| Camelot | |
|---|---|
| Matter of Britain location | |
 Gustave Doré's illustration of Camelot fromIdylls of the King (1867) | |
| First appearance | Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart |
| Created by | Chrétien de Troyes |
| In-universe information | |
| Ruled by | King Arthur |
| Characters | Guinevere,Knights of the Round Table,Morgan le Fay |
Camelot is a legendarycastle andcourt associated withKing Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since theLancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the Arthurian world.
Medieval texts locate it somewhere inGreat 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 forchivalric 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.
The name's derivation is uncertain. It has numerous different spellings in medieval French Arthurian romances, includingCamaalot,Camalot,Chamalot,Camehelot (sometimes read asCamchilot),Camaaloth,Caamalot,Camahaloth,Camaelot,Kamaalot,Kamaaloth,Kaamalot,Kamahaloth,Kameloth,Kamaelot,Kamelot,Kaamelot,Cameloth, andGamalaot.[1][2][3] Arthurian scholar Ernst Brugger suggested that it was a corruption of the site of Arthur's final battle, theBattle of Camlann, in Welsh tradition.[3]Roger Sherman Loomis believed it was derived fromCavalon, a place name that he suggested was a corruption ofAvalon (under the influence of the Breton place nameCavallon). He further suggested that Cavalon became Arthur's capital due to confusion with Arthur's other traditional court atCaerleon (Caer Lleon in Welsh).[1]
Others have suggested a derivation from theBritish Iron Age andRomano-British place nameCamulodunum, one of the first capitals ofRoman Britain and which would have significance inRomano-British culture. Indeed,John Morris, the English historian who specialized in the study of the institutions of theRoman Empire and the history ofSub-Roman Britain, suggested in his bookThe 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 ofBritannia (Camulodunum) in Roman times. It is unclear, however, whereChrétien de Troyes would have encountered the name Camulodunum, or why he would render it asCamaalot, thoughUrban T. Holmes argued Chrétien could have had access to Book 2 ofPliny'sNatural History, where it is rendered asCamaloduno.[4]
Arthur's court at Camelot is mentioned for the first time in Chrétien's poemLancelot, 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,[5] instead of the place name there is theOld French phrasecon lui plot, meaning "as he pleased". The other manuscripts spell the name variously asChamalot (MS A, f. f. 196r),Camehelot (MS E, f. 1r),Chamaalot (MS G, f. 34f), andCamalot (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).[6][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 inCaerleon inWales; this was the king's primary base inGeoffrey of Monmouth'sHistoria Regum Britanniae and subsequent literature.[6] 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 theVulgate andPost-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.[6] 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. However, in Britain, Arthur's court was generally located at Caerleon, or atCarlisle, which is usually identified with the "Carduel" of the French romances.[10] One exception isSir Gawain and the Green Knight, which locates Arthur's court at Camelot.[11]
From Geoffrey's grand description of Caerleon, Camelot gains its impressive architecture, its many churches and thechivalry and courtesy of its inhabitants.[6] Geoffrey's description in turn drew on an already established tradition in Welsh oral tradition of the grandeur of Arthur's court. The taleCulhwch and Olwen, associated with theMabinogion 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 inCelliwig, an uncertain locale inCornwall.
TheLancelot-Grail cycle and the texts it influenced depict the city of Camelot as standing along a river, downstream fromAstolat. It is surrounded by plains and forests, and its magnificent cathedral,St. Stephen's, originally established byJosephus, the son ofJoseph of Arimathea,[12] is the religious centre for Arthur'sKnights 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 theRound Table, created byMerlin andUther Pendragon; it is here thatGalahad conquers theSiege Perilous, and where the knights see a vision of theHoly 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.[6] There is also a Kamaalot featured as the home ofPercival's mother in the romancePerlesvaus.[13] InPalamedes and some other works, including the Post-Vulgate cycle, King Arthur's Camelot is eventually razed to the ground by the treacherous KingMark of Cornwall (who had besieged it earlier) in his invasion ofLogres after the Battle of Camlann.[6] In theTavola Ritonda, Camelot is abandoned and falls to ruin after the death of Arthur.
