King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table: Fact or Fiction

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The typical romantic knight consists of a charming man sitting upon his noble steed dressed in shining armor and chain mail. It was during the Victorian Era when literature about knights greatly increased in popularity. All throughout England, restrictions were placed on writings and literature (O’Gorman 2000). Authors took to writing about knights to express their thoughts and feelings and to discuss controversies openly and without breaking the law. The more renowned knights are the knights that sat at the round table. The stories about the Knights of the Round Table are known for their dauntless adventures and scandalous romances. There are many stories that have been written on the topic of the Knights of the Round Table, but the tale “Le Morte d’Arthur” is an epic consisting of twenty-one books and five hundred and six chapters (Plot Summary: Le Morte d’Arthur 1997) of the Knights adventures. The Knights of the Round Table are a part of history that has lived on through centuries in literature and they have impacted the world in such a way that they can never be forgotten.

Though the Knights of the Round Table are courageous romantics, the journey to becoming a real knight is not so. A long and prestigious process had to be completed before a boy could become a knight. Children knew that a noble boy must pass through long years of training before ever becoming a knight. The training began usually around the age of seven. Noble fathers often did not raise their own children. Instead the child was sent off for his education and training to the castle of some lord of higher rank or greater reputation, sometimes to the court of a king. It was not always the Father’s choice to send away his son, however. The higher ranking lor...

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Plot Summary: Le Morte d'Arthur. (1997). In Epics for Students (Vol. 2). Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/PlotSummaryDetailsPage/PlotSummaryDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=SUIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Plot-Summary&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=SUIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ2125001086&source=Bookmark&u=rox3391&jsid=14229d39399bcf6921e994ce05825948

Tappan, E. M. (1911). When knights were bold. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

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