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Round Table, n.
Also round table, Table Round.
1. a. The table, celebrated in mediæval legend, round which Arthur and his chosen knights were supposed to have sat, and which was made round so that there might be no pre-eminence or rivalry.
The earliest mention of the table is that in Wace's Roman de Brut (1155). From at least the 15th century (see quot. 1485) the name has been given to a large circular table preserved at Winchester, bearing the names of Arthur and his most famous knights.
a1300Cursor M. 14 O kyng arthour þat was so rike,..O ferlys þat hys knythes fell, Þat aunters sere I here of tell,..For to were þe ronde tabell. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 10525 For his barons þat were so bolde..Dide Arthur ordeyne þe round table [F. la roonde table] Þat ȝit men telle of many a fable. 1470–85Malory Arthur iii. i. 101 For I shalle gyue hym the table round, the whiche Vtherpendragon gaue me. 1485Caxton Malory's Arthur Pref., In dyuers places of Englond many remembraunces ben yet of hym... At wynchester the rounde table. 1589Nashe Anat. Absurd. Wks. (Grosart) I. 14 The feyned no where acts of Arthur of the rounde table. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. iv. 299 Then sing they how he first ordain'd the Circled-board, The Knights whose martial deeds far fam'd that Table-round. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Table, The Round Table..was an Invention of that Prince, to avoid Disputes about the upper and lower End. 1802Ritson Metr. Rom. I. p. xlvi, Neither..does this impostour [Geoffrey of Monmouth] ever mention the round table.
b. In Knight (etc.) of the Round Table.
c1330Arth. & Merl. 6518 (Kölbing), Next hem, wiþ outen fable, Sat þe kniȝtes of þe rounde table. a1400Morte Arth. 17, I salle telle ȝow a tale..Off the ryealle renkys of the Rowunde Table. 1430–40Lydg. Bochas viii. xxv. (1494) E ij, Arthure..Amonge his knightes of the round table. Ibid. E ij b, By othe and promyse bounde To brotherhede of the table rounde. 1470–85Malory Arthur iv. iv. 124 By my hede said Arthur he is best worthy to be a knyght of the rounde table of ony that ye haue reherced. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xix. (Arb.) 57 Old aduentures and valiaunces..of king Arthur and his knights of the round table. 1671Phillips, Knights of the Round-Table, or King Arthur's Knights. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Table, Paulus Jovius says, 'twas under the Empire of Frederic Barberosa, that the Knights of the Round Table first began to be talk'd of. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxviii. (1787) III. 619 The gallantry and superstition of the British hero,..and the memorable institution of his Knights of the Round Table. 1802Ritson Metr. Rom. III. 240 Queen Guinever,..with certain knights of the round-table, clothe'd all in green. 1859Tennyson Geraint 3 The brave Geraint,..one Of that great Order of the Table Round.
c. The body of knights of this order.
c1330Arth. & Merl. 2196 (Kölbing), Afterward..Our king bigan þe rounde table..Of kniȝtes, þat men wist best In þis warld. a1400Morte Arth. 93 That thow bee redy at Rome with alle thi Rounde Table. 1470–85Malory Arthur ix. i. 339 All your courte and alle your Round table is by sire launcelot worshipped..more than by ony knyghte now lyuynge.
1842Tennyson Morte d'Arthur 234 But now the whole Round Table is dissolved.., And I, the last, go forth companionless.
†d. A meeting or assembly of Arthur's knights and nobles. Obs.
1297R. Glouc. Chron. (Rolls) 3916 Þer nas bituene þis & spayne no prince wiþoute al þis, Þat nas at þis rounde table, & at is feste ywis. a1400Morte Arth. 53 Whene he thys rewmes hade redyne.., Then rystede that ryalle and helde the Rounde Tabylle. Ibid. 74 Thus one ryalle araye he helde his Rounde Table. c1470Harding Chron. lxiii. 25 He [sc. Arthur] held his houshold, and the rounde table, Some time at Edenburgh, some tyme at Striueline.
e. attrib., as Round Table cycle, Round Table hero, Round Table knight, Round Table legend, etc.
