Camelot in King Arthur’s time

Camelot

Camelot was a city surrounded by forests and meadows with plenty of open space for knightly tournaments (which were

held frequently). When a tournament was held, wooden reviewing stands for the ladies and maidens would be set up, one of which is mentioned as running for half a league (about 2.5 kilometers).

The text said that Camelot was a “rich and well provided town” but offers few details as to its layout or exact size. It was small enough that during a particularly lavish court so many barons and nobles came that “not a tenth of them could be lodged in the city of Camelot, and the others found shelter in the meadowland, which was wide and beautiful, in tents and pavilions,” 

The church of St. Stephen apparently contained a large burial ground as numerous knights are mentioned as being interred there.

Indeed, Camelot saw more than its share of wars in the Vulgate stories. The city’s defences were formidable, surviving a war against the Saxons and another invasion in which the Saxons were aided by Cornishmen. “After the bridges were raised and the gates shut, they [a group of knights] climbed high on the walls to see whether or not the Saxons were coming to storm the city, but the Saxons did not have the will,” reads a section of one story 

The text says that Arthur held court in a castle (or a tower as it’s sometimes called) furnished with a main courtyard, bedrooms, areas for feasting and, apparently, the Round Table. The castle is close enough to a body of water so that in one story Arthur could see a boat coming into Camelot holding what turned out to be a dead maiden.

While tournaments are held frequently the people of Camelot also enjoyed other, less-violent, forms of recreation. In one story, Lancelot gives King Arthur a fine chess set, knowing that Queen Guinevere is a good player.

According to one story, an inscription was found saying that the quest for the Holy Grail (a quest discussed at length in the Vulgate) must begin 453 years after the resurrection of Jesus. This gives a rough date for when Camelot was said to be flourishing.

By: Victoria Minervini