST POPULAR ASPECT OF CAMELOT
The Round Table is the most famous aspect of Camelot, ever noted. Vulgate Cycle in detail discussed how King Arthur came to be the ruler of Camelot.
As stated in the text, King Leo Dagan of Carmelide, Guinevere’s father gifted Arthur Camelot as a wedding gift. At that time there were more than a hundred knights that were already members of the Round Table. This made Arthur ask his favorite magician, Merlin to choose the remaining members of the Round Table in order to bring it to its full glory.
When Merlin had assembled the Knights, Merlin told them to care for each other and to love one another like brothers. As they had left the comforts of their wives and children to be a member of the Court. He further engraved the names of each knight in their seats.
As the story transcends, there are many deaths and the members of the Round Table kept being replaced when each of one them died. After the death of King Arthur, most Knights of the Round Table are dead.
THE LAST STANDS OF CAMELOT
According to the Post-Vulgate Cycle, A ruler named King Mark of Cornwall, whom Arthur had once defeated in a duel, took revenge by invading the Kingdom of Logres knowing that Camelot had no protection by the Knights of the Round Table.
King Mark penetrated the city and destroyed most of it. The people of Camelot who were fully aware that they were outnumbered still marched, to fight King Mark’s men but they got themselves all killed.
This was the end of Camelot and the Round Table.
CAMELOT’S MODERN APPEARANCES
Sir Thomas Mallory in the 15TH Century published the Arthurian Legend, Camelot Included, in his book titled “Morte d’ Arthur”. He referenced heavily from the French Vulgate Cycles in addition to other Arthurian sources.
Though not much is known about Mallory, his work has influenced many modern writers. Such writers include Lord Alfred Tennyson (In The Lady of Shalott), T.H White, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, and countless others. These writers had written their own interpretations of the story but they all based on Mallory’s work. For instance in Lord Alfred Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott composed in 1933, it was seen as one of the most beautiful Post-Medieval written works about Camelot. The beginning of the poem reads;
On either side, the river lie
Long fields of barley and rye
That clothe the world and meet the sky
And thro’ the field the road runs by
To many-tower’d Camelot
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an Island there below
The Island of Shalott.
Willows whiten, aspens quiver
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Thro’ the wave that runs for ever
By the Island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot…..
From the above lines of poetry, a vivid description is given of Camelot. Tennyson gives us the overall scenery, which depicts a beautiful Land.
In modern stories, Camelot typically retains its lack in a specific location and its status as a symbol of the Arthurian world. However, they usually change the castle itself into a romantic view of a High Middle Ages Palace.
In 20th century America, the concept of Camelot was so powerful that it was attributed to President John F Kennedy’s era after his assassination. In an interview with his widow, Jacqueline Kennedy, she referred to a line in the musical Camelot “Don’t let it be forgotten, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was Camelot.”
She mentioned that her husband loved that line so much then she added: “there will be great Presidents again, but there will never be another Camelot again.”
CAMELOT IN MERLIN
The 2008 Tv series Arthurian-legend based story has the most contradictory view of Camelot.
Based on the series, Camelot is located in Albion which was discovered by King Bruta, from the time of the great purge. Magic was all most wiped in the land after the death of Ygraine Pendragon. It had been ruled by the Pendragon Family after conquered by Uther Pendragon. In modern times, Camelot has been turned into a myth.
The City’s Appearance
According to the tale the prominent feature of Camelot is its Citadel. The higher quarter of the city is the side closest to the castle where artisans like Guinevere and her father lived. A tavern called the Rising Sun is located near the citadel and was often visited by the Knights of Camelot. The lower quarter is closer to the edge of the city where the poor masses inhabited. When Nimueh poisoned the water supply with the Afanc, the lower quarter was sealed off as this was where most the victims were (The Mark of Nimueh).
Every year Camelot hosts the Tournament of Camelot. Competitors from across the five kingdoms would journey to the city to partake in the games that had a prize of 1000 gold pieces.
In the middle city is the castle where the royal family and the noble men and women occupied. (King Uther, Arthur, and Morgana) The castle is wide and constructed of white brick. It had several towers and standard architecture and considered Camelot’s greatest asset especially in wars as it is considered impenetrable. Inside the castle grounds, are the quarters of the court physician, where Gaius and Merlin live. The citadel homes a garrison at least 12,000 men and before Morgause’s invasion by her immortal army, had never been under siege. It is currently the home of Guinevere Pendragon, the queen of Camelot.
