King Arthur's Round Table: an Archaeological Investigation

Folklore, April, 2004 by Brynley F. Roberts

King Arthur's Round Table: An Archaeological Investigation. Edited by Martin Biddle. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2000. 533 pp. Illus. 40.00 [pounds sterling] (hbk). ISBN 0-85115-626-6

This is, on many counts, a remarkable book. As an example of book production it is a joy to handle and peruse. Typographically well designed with a wealth of intelligent and attractive illustrations, a mass of information is presented and a complex argument sustained in a format that is easy to read and use. It could so easily have become just another coffee-table book, but the editor, designer, and press have succeeded in combining elegance with readability. This is worth noting because the illustrations--line-drawings, photographs, facsimiles--are not additions or embellishments but are integral to the text, which has been written and edited with the needs of the non-specialist reader in mind, although not at the cost of academic rigour.

The book aims to answer as decisively as possible the deceptively simple questions asked by visitors, both actual and vicarious, to the Great Hall of Winchester Castle: for example, "What is this 'round table'?," "How old is it?," "What manner of ornament is it?," "Why is it at Winchester?" These are, of course, not simply questions raised by tourists, but also subjects of importance for scholars in a number of disciplines. Work being carried out at the Castle and Hall in 1967-71 and then in 1974 provided an opportunity for these topics to be addressed more thoroughly and in greater depth than ever before, and in 1976 a team of experts in a wide range of fields of study was brought together to remove the Table from the wall of the Great Hall and then to examine its construction, its history, and its significance. The initial, crucial stage of the project called for specialist knowledge of medieval furniture as well as experience in the skills of "historical" carpentry and the methods (and limitations) of radio-carbon dating and of dendrochronology. The accounts of these archaeological investigations of the table itself are as detailed and as carefully supported by drawings and photographs as any "dig" would be, although the pressure to propose as specific a date as possible occasionally reveals itself, especially where the "objective" evidence of different techniques cannot be reconciled. These investigations confirm that this was indeed a table of the thirteenth century, of unusual shape and dimensions, and presumably intended for a prestigious occasion. Mid-fourteenth century, the legs were removed, the table became a disk and was hung in the Great Hall as an ornament with a totally symbolic value rather than a practical function. Further investigations revealed that its present appearance, where Arthur and twenty-four knights are presented as seated at the table, each at his appropriate place, is a later and final stage in the evolution of the table. The answer(s) to "how old is it?" now become the starting point for the more intriguing "why?"

The layman senses that the investigation of the material object has been valuable in itself in developing the methodology and interpretation of the archaeology of medieval furniture. Nevertheless, this was not the essence of the project, which is predominantly historical in intent. A second team of experts--art historians, literary historians, political and cultural historians--came together to work with the archaeologists to give context to their findings. Dates became more precise as various options within the years proposed by the archaeologists were evaluated. These are crucial discussions, as the credibility of the history that emerges is rooted in their unbiased quality. It becomes clear that each change in the appearance of the table was significant as having been made at a particular time for symbolic reasons. The table became an iconographic ornament, the meaning of which was made to change at particular junctures. Constructed probably for a tournament and as part of Edward I's plans to mark the proposed dynastic marriages of his son and daughter in 1290, the table was hung, perhaps with a covering, in the Hall in 1348 as a sign of Edward III's interest in the chivalric ideal of the companionship of Arthur's Round Table. This was taken even further when Henry VIII had it painted for the first time "to reinforce his claim to a British imperium, and in 1520 at Calais and 1522 at Winchester used the figure of Arthur to support his claim to be the chief arbiter of European power." Edward I's table had achieved its zenith of political symbolism.

It is a given of Arthurian scholarship that there is no single portrayal of Arthur. His figure varies even within the same period, as the king, his court, and his legend are made to serve different ends and to be vehicles for different messages. This was as true in medieval literatures as it is in today's media. The Round Table has always been a symbol and it is fitting that this book opens with a comprehensive discussion of its role in literature, a chapter that is a thorough re-examination of the texts and that is full of new insights and interpretations that students of Arthurian literature will find challenging. The Winchester Round Table is the best and most integrated example of an Arthurian object and location; designed from the first to have symbolic status, it retained its value by being constantly refashioned. Its history reflects the interaction of literature, "invented tradition," iconography, and political ambition, but that it happened at all is testimony above all to the re-creative vigour of the Arthurian theme.