I need a brief description of Camelot.

[Ryduce]

Anything you know would be helpful.

Also,does anybody know what year St.George was canonized,and by what Pope??

I'm sure this is right up Pendragon's alley.

Thanks in advance.

[Virgil]

Hey Ry. Nice to see you. Here's a few sites that might help. What do you need them or?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George

[Ryduce]

Writing a paper.

[Ryduce]

Every site that I go to says that his canonization is unknown.

[Virgil]

St. George - Feast: April 23rd (Optional Memorial)

Born: Unknown -- Died: 303 -- Canonized: Unknown
Roman Calendar: Yes -- Roman Canon: No -- Other:


St. George was born in Cappadocia. He was a defender of Christianity and died a martyr around 303 A.D. He suffered many tortures. Once he was beaten with clubs and tortured with hot irons. Our Savior came that night and restored him to health. Also, St. George drank deadly poison, was squeezed between two spiked wheels, boiled in lead all of which had no affect on him. Each of these things caused a member of the Datianus court including his wife to convert to Christianity. Eventually he was beheaded. St. George is the Patron Saint of England, Boy Scouts, Cavalryman, Chivalry, Farmers and Soldiers.

Yeah, I guess it is unknown.

http://www.carr.org/~meripper/saints/index.html

[Ryduce]

I guess that's what I'm gonna have to go with.

Thanks,Virgil.Hope you're well.

[Virgil]

Yes thank you. Just had my birthday a few days ago. My birthday thread is still floating about.

[Ryduce]

Well happy belated birthday then.

I hope you didn't celebrate to excessively,if you know what I mean.:sick: ;)

[PeterL]

Description of Camelot in what sense? The location of Camelot is uncertain, but people in Cornwall say that it was in the location of a later fortress on the Camel River. That's about it.

[Ryduce]

Just a physical description.

[Virgil]

Well happy belated birthday then.

I hope you didn't celebrate to excessively,if you know what I mean.:sick: ;)

Thanks. No I didn't over do it. ;)

[Wild Apple]

Thanks. No I didn't over do it. ;)

Hey Virgil, did you receive my private messsage?

[Whifflingpin]

"I need a brief description of Camelot"

There are two types of "Camelot"

One is the realistic kind, and the other is the mediaeval/Victorian picture of Camelot.

Realistically, King Arthur was a leader of Romano-British people in the late sixth-early seventh century. In this period, in some places, Roman style buildings were still being erected in Britain (there was a Roman style temple built around 600AD in Exeter, if I remember correctly.) So Arthur's capital might have been a walled Romano-British town with forum, Christian basilica, temples, stone town houses and other tiled or thatched houses of wattle & daub.

(see here for best Roman walls left in England http://seniortravel.about.com/od/southdownsway/p/porchester.htm )

Alternatively, if Arthur did not adopt a particular city, like Exeter or Bath as his capital, then Camelot was a cross between a British hill fort and a Roman military fort.
Imagine a hill, grassy smooth and not too high, with a river running round its foot. Round the top of the hill, a triple ring of deep ditches and earth ramparts, crowned with palisades. The way through the ramparts angled and sheep-shanked, so that any enemy charging a gate would be overlooked by the defenders.
Within the ramparts a townlet, laid out in the cross and grid shaped military fashion. Most of the buildings were wooden, but, in the centre of the cross, a Praesidium and church of stone.
(See here for a good hill-fort
http://www.historic-uk.com/DestinationsUK/MaidenCastle.htm )

In Mediaeval and Victorian romance, Camelot was a bustling mediaeval fortress town. On a hill, with a river and meadows. Walls, bastions, more fluttering flags than Henley on regatta day. Colours of all kinds. Knights, armoured or dressed for hunting or travel, and their ladies; Prelates, priests and friars in red, purple, black or brown; Merchants, richly dressed in wool and fur, townsfolk in leather, farmfolk with faces indistinguishable from the apples they were selling; scampering and mischievous children and weary pilgrims.
(See here for mediaeval town http://www.carcassonne.org/ )

*** *** ***

[PeterL]

Just a physical description.

It probably was a hill fort with a wall of stone and timber. If you can find a photo of a Welsh or Cornish castle from around 600 CE a a reconstruction of such a fort, then you have as good an idea what it looked like as anyone. The earliest stories of Arthur placed him in Caerleon Castle. There are photos of the ruins http://www.caerleon.net/mynde/castle/page8.html I have no idea whether these ruins date from Arthgur's time or later. The site was used by the Romans before Arthur's time.
South Cadbury in Somerset was the model for the location and castle when the name Camelot was first used. http://www.celtic-twilight.com/travel/england/southcadbury.htm
and
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/49
and
http://www.britannia.com/history/cadcast.html

Take your pick. It certainly wasn't a huge Medeaval castle, but beyond that no one knows. If you want a concept of it, then the Britannica site has sketches of what such a fort would have looked like.

[Ryduce]

Thanks guys.

I appreciate it.

[Virgil]

Hey Virgil, did you receive my private messsage?

Wild Apple, unless you're referring to the one you just sent today, no I have not. When did you send it? You're question above was sent on Dec 19th.

[Pendragon]

Sorry, Ry, I've not been in this section for a while. This is Camelot:

http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/gallery/camelot.jpg

Fortunately, Virgil and Wiff look out for me a lot...
http://smilies.vidahost.com/contrib/sarge/happyNeo.gifhttp://smilies.vidahost.com/contrib/sarge/Zed.gif

Thanks, Guys! :thumbs_up