What was a Round Table?
Time Team experts Julian Munby and Richard Barber can't agree on what form Edward III's Round Table Building would have taken (see Saturday 1pm). But what was the medieval idea of a round table all about? Richard Barber explained his research on the subject to Steve Platt.

The medieval kings of England were deeply involved with the stories about their legendary predecessor King Arthur. A historical poem about Arthur, Wace's Brut (History of the British), was dedicated to Henry II, and Chretien de Troyes, author of the first surviving Arthurian romances, may have come to Henry's court at Windsor.

A century later, Edward I held round tables in imitation of King Arthur's institution of that name. These were a kind of tournament where the participants took an oath of good behaviour and brotherhood for the duration of the event. Edward personally arranged such events at Nefyn in Wales in 1284 and at Falkirk in 1302, and took part in a number of other such occasions.

These festivals culminated in an occasion for which he commissioned a physical round table, a great tournament at Winchester in 1290. The table can still be seen today in Winchester Hall. The event was a grand occasion to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of Edward's son and two of his daughters. His nephew was granted the enormous sum, for the time, of 1,000 marks (£666 13s 4d) to enable him to take part.

Royal re-enactors
A Round Table was much more than just jousting, however. There is evidence that at one of Edward's many round tables during his reign, possibly that at Winchester in 1290, an elaborate piece of play-acting was at the centre of the proceedings. The king and his knights re-enacted a scene familiar to all readers of Arthurian romance, a great feast at which the meal could not begin until some 'adventure' has taken place in the hall.

The Dutch poet Lodewijk van Velthem described the scenario, which began when a squire spattered with blood appeared, demanding that the king should take revenge on the Welshmen who had rebelled and injured him. Soon afterwards, another squire appeared, bound hand and foot to his horse, declaring that the Irish had done this to him, and that the Irish king had commanded him to issue a challenge to Lancelot to meet him in single combat. Finally, the 'loathly damsel' who appears in the story of Perceval and the Grail rode into the hall. Her message was that Leicester and Cornwall had rebelled, and that Perceval and Gawain should go to quell the disturbances.

Edward III's Round Table
Edward III was also an enthusiastic participant in tournaments and in 1344, when there was an uneasy truce with France, he organised a Round Table event at Windsor that was probably designed to rally support for his claim to the French throne. The building – or arena – that was erected at this time is what Time Team is looking for in the Upper Ward today. We'll be bringing you more about the 1344 festival later.

A spiral staircase emerges
As the dig progresses in the Upper Ward, it looks as though any archaeology is likely to be deeper than anticipated. The first metre seems to consist of Victorian demolition rubble and garden layers of gravel and earth. Time Team regular Ian Powlesland, who often features at the wheel of the team's mechanical digger and tipper truck is already worried about the volume of spoil he's having to handle.

Meanwhile, in the Lower Ward, the biggest problem so far is working round the services (water, electricity and gas) in the trenches. The bottom of the spiral staircase from James Denton's 1519 building is now clearly visible, however, and Tim Tatton-Brown thinks that a level floor surface adjacent to the staircase could be the original floor of Henry II's Great Hall.

Photo: Tim Tatton-Brown talks to Lower Ward site supervisor Kevin Blockley while excavating the bottom of the spiral staircase from James Denton's 1519 building. The floor surface possibly associated with Henry II's Great Hall is behind Tim Tatton-Brown.

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