I'm back to finishing another sonnet on Arthurian Legend. This next poem has taken me to reading about King Arthur himself. The purpose of the shape of the round table was that everyone was equal and that no one, not even the King, could sit at its head. Arthur presided over the table. On the marker to Arthur's grave
Hīc iacet Arthūrus, rex quondam, rexque futūrus — "Here lies Arthur, formerly king, and king to be." is said to be inscribed.
I wonder is chivalry dead or is it just an old fashioned idea? The code of chivalry which the knights adopted according to Giovanni Boccaccio in "De Casibus Virorum Illlustrium" is as follows:
The Knights of the Round Table Code of Chivalry
- To never lay down arms
- To seek after wonders
- When called upon, to defend the rights of the weak with all one's strength
- To injure no one
- Not to attack one another
- To fight for the safety of one's country
- To give one's life for one's country
- To seek nothing before honour
- Never to break faith for any reason
- To practice religion most diligently
- To grant hospitality to anyone, each according to his ability
- Whether in honour or disgrace, to make a report with the greatest fidelity to truth to those who keep the annals