Governance
Uther Pendragon was the ultimate monarchs that ruled Camelot. He made all the decisions until he was disposed of, by his evil and treacherous daughter Morgana and her half-sister Morgause. Morgana was later overthrown by Merlin, Arthur and his band of Knights. She later conquered the Kingdom with the assistance of Southern warlords Helios. However, Arthur Later took back the kingdom once more.
Camelot is shown as a very wealthy Kingdom, as it offers a prize of 1000 gold pieces to the winner of the tournament. Agravaine stated that any knights desired the wealth, power and riches of the kingdom/city, this is true as the reason Cenred wished to conquer Camelot was for its riches.
Arthur Pendragon took over the kingdom as the Prince Regent when it was undeniable that Uther’s soul has been broken by Morgana’s betrayal. Arthur formally succeeded Uther as King of Camelot when Uther died as a result of fatal wounds he sustained when an assassin sent by King Odin infiltrated the castle (The Wicked).
Camelot is popularly known for its laws banning all forms of magic and enchantments on the penalty of death, mainly by burning or by beheading. Such laws have been upheld for more than two centuries. These laws made Camelot, and Arthur specifically, the target of several attacks from rogue warlocks and Witches, such as Nimueh, Morgause, and Morgana Pendragon who seek to avenge their Murdered Kin.
Military
Camelot is depicted to have a very powerful military led by the Knights of Camelot. There symbol and identification is a golden dragon on a fiery red background. Knights and high ranking officers wear red cloaks over their armor and archers seemed to be armed with crossbows. As said by Cenred “…they have a reputation as a fearsome fighting force”
According to Morgana “Knights of Camelot are….famed as the greatest knights in five kingdoms” (The sword Stone, Part 1). Even Helios a great warrior himself stated “without the siege tunnel plans the attack on Camelot would be Suicidal. The Knights of the Kingdom did not fall to Cenred’s army despite them being outnumbered two to one. Nevertheless, this would be attributed to the fact that the knights are professionally trained.
Regions
Camelot in Merlin is surrounded by forests and fields. There are lower settlements all over the city protected by Camelot. Examples are the village of Lancelot (The Griffin) and the small village attacked.
A retired Professor claims he has found the location of King Arthur’s Camelot. The UK based professor by name Field, who taught at Bangor University in the UK from 1964 to 2004 told the BBC;
“It was quite by chance. I was looking at some maps, and suddenly all the ducks lined up”
“I believe I may have solved a 1400-year-old mystery”
Field presented his findings during the official launch of Bangor University’s Stephen Colclough center for the history and culture of the book last week
His Hypothesis is yet to be peer-reviewed, so to be clear, a whole lot more research needs to be done before we can read too much meaning into it”
Because of the doubt, scholars have in the existence of Camelot, Field did additional research based on the historical forts of time and compared them to the Legend of King Arthur. He says the site that best fits Camelot was the modern day village of Slack.
Looking at Slack today, you would be determined to find the purpose why someone would want to build a stronghold in what looks to be mere clearing, but Field says the location was of great military importance.
Back in 500 AD, Celtic-speaking Britons held back Anglo-Saxon invaders who flooded into the country from the north and west coasts.
It turned out that Slack, which seems to be nowhere, could have been the Ideal spot to set up camp to quickly funnel troops to either coast to defend the nation. Its middle of no-where-ness, as it turns out, was important.
Field further states “If there was a real King Arthur, he will have lived around 500 AD, although the first mention of him in Camelot is in a French poem from the Champagne region of France from 1180 AD”
Without any form of Physical proof in the form of archaeological remains, we won’t be able to confirm If Field is onto something here. But he’s not the only researcher seeking out the legendary artifacts.
Hopefully, his hypothesis will prompt further archaeological study at this site or others like it, so we can finally get some real clues into the enduring m The word ‘Triad” is derived from “Tri” meaning three.
