or it had belonged to Leodegrance, king of Cornwall and father of Guenevere, and was given to Arthur on his marriage with that princess. When the founding of the Round Table is ascribed to Merlin it is generally in close connexion with the Grail legend, forming the last of a series of three, founded in honour of the Trinity—the first being the table of the Last Supper, the second that of the Grail, established by Joseph of Arimathea. The number of knights whorn the table will seat varies; it might seat twelve or fifty or a hundred and fifty; nowhere, save in Layamon, do we find a practically unlimited power of accommodation. It is also to be noted that whereas, in the pseudo-chronicles, it is the common table of Arthur’s court, designed in the interests of peace and unity, in the romances it is a sign of superiority, only the best and most valiant knights being adjudged worthy of a seat at the Round Table. In fact, it has become the equivalent of an order of knighthood, the members of which form a brotherhood bound by oath to succour each other at need and to refrain from fighting among themselves. The membership is not restricted to the knights of Arthur’s immediate court and household, knights who are, in all essentials outsiders, appearing but as passing guests at Arthur’s board, such as, e.g., Perceval and Tristan, may be elected knights of the Round Table. In two romances, the prose Tristan and the Parzival, the place of the Round Table proper is taken, on a journey, by a silken cloth laid on the ground, round which the knights are seated. In the versions more closely connected with the Grail story the name of the chosen knight appears on his seat, and there is one vacant place, the Siege perilous, eventually to be filled by the Grail winner.
It is obvious that the tradition has passed through several stages, and has varied in the process. The original source is not easy to determine. Dr Lewis Mott has pointed' out that “Round Tables” exist in many parts of Great Britain, the name being often associated with circular trenches, or rings of stones, which were demonstrably employed in Connexion with the agricultural festivals held at Pentecost, Midsummer and Michaelmas. However this may be, and it seems probable that Dr Mott is right in his identification, the pseudo-chroniclers and romance writers certainly had in their minds a genuine table, although, probably, one of magical properties. Thus Layamon’s table can seat an indefinite number, and yet it can be carried by Arthur when he rides abroad. On closely examining Layamon’s version it seems probable that he had in his mind not merely a circular, but a turning table; he gives it as ground for the quarrel that all the knights wished to sit within; at the table the Cornish Workman will make none shall be left without, but they shall sit “ without and within, man against man.” It is difficult to explain this phrasing in any other hypothesis than that Layamon pictured to himself Arthur’s hall as open on one side, and that, on a great feast-day, owing to the number of guests, the table extended beyond the covering afforded by the roof. As the feast *took place “ on mid-winter’s day ” the annoyance ofthose who were without would be intelligible. To obviate this the cunning Workman devised a circular table, turning on a. pivot, with seats affixed, at which the guests sat the one half in turn within, the other without, the hall “man against man.” This would make the Round Table analogous to the turning castles which we frequently meet with in romances; and while explaining the peculiarities of Layamon’s text, would make it additionally probable that he was dealing with an earlier tradition of folklore character, a tradition which was probably also familiar to Wace, whose version, though much more condensed than Layamon’s, is yet in substantial harmony with this latter. This, too, is certain; the fight for precedence at Arthur’s board may be paralleled by accounts of precisely similar quarrels in early Irish literature, e.g. the famous tale of Fled Bricrend or Bricriu’s Feast of the Ultonian cycle.
Recent grail researches have made it most probable that that mysterious talisman was originally the vessel of the ritual feast held in honour of a deity of vegetation,—Adonis, or another; if the Round Table also, as Dr Mott suggests, derives from a similar source, we have a link between these two notable features of Arthurian tradition, and an additional piece of evidence in support of the view that behind the Arthur of romance there lie not only memories of an historic British chieftain, but distinct traces of a mythological and beneficent hero. Incidentally also it would seem that those versions which connect the table more closely with Arthur are the more correct.
See Wace, Le Roman de Brut, ed. Leroux de Lincy (1836–38), vol. ii. 74–76); Layamon, Brut, ed. Madden, vol. ii. p. 532; A. C. L. Brown, The Round Table before Wace (Boston, 1900); Lewis F. Mott, The Round Table (Boston, 1905). (J. L. W.)
ROUND TOWERS. A peculiar class of round tower exists throughout Ireland; about one hundred and twenty examples once existed; most of these are ruined, but eighteen or twenty are almost perfect. These towers were built either near or adjoining a church; they are of various dates, from perhaps the 8th to the 13th century; though varying in size and detail, they have many characteristics common to all. They are built with walls slightly battering inwards, so that the tower tapers towards the top. The lower part is formed of solid masonry, the one doorway being raised from 6 to 20 ft. above the ground, and so only accessible by means of a ladder. The towers within are divided into several storeys by two or more floors, usually of wood, but in some cases, as at Keneith, of stone slightly arched. The access from floor to floor was by ladders. The windows, which are always high up, are single lights, mostly arched or with a flat stone lintel. In some of the oldest towers they have triangular tops, formed by two stones leaning together. One peculiarity of the door and window openings in the Irish round towers is that the jambs are frequently set sloping, so that the opening grows narrower towards the top, as in the temples of ancient Egypt. The later examples of these towers, dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, are often decorated with chevron, billet and other Norman enrichments round the jambs and arches. The roof s of stone, usually conical in shape, and some of the later towers are crowned by a circle of battlements. The height of the round towers varies from about 60 to 132 ft.; that at Kilcullen was the highest. The masonry differs according to its date,—the oldest examples being built of almost uncut rubble work, and the later ones of neatly jointed ashlar.
Much has been written as to the use of these towers, and the most conflicting theories as to their origin have been propounded. It is fairly certain, however, that they were constructed by Christian builders, both from the fact that they always are or once were near a church, and also because crosses and other Christian emblems frequently occur among the sculptured decorations of their doors and windows. Their original purpose was probably for places of refuge, for which the solid base and the door high above the ground seem specially adapted. They may also have been watch-towers, and in later times often contained bells. Their circular form was probably for the sake of strength, angles which could be attacked by a battering ram being thus avoided, and also because no quoins or dressed stones were needed, except for the openings—an important point at a time when tools for working stone were scarce and imperfect. Both these reasons may also account for the Norman round towers which are so common at the west end of churches in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, though these have little resemblance to those of Ireland except in the use of a circular plan. One example exactly like those of Ireland exists in the Isle of Man, within the precincts of Peel Castle adjacent to the cathedral of St German; it was probably the work of Irish builders. There are also three in Scotland, viz. at Egilshay in Orkney, and at Abernethy and Brechin.
Round towers wider and lower in proportion than those of Ireland appear to have been built by many prehistoric races in different parts of Europe. The towers of this class in Scotland are called "brochs"; they average about 50 ft. high and 30 ft. in internal diameter. Their walls, which are usually about 15 ft. thick at the bottom, are built hollow, of rubble masonry, with series of passages one over the other running all round the tower. As in the Irish towers, the entrance is placed at some distance from the ground; and the whole structure is designed as a stronghold. The brochs