Although the court at Celliwig is the most prominent in remaining early Welsh manuscripts, the various versions of theWelsh Triads agree in giving Arthur multiple courts, one in each of the areas inhabited by theCeltic Britons: Cornwall, Wales and theHen 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 asArthur's Seat, indicating Arthur was a hero known and associated with many locations acrossBrittonic areas of Britain as well asBrittany. 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 andLondon perhaps being the most prominent.
In the 15th century, the English writerThomas Malory created the image of Camelot most familiar today in hisLe Morte d'Arthur, a summary compilation work based mostly on the French romances. He firmly identifies Camelot withWinchester 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]
Arthurian scholarNorris J. Lacy commented that "Camelot, located nowhere in particular, can be anywhere."[6] The romancers' versions of Camelot draw on earlier traditions of Arthur's fabulous court. TheCelliwig ofCulhwch and Olwen appears in the Welsh Triads as well; this early Welsh material places Wales' greatest leader outside its national boundaries. Geoffrey's description ofCaerleon is probably based on his personal familiarity with the town andits Roman ruins; it is less clear that Caerleon was associated with Arthur before Geoffrey. Several French romances (Perlesvaus, the DidotPerceval attributed toRobert de Boron, and even the early romances of Chrétien such asErec and Enide andYvain, the Knight of the Lion) have Arthur hold court at "Carduel in Wales", a northern city based on the realCarlisle. Malory's identification of Camelot asWinchester was probably partially inspired by the latter city's history: it had been the capital ofWessex underAlfred the Great, and boasted theWinchester Round Table, an artefact 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 atCaerwent.[15]
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In 1542,John Leland reported that the locals aroundCadbury Castle (formerly known as Camalet)[16] inSomerset 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 theRiver Cam and the villages ofQueen Camel andWest Camel, and remained popular enough to help inspire a large-scale archaeological dig in the 20th century.[14] These excavations, led by archaeologistLeslie 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 fromc. 470. Thisearly medieval settlement continued until around 580.[17] The works were by far the largest known fortification of the period, double the size of comparativecaers and with Mediterranean artefacts representing extensive trade[18][19][20] andSaxon ones showing possible conquest.[14] The use of the name Camelot and the support ofGeoffrey 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 ofDavid 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 ofCamulodunum (modernColchester) was derived from the Celtic godCamulus. 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 theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle in 917. EvenColchester 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 ofHuddersfield inWest 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 toNorth Wales), and would have been a flagship point in staving off attacks to the Celtic kingdoms from theAngles and others.
Other places in Britain with names related to "Camel" have also been suggested, such asCamelford in Cornwall, located down theRiver 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 withArthur'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 beingCarmore orCarmure.[24]Graham Phillips rejected the word "Camelot" entirely as just Chrétien's invention and instead proposed the old Roman city ofViroconium (nearShrewsbury in modern England) as Arthur's capital, citing archaeological evidence of a grand palace having been in use around 500 AD.[25]Alistair Moffat identified Camelot withRoxburgh in Scotland.[26]
Camelot has become a permanent fixture in modern interpretations of the Arthurian legend. The symbolism of Camelot so impressedAlfred, 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 aHigh Middle Ages palace.[6] 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 asMarion Zimmer Bradley andMary Stewart place their Camelots in that place and describe it accordingly.[14]
Camelot lends its name to the musicalCamelot, which was adapted into afilm of the same title, featuring the Castle ofCoca, Segovia as Camelot. An Arthurian television seriesCamelot was also named after the castle, as were some other works including the video gameCamelot and the comic book seriesCamelot 3000. French television seriesKaamelott 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 ofLancashire. TheCamelot Group was the first operator of theUK National Lottery[29] with lottery machines named after characters, places, and objects in Arthurian legend.[30] The vast cultural impact of Camelot can be seen in numerous works, products, and organisations.Visualizing Camelot, aUniversity of Rochester exhibit by Alan andBarbara Tepa Lupack offered a cross-section of 350 such items in 2024.[31]
In strictly American contexts,Camelot era refers to thepresidency ofJohn F. Kennedy. In a 1963Life interview,Jacqueline, his widow, referenced a line from the Lerner and Loewe musical to describe the Kennedy eraWhite 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 favourite lyrics from the musical and added, "there'll be great Presidents again [...] but there'll never be another Camelot again."[32]
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