1700Dryden Wife of Bath's T. 352 Is this the custom of King Arthur's court? Are all Round-Table Knights of such a sort? 1798C'tess Purgstall Let. in Lockhart Scott (1837) I. ix. 288 Don't..give him a name out of your list of round-table knights. 1883Encycl. Brit. XV. 523/1 He [Walter Map] was..one of the principal creators of the Round Table legends. 1886Ibid. XX. 646 Pedigree of the Round-Table Heroes. 1897Amours Scot. Allit. Poems (S.T.S.) p. lxxii, One of the stock stories so common in the Round Table cycle.
2. An imitation of Arthur's Round Table as an institution; an assembly of knights for the purpose of holding a tournament and festival, esp. that instituted by King Edward III in 1345.
The statements in Dugdale, Warton, etc., in regard to the tournament held by Mortimer at Kenilworth in 1279 are based on misunderstandings of the older authorities (see Wykes in Ann. Monast. (Rolls) IV. 281–2 and Rishanger Chron. 94).
[1232Patent Rolls (1903) 492 De rotunda tabula prohibenda.—Rex omnibus fidelibus suis qui conventuri sunt ad rotundam tabulam, salutem. c1330Ann. Lond. in Chron. Edw. I & II (Rolls) I. 46 Tabula rotunda apud Waldene, ubi Ernulphus de Mounteneye a Rogero de Leyborne lancea interfectus est.] c1400Brut (1908) 296 When þe Iustes were don, King Edward made a grete soper, in þe wiche he ordeyned feest, and bygan þe Rounde Table, & ordeyned & stefastyd þe day of þe forsaide Rounde Table to be holde þer at Wyndissore in Whitesen-wike euermore after erly. 1483Caxton G. de la Tour C ij, A good lady that gat a grete blame at a grete feste of a round table atte Joustes. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. c. 120 The king of Englond toke pleasure to newe reedefy the Castell of Wyndsore,..and ther firste begonne the table rounde. 1552in Archaeologia (1863) XXXIX. 34 To the knights of the Round Table (if I do it not in my lifetyme) xxs. to be spent at Myle end. 1765Percy Reliq. I. 35 Any king was said to ‘hold a round table’ when he proclaimed a tournament attended with some peculiar solemnities. 1803Godwin Life Chaucer I. 133 Edward III..purposing from the knights whose prowess on this occasion should be the most approved, to select the members of his new order, to be styled knights of the Round Table. 1846Archaeologia XXXI. 106 The feast of the Round Table..in March, 1345.
†b. (See quot.) Obs.
The quotation is a direct translation from Walsingham Historia Brevis (1574) 154.
1592Stow Ann. (1595) 367 King Edward [III in 1345] caused to be called together a great many Artificers, to the Castell of Windsore, and beganne to builde an house, which was called the round Table.
3. A name applied locally to various natural or artificial antiquities, freq. reputed to have associations with King Arthur.
1375Barbour Bruce xiii. 379 Beneth the castell [of Stirling] went thai soyne, Richt by the Rownde Tabill thair way. 1530Lindesay Test. Papyngo 634 Adew, fair Snawdoun, with thy touris hie, Thy Chapell royall, Park, and tabyll rounde! 1612Selden Illustr. Drayton's Polyolb. iv. 302 In Denbighshire..is a circular plain, cut out of a main rock, with some twenty-four seats unequal, which they call Arthur's Round Table. 1813Scott Trierm. i. vii, He pass'd red Penrith's Table Round, For feats of chivalry renown'd. 1836Penny Cycl. VI. 106/2 A space of ground [at Caerleon], which it is believed was a Roman amphitheatre, is commonly called Arthur's Round Table. 1872Hardwicke Trad., etc. Lancs. 216 Several circular mounds in various parts of England..are..honoured with the name of ‘King Arthur's Round Table’.
4. (Freq. with lower-case initials.) Used generally (alone or as attrib. phrase) to denote a number of persons seated round a circular table, or imagined as forming a gathering of this kind; spec. an assembly of people for a conference or discussions at which all participants are accorded equal status (in this sense freq. attrib.). Also transf., a collection of opinions or remarks on a particular subject.