Etymology[edit]
The name’s derivation is uncertain. It has numerous different spellings in medieval French Arthurian romances, including Camaalot, Camalot, Chamalot, Camehelot (sometimes read as Camchilot), Camaaloth, Caamalot, Camahaloth, Camaelot, Kamaalot, Kamaaloth, Kaamalot, Kamahaloth, Kameloth, Kamaelot, Kamelot, Kaamelot, Cameloth, and Gamalaot.[1][2][3] Arthurian scholar Ernst Brugger suggested that it was a corruption of the site of Arthur’s final battle, the Battle of Camlann, in Welsh tradition.[3] Roger Sherman Loomis believed it was derived from Cavalon, a place name that he suggested was a corruption of Avalon (under the influence of the Breton place name Cavallon). He further suggested that Cavalon became Arthur’s capital due to confusion with Arthur’s other traditional court at Caerleon (Caer Lleon in Welsh).[1]
Others have suggested a derivation from the British Iron Age and Romano-British place name Camulodunum, one of the first capitals of Roman Britain and which would have significance in Romano-British culture. Indeed, John Morris, the English historian who specialized in the study of the institutions of the Roman Empire and the history of Sub-Roman Britain, suggested in his book The Age of Arthur that as the descendants of Romanized Britons looked back to a golden age of peace and prosperity under Rome, the name “Camelot” of Arthurian legend may have referred to the capital of Britannia (Camulodunum) in Roman times. It is unclear, however, where Chrétien de Troyes would have encountered the name Camulodunum, or why he would render it as Camaalot, though Urban T. Holmes argued in 1929 that Chrétien had access to Book 2 of Pliny’s Natural History, where it is rendered as Camaloduno.[4] Given Chrétien’s known tendency to create new stories and characters, being the first to mention the hero Lancelot‘s love affair with Queen Guinevere for example, the name might also be entirely invented.[5]
Medieval literature[edit]
Arthur’s court at Camelot is mentioned for the first time in Chrétien’s poem Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, dating to the 1170s, though it does not appear in all the manuscripts. In the C manuscript (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, fonds français 794, folio 27r), which might in fact contain the proper reading of Chretien’s original text,[6] instead of the place name we find the Old French phrase con lui plot, meaning “as he pleased”. The other manuscripts spell the name variously as Chamalot (MS A, f. f. 196r), Camehelot (MS E, f. 1r), Chamaalot (MS G, f. 34f), and Camalot [MS T, f. 41v]; the name is missing, along with the rest of the passage containing it, in MS V [Vatican, Biblioteca Vaticana, Regina 1725]).[5][7] Camelot is mentioned only in passing and is not described:
A un jor d’une Acenssion / Fu venuz de vers Carlion / Li rois Artus et tenu ot / Cort molt riche a Camaalot, / Si riche com au jor estut.[8]
King Arthur, one Ascension Day, had left Caerleon and held a most magnificent court at Camelot with all the splendour appropriate to the day.[9]
Nothing in Chrétien’s poem suggests the level of importance Camelot would have in later romances. For Chrétien, Arthur’s chief court was in Caerleon in Wales; this was the king’s primary base in Geoffrey of Monmouth‘s Historia Regum Britanniae and subsequent literature.[5] Chrétien depicts Arthur, like a typical medieval monarch, holding court at a number of cities and castles.
It is not until the 13th-century French prose romances, including the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate cycles, that Camelot began to supersede Caerleon, and even then, many descriptive details applied to Camelot derive from Geoffrey’s earlier grand depiction of the Welsh town.[5] Most Arthurian romances of this period produced in English or Welsh did not follow this trend; Camelot was referred to infrequently, and usually in translations from French. One exception is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which locates Arthur’s court at “Camelot”;[10] however, in Britain, Arthur’s court was generally located at Caerleon, or at Carlisle, which is usually identified with the “Carduel” of the French romances.[11]
Guinevere at Camelot in a 14th-century fresco at Siedlęcin Tower
Raimund von Wichera’s Guinevere and the Court at Camelot (1900)
The Great Hall of Camelot, a scene painting by Hawes Craven (1895)
A jousting tournament at Camelot, an Idylls of the King illustration by George and Louis Rhead (1898)
The Lancelot-Grail cycle and the texts it influenced depict the city of Camelot as standing along a river, downstream from Astolat. It is surrounded by plains and forests, and its magnificent cathedral, St. Stephen’s, originally established by Josephus, the son of Joseph of Arimathea,[12] is the religious centre for Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table. There, Arthur and Guinevere are married and there are the tombs of many kings and knights. In a mighty castle stands the Round Table, created by Merlin and Uther Pendragon; it is here that Galahad conquers the Siege Perilous, and where the knights see a vision of the Holy Grail and swear to find it. Jousts are often held in a meadow outside the city.
