The oldest known documents about King Arthur contain no
information about Camelot. The place isn’t mentioned at all until the
twelfth century, when a French poet named Chretien de Troyes mentioned
it by name in one of his poems about Lancelot.
Later, in 1485, it’s mentioned in the tale by Sir Thomas Malory “Le Morte D’Arthur” that the round table is located in the great hall at Winchester.
There
has also been speculation that the word Camelot comes from the Latin
word “Camulodunum”. Camulodunum is the oldest settlement in England,
according to the Romans. This settlement became a large fort when Roman legions invaded England. It was located in what is modern day Essex. Prior to Roman invasion, it was the home of many Celtic tribes.
Another
interesting theory is that Camelot could be associated with the River
Camel in Cornwall. It was mentioned in some Arthurian legends that he
was born in Tintagel Castle in Cornwall. Could there have once been a great kingdom nearby?
Perhaps
our greatest clue came in 1542, when a man named John Leland traveled
around England collecting information about England’s history. He wrote
about an “town or castle” called Camallate that sat on a hill south of
South Cadbury Church. The nearby villagers told him that Arthur used to
visit this “Camallate”. “At the top of the hill,” he wrote, “there is a
great area of 20 acres,
wherein diverse places foundations of walls can still be seen. There was
a lot of blue stone which the people of the village have used again and
taken away.”
Could
the remains of this “castle or town” be that of the Camelot mentioned
in Arthurian legends? Or could it have been nothing more than the
villagers’ folklore? Whatever the case may be, this area is located in
modern day Somerset.
Whether Camelot was located in Winchester, Essex, Cornwall, Somerset, or elsewhere in the British Isles,
we’ll probably never know. It’s always possible that Camelot never
existed at all, although trying to pinpoint the exact place wherein its
origins are based is pretty fascinating. In the end, Camelot joins
Avalon and Lyonesse as other long lost places from Arthurian legends.
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