1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 342 For cards she had no genius. Even the noise and nonsense of a round-table could not reconcile her to those bits of painted pasteboard. 1852Life in Bombay 33 The snug round-table dinner-party. 1885Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 656/2 Those four hundred poets who formed the famous ‘Round Table’ in the sultan's..palace. 1889Pall Mall G. 6 Nov. 4/1 The ‘New Round Table’ is a symposium on Home Rule—a collection of remarks..from persons of various standpoints. 1892Review of Reviews Feb. 148/1 The subject of the ‘Round Table Conference’..is what part churches should take in labour problems. 1901H. W. Paul Life Gladstone xxi. 245 The year 1887 opened with an attempt to reconcile the conflicting elements of the Liberal Party, which came to be known as the Round Table Conference. 1910(title of periodical) The Round Table: a quarterly review of the politics of the British Empire. 1928Daily Express 3 July 2/4 The Archbishop of Canterbury made a striking proposal yesterday for a ‘round table’ to discuss the future relations of Church and State. 1929Times 31 Oct. 14/3 Mr. Benn himself proposed to visit India forthwith for..a round-table conference. 1943M. McCarthy in Partisan Rev. May–June 280 The problems..are..opened for discussion in an atmosphere reminiscent of the Chicago Round Table. 1943Times 8 July 5/5 In certain instances we stayed overnight to enjoy the free and easy of a ‘round table conference’. 1947Radio Times 14 Mar. 1/2 Round-table controversial political discussions, which the BBC will continue to originate. 1952D. Riesman in Antioch Rev. Dec. 418 A roundtable..of which he was chairman at the Corning Conference. 1955Times 30 July 5/1 Round-table talks may be held in London about a year hence to consider a new constitution for a self⁓governing Singapore. 1973Word 1970 XXVI. 120 He took an active part in the linguistic and anthropological life of Mexico, attending conferences, round tables, and the like. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 10 Apr. 1/3 The Observer convened an informal round-table talk involving six young people with differing perspectives. 1978Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 768/1 In 1930–31 he was Adviser to the Indian States Delegation to the Round Table Conference in London.
5. A formal association whose members meet regularly for discussion, spec. an organization (or a branch of it) founded in 1927, in which professional people between the ages of 18 and 40 hold discussions, debates, and similar activities, and undertake community service and the promotion of international understanding. Also allusively as adj., designating the qualities or characteristics associated with the Round Table or its members.
1917L. Curtis Let. to People of India 13 The Round Table organisation..is merely a system for enabling people to unite for the study of their duties as citizens of this Commonwealth, as a guide to their own individual action. 1928Review of Reviews Mar.–Apr. 253/2 At Norwich..an Association of Young Men has established a Club for young business men, meeting once a week in the evening for the reading of papers, discussions, and debates, under the title of ‘The Round Table’. 1955A. Huxley Let. 25 Mar. (1969) 739 Possibly also to go up..and stay a few days near Puharich's Round Table Foundation outfit. 1968Guardian 10 Sept. 2/7 Mr Powell was speaking to the Rowley Regis Round Table at Cradley Heath, Staffordshire. 1972J. Burmeister Running Scared xvii. 213 The woman was..wearing carefully bleached out jeans... Round Table, thought Ginny, with a touch of country. ‘I'm terribly sorry.’ The voice was Round Table too. 1973Stand. Encycl. S. Afr. IX. 412/2 The Round Table movement in South Africa was founded in East London in 1948. 1977Times of Zambia 7 Sept. 2/4 The committee is made up of the Rotary, Round Table and Lions clubs members.
Hence round-table v., to take part in a round-table conference; round-tabler.
The use in quot. 1923 is with allusion to the periodical The Round Table (see quot. 1910 under sense 4 above).
1887Pall Mall G. 3 Feb. 1 When Mr. Goschen goes over to the Tories on one side, Mr. Chamberlain round-tables on the other. 1889Ibid. 6 Nov. 4/1 Other round tablers are Mr. Andrew Reid.., Lord Monkswell.., and others. 1923T. E. Lawrence Let. 27 Mar. (1938) 413 You [sc. Lionel Curtis] have tried (Round Tabling and by mouth) to tell all whom you can reach. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 1 May 19/3 They might squabble bitterly from time to time, but in the main the Round Tablers quoted each other, promoted each other, wrote books and plays and articles about each other with an incestuous zeal. 1976Norwich Mercury 10 Dec., Children of Round Tablers sing for the 250 old folk from Wymondham and Attleborough who attended a Christmas party in Wymondham Central Hall on Sunday. |