Its imprecise geography serves the romances well, as Camelot becomes less a literal place than a powerful symbol of Arthur’s court and universe.[5] There is also a Kamaalot featured as the home of Percival‘s mother in the romance Perlesvaus.[13] In Palamedes and some other works, including the Post-Vulgate cycle, King Arthur’s Camelot is eventually razed to the ground by the treacherous King Mark of Cornwall (who had besieged it earlier) in his invasion of Logres after the Battle of Camlann.[5] In the Tavola Ritonda, Camelot falls to ruin after the death of Arthur.
From Geoffrey’s grand description of Caerleon, Camelot gains its impressive architecture, its many churches and the chivalry and courtesy of its inhabitants.[5] Geoffrey’s description in turn drew on an already established tradition in Welsh oral tradition of the grandeur of Arthur’s court. The tale Culhwch and Olwen, associated with the Mabinogion and perhaps first written in the 11th century, draws a dramatic picture of Arthur’s hall and his many powerful warriors who go from there on great adventures, placing it in Celliwig, an uncertain locale in Cornwall.
Although the court at Celliwig is the most prominent in remaining early Welsh manuscripts, the various versions of the Welsh Triads agree in giving Arthur multiple courts, one in each of the areas inhabited by the Celtic Britons: Cornwall, Wales and the Hen Ogledd. This perhaps reflects the influence of widespread oral traditions common by the 9th century which are recorded in various place names and features such as Arthur’s Seat, indicating Arthur was a hero known and associated with many locations across Brittonic areas of Britain as well as Brittany. Even at this stage Arthur could not be tied to one location.[14] Many other places are listed as a location where Arthur holds court in the later romances, Carlisle and London perhaps being the most prominent.
In the 15th century, the English writer Thomas Malory created the image of Camelot most familiar today in his Le Morte d’Arthur, a work based mostly on the French romances. He firmly identifies Camelot with Winchester in England, an identification that remained popular over the centuries, though it was rejected by Malory’s own editor, William Caxton, who preferred a Welsh location.[15]
Identifications[edit]
Winchester Castle‘s Great Hall with a 13th-century prop Round Table
Arthurian scholar Norris J. Lacy commented that “Camelot, located no where in particular, can be anywhere.”[5] The romancers’ versions of Camelot draw on earlier traditions of Arthur’s fabulous court. The Celliwig of Culhwch and Olwen appears in the Welsh Triads as well; this early Welsh material places Wales’ greatest leader outside its national boundaries. Geoffrey’s description of Caerleon is probably based on his personal familiarity with the town and its Roman ruins; it is less clear that Caerleon was associated with Arthur before Geoffrey.
Several French romances (Perlesvaus, the Didot Perceval attributed to Robert de Boron, and even the early romances of Chrétien such as Erec and Enide and Yvain, the Knight of the Lion) have Arthur hold court at “Carduel in Wales”, a northern city based on the real Carlisle. Malory’s identification of Camelot as Winchester was probably partially inspired by the latter city’s history: it had been the capital of Wessex under Alfred the Great, and boasted the Winchester Round Table, an artifact constructed in the 13th century but widely believed to be the original by Malory’s time. Caxton rejected the association, saying Camelot was in Wales and that its ruins could still be seen; this is a likely reference to the Roman ruins at Caerwent.[15]
In 1542, John Leland reported the locals around Cadbury Castle, formerly known as Camalet,[16] in Somerset considered it to be the original Camelot. This theory, which was repeated by later antiquaries, is bolstered, or may have derived from, Cadbury’s proximity to the River Cam and the villages of Queen Camel and West Camel, and remained popular enough to help inspire a large-scale archaeological dig in the 20th century.[14] These excavations, led by archaeologist Leslie Alcock from 1966 to 1970, were titled “Cadbury-Camelot” and won much media attention.[14] The dig revealed that the site seems to have been occupied as early as the 4th millennium BC and to have been refortified and occupied by a major Brittonic ruler and his war band from c. 470. This early medieval settlement continued until around 580.[17] The works were by far the largest known fortification of the period, double the size of comparative caers and with Mediterranean artifacts representing extensive trade[18][19][20] and Saxon ones showing possible conquest.[14] The use of the name Camelot and the support of Geoffrey Ashe helped ensure much publicity for the finds, but Alcock himself later grew embarrassed by the supposed Arthurian connection to the site. Following the arguments of David Dumville, Alcock felt the site was too late and too uncertain to be a tenable Camelot.[21] Modern archaeologists follow him in rejecting the name, calling it instead Cadbury Castle hill fort. Despite this, Cadbury remains widely associated with Camelot.
