King Arthur's Round Table

February 14, 2014

If you were to poll the population to see which is the most famous table, King Arthur's Round Table would most likely be No. 1. Since elementary school, I have been intrigued with everything Arthurian. Being in the table business and writing about King Arthur's Round Table is a wonderful intersection of two parts of my life.

The first mentions of the round table in the "pop culture" of the 12th century. There it was mentioned how Arthur created the table to prevent arguments among his knights and barons. As opposed to a rectangular/square table, a round table has no "head" so no one had to accept a lower place than another. According to one of the stories, a Cornish carpenter made a transportable round table. The historians who believe King Arthur to be a pure legendary figure feel the idea of the round table was added because of descriptions of Charlemagne and his round table with a map of Rome on top. In Part 2 we will discuss some different variations of the legendary round table. One thing is certain, the right table, in the right spot, can help you change the atmosphere for the better.

The Round Table "recreation" at Winchester Cathedral. Probably created for different tournaments in the 16th c.

An image of The Round Table from the excellent movie King Arthur with Clive Owen and Kiera Knightley from 2004

One last image of The Round Table from the BBC series "Merlin". Another excellent retelling of the legend that really finds it's stride during season 3.