ROUND TABLE, the celebrated board of King Arthur (q.v.) around which he and his knights sat. The origin of the myth is obscure, and certainly cannot be said to have been yet settled; it has been traced by various scholars to Welsh, Irish, or Breton sources.
The story was at first independent of the Arthurian saga. The first known trace of it in an Arthurian connection is in the Brut of Wace (q.v.) in the reign of Henry II. Here the allusion is brief. Arthur made a round table at which, because of its shape, none of the "barons" could claim precedence over others. The size is left indefinite. Wace adds that the "Bretons" told many stories about the table ; and this seems to indicate that there was a mass of Breton (or British) tradition about it known to Wace a probability strengthened by the fact that elsewhere Wace shows signs of knowing many stories unknown to his main authority, Geoffrey of Monmouth (q.v.).
Half a century later, Layamon adds considerably to our infor mation, and it would seem almost certain that he was drawing on Welsh tradition. There had been a great slaughter of the knights through disputes as to who should be greatest ; and a Cornish carpenter, hearing of it, told Arthur he would make him a table at which more than 1,600 men could sit, so that there would be no more quarrels for the place of honour. Yet Arthur would be able to carry it about with him. It was finished in four weeks. "This," added Layamon, repeating Wace's words, "was the table about which the Britons told many tales." There is no reason to think that the poet was inventing; he makes over 3o additions to Wace, some of which are certainly not original; nor does he show anywhere a trace of inventive capacity.
Holy Grail (q.v.) and with the "Siege Perilous" which is so promi nent a feature in the Percival legend; and became ultimately an inseparable adjunct of the Arthurian cycle.
Whether the tale reached Wace and Layamon directly from Wales or from Brittany, it is certainly of ancient Celtic origin: a round table seems to have been a feature of primitive Celtic life ; a circular form was the rule in primitive Irish architecture, and the primitive Celtic watch house, both in Gaul and in Ireland, was circular. To what this in its turn is to be traced is more doubtful : it is not unlikely that it arose from sun-worship, or possibly (cf. the "four weeks") from the moon. The magical character of the table seems, again, to be of a peculiarly Celtic cast ; it resembles that of the enchanted bowls, bushels and horns so often found in Irish and Welsh saga ; and it was inevitable that when the attractive force of the Arthurian legend was felt, such a magical table should be assigned to the king along with his enchanted sword, boat, lance and shield.
A good summary of the story is given by A. C. L. Brown in Harvard Studies in Philology and Literature, vol. vii., where other authorities are referred to. Incidental references will be found in the various works on different aspects of the Arthurian saga. (E. E. K.)