The name of the Romano-British town of Camulodunum (modern Colchester) was derived from the Celtic god Camulus. However, it was located well within territory usually thought to have been conquered early in the 5th century by Saxons, so it is unlikely to have been the location of any “true” Camelot, as Arthur is traditionally dated to the late 5th and early 6th century. The town was definitely known as Colchester as early as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 917. Even Colchester Museum argues strongly regarding the historical Arthur: “It would be impossible and inconceivable to link him to the Colchester area, or to Essex more generally,” pointing out that the connection between the name Camulodunum and Colchester was unknown until the 18th century.[22] Arthurian scholar Peter Field has suggested that another Camulodunum, a former Roman fort, is a likely location of King Arthur’s Camelot[23] and that “Slack, on the outskirts of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire,” is where Arthur would have held court. This is because of the name, and also regarding its strategic location: it is but a few miles from the extreme south-west of Hen Ogledd (also making close to North Wales), and would have been a flagship point in staving off attacks to the Celtic kingdoms from the Angles and others.
Other places in Britain with names related to “Camel” have also been suggested, such as Camelford in Cornwall, located down the River Camel from where Geoffrey places Camlann, the scene of Arthur’s final battle. The area’s connections with Camelot and Camlann are merely speculative. Further north, Camelon and its connections with Arthur’s O’on have been mentioned in relation to Camelot, but Camelon may be an antiquarian neologism coined after the 15th century, with its earlier name being Carmore or Carmure.[24] Graham Phillips rejected the word “Camelot” entirely as just Chrétien’s invention and instead proposed the old Roman city of Viroconium (near Shrewsbury in modern England) as Arthur’s capital, citing archeological evidence of a grand palace having been in use around 500 AD.[25] Alistair Moffat identified Camelot with Roxburgh in Scotland.[26]
Modern culture[edit]
Camelot has become a permanent fixture in modern interpretations of the Arthurian legend. The symbolism of Camelot so impressed Alfred, Lord Tennyson that he wrote up a prose sketch on the castle as one of his earliest attempts to treat the legend.[27] Modern stories typically retain Camelot’s lack of precise location and its status as a symbol of the Arthurian world, though they typically transform the castle itself into romantically lavish visions of a High Middle Ages palace.[5] Some writers of the “realist” strain of modern Arthurian fiction have attempted a more sensible Camelot. Inspired by Alcock’s Cadbury-Camelot excavation, some authors such as Marion Zimmer Bradley and Mary Stewart place their Camelots in that place and describe it accordingly.[14]
Camelot Castle Hotel (a view from Tintagel Castle) features a replica of the Winchester Round Table[28]
Camelot lends its name to the musical Camelot, which was adapted into a film of the same title, featuring the Castle of Coca, Segovia as Camelot. An Arthurian television series Camelot was also named after the castle, as were some other works including the video game Camelot and the comic book series Camelot 3000. French television series Kaamelott presents a humorous alternative version of the Arthurian legend; Camelot Theme Park is a now-abandoned Arthurian theme park resort located in the English county of Lancashire.
