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For centuries the legends have told of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table--the noble order of knights who fought for fair maids and high ideals.
We are told that when the knights came to Camelot or Carleon from questing, they sat at the round table which Arthur was given by Leon d'grance as dowry for the hand of Guenevere in marriage. the purpose was to make all the knights equal--none could sit at the head of the table since the table had no "head." Glastonbury even boasts that the round table is there and hanging upon a wall.
Yet, this explanation has never satisfied me. At a round table, those who sit closest to the king are those in the highest order. Lancelot was said to sit at Arthur's side during the great feasts, and he was the best and bravest of the knights. It seemed that an order of knights suggests a religious or mystical order, as of an order of monks. The Templars and the Hospitallers and the Knights of Malta all had their initation rituals. What is to say that the Knights of the Round Table did not also? This is especially pertinent because of the quest for the Grail--a religious journey of enlightenment and faith--which the Knights of the Round Table were supposed to have embarked upon.
Another problem that bothers me is the translation of "Round Table." In the original, it is called the rotunda mesa, which, if translated literally, means "round table." However, the adjective is placed after the noun, which makes rotunda mesa translate to "tabled rotunda." This gives us an entirely different meaning. It offers images of a round chapel on a flat hill (Glastonbury Tor?) where the knights and Arthur would pursue their rituals and enlightenment.
Therefore, I propose that they no longer be called Knights of the Round Table, but should be clept Knights of the Tabled Rotunda, a name better fitting to a group who engaged in learning of a mystic and religious bent.
by Kent Hawley
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