In American contexts, Camelot refers to the presidency of John F. Kennedy. In a 1963 Life interview, Jacqueline, his widow, referenced a line from the Lerner and Loewe musical to describe the Kennedy era White House: “Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot.” She indicated that it was one of Kennedy’s favorite lyrics from the musical and added, “there’ll be great Presidents again […] but there’ll never be another Camelot again.”[29]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ a b Loomis, Roger Sherman, Arthurian tradition & Chrétien de Troyes, Columbia University Press, 1961, p. 480. ISBN 0-2318-7865-6
- ^ Sommer, Heinrich Oskar, The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances: Lestoire de Merlin, Carnegie Institution, 1916, p. 19.[ISBN missing]
- ^ a b Brugger, Ernst, “Beiträge zur Erklärung der arthurischen Geographie”, in: Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Literatur, Volume 28, 1905, pp. 1–71.[ISBN missing]
- ^ Nitze, William A. et al. Le Haut Livre del Graal: Perlesvaus – Volume 2: Commentary and Notes, p. 196. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1937.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Lacy, Norris J.; Ashe, Geoffrey (1991). “Camelot”. In Lacy, Norris J. (ed.). The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities. Vol. 931. New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc. pp. 66–67. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
- ^ Wolfgang, Lenora D., “Chretien’s Lancelot: Love and Philology“, Reading Medieval Studies, 17 (1991), pp. 3-17 (pp. 11-12), ISBN 978-0704904415.
- ^ “Camelot”. From the Camelot Project. Retrieved October 9, 2008.
- ^ Uitti, K. D. (n.d.). “Le Chevalier de la Charrette (Lancelot)”. The Charrette Project: Old French Version. The University of Chicago Library. vv. 31–35. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
- ^ Chrétien de Troyes (1987). Arthurian Roamnces. Translated by Owen, D. D. R. London: Dent. p. 185. ISBN 0460116983.
- ^ Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, line 37.
- ^ Ashley, pp. 612–613.
- ^ “Frequently Asked Questions about the Arthurian Legends | Robbins Library Digital Projects”. d.lib.rochester.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
- ^ “Arthurian Name Dictionary”. www.celtic-twilight.com. Archived from the original on 2015-01-02.
- ^ a b c d e Ashe, Geoffrey (1991). “Topography and Local Legends”. In Norris J. Lacy (Ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, pp. 455–458. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
- ^ a b Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur, p. xvii.
- ^ Phelps, W. The History and Antiquities of Somersetshire; Being a General and Parochial Survey of That Interesting County, to which is Prefixed an Historical Introduction, with a Brief View of Ecclesiastical History; and an Account of the Druidical, Belgic-British, Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman Antiquities, Now Extant, Vol. II, Ch. VI, §1: “Camalet or Cadbury”, p. 118. J. B. Nichols & Son (London), 1839.
- ^ Historic England. “Large multivallate hillfort and associated earthworks at South Cadbury (1011980)”. National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ^ Alcock, Leslie (1972). “By South Cadbury is that Camelot…”: Excavations at Cadbury Castle 1966–70. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-8128-1505-X.
- ^ Alcock, Leslie (1973). Arthur’s Britain. Harmondsworth: Pelican. ISBN 0-14-021396-1.
- ^ Tabor, Richard (2008). Cadbury Castle: The hillfort and landscapes. Stroud: The History Press. pp. 169–172. ISBN 978-0-7524-4715-5.
- ^ Alcock & al.
- ^ “Official Response to linking Arthur and Colchester”. Archived from the original on 2007-10-30. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
- ^ “Professor reveals ‘the true Camelot'”. 18 December 2016 – via www.bbc.com.
- ^ Gibb, Alexander (1904). The Stirling Antiquary: Reprinted from “The Stirling Sentinel,” 1888–[1906]. Stirling: Cook & Wylie. pp. 349–365. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ “The Lost Tomb of King Arthur 3”. www.grahamphillips.net.
- ^ Higham, Nicholas J. (November 20, 2018). “King Arthur: The Making of the Legend”. Yale University Press – via Google Books.
- ^ Staines, David (1991). “Alfred, Lord Tennyson”. In Norris J. Lacy (Ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, pp. 446–449. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
- ^ “Conjuring the Ghosts of Camelot: Tintagel and the Medievalism of Heritage Tourism”. Medieval Afterlives in Contemporary Culture.
- ^ Theodore H. White (December 6, 1963). “For President Kennedy”. Life.
Bibliography[edit]
- Alcock, Leslie; Stenvenson, S. J.; & Musson, C. R. (1995). Cadbury Castle, Somerset: The Early Medieval Archaeology. University of Wales Press.
- Ashley, Mike (2005). The Mammoth Book of King Arthur. London: Running Press. ISBN 0-7867-1566-9.
- Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (1991). The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Camelot.
- Camelot at The Camelot Project
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