Edward III's Tournament and 'Round Table' Building at Windsor Castle, 1344

Edward III was a lover of chivalry, celebration and order and also considered the ancient Briton King Arthur a bit of a role model. Other kings, like his later namesake Edward IV, admired his approach to court entertainment and adopted these traits into their own households. Theatrical, extravagant and concerned with heading a royal court of justice and legend, Edward III told his subjects in January 1344 that he wanted to host a tournament at Windsor Castle. 

Edward III, by William Bruges, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Windsor was then a stocky fortress, its famous Round Tower having been built by William the Conqueror after 1066. Many of the walls we see today date from the early 1500s, after modifications and building works were commissioned by Henry VII and his councillor Sir Reginald Bray. In the fourteenth century St George's Chapel was a smaller building, consisting of where Prince Albert's memorial chapel is today. The vast building on the left hand side was begun by Edward IV and finished under the reign of Henry VII. 

Edward III issued a safe conduct to subjects 'for the recreation and solace of men of war who delight in the exercise of arms' to travel to the castle. Foreigners were also invited, specifically 'knights, gentlemen and esquires', expected to descend on the castle with their servants. 

A fascinating eyewitness account of the tournament survives, written by Adam Murimuth, a lawyer and rector of Wraysbury, a position he held in 1331. He died later in 1347. Looking back on the event, Murimuth wrote that:

'This year the lord King arranged to have a most noble just or essay in the place of his birth, namely in the Castle of Windsor... which, at a fitting date preceding, he caused to be proclaimed both in parts beyond sea as well as in England. To which also he caused to be invited by his letters all the ladies of the southern parts of England, and the wives of the burgesses of London. Therefore having assembled the earls, barons, knights, and as many ladies as possible, on Sunday... in the aforesaid Castle, the King kept a solemn feast, so that the great hall of the same Castle was filled with ladies, nor was there any male person among them, save two knights who alone had just come from France for the festival. At which feast there were two queens, nine countesses, and wives of barons, knights, and burgesses, who could not easily be counted, whom the King himself personally arranged in their places according to their rank. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cornwall, the earls, barons, and knights, together with all the people, feasted in a tent and in other places, where there were rations and all other necessaries made ready and delivered to all freely and without murmuring, and later on ring-dances... and divers other dances were solemnly arranged.

The Norman Round Tower at Windsor today

And on the three following days the King with nineteen other knights held the lists against all coming from without; and the same Lord, not on account of the royal favour, but by reason of the great labour which he sustained, and from the luck which he had on the said three days, bore away the favours among those within. But from without Sir Miles Stapelton on the first day, Sir Philip Despenser on the second day, and Sir John Blount on the third day, bore away the favours. On the Thursday following... the Lord King made a great supper at which he began his Round Table, and received the oaths of certain earls and barons and knights whom he wished to be of the said Round Table, under a certain form pertaining to the said Round Table; and he fixed the day of holding the Round Table in the same place on the feast of Pentecost next after, and to all present he gave leave with acts of grace to return to their own affairs.

He also ordained afterwards that there should be made in the same place a most noble house, in which the said Round Table could be held at the term appointed; for the making of which, he appointed carpenters and other workmen and ordered to be provided both beams and stones, not sparing labour or expense.'

Murimuth also gives an account of another tournament and feast held at the castle in 1343, although it is not clear if this describes part of the same event or a different one. 

'In the year of Our Lord 1343, but in the second year of the pontificate of Pope Clement VI and in the seventeenth of King Edward the Third from the Conquest, beginning always and ending always at the feast of St. Michael, from which feast until the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Mary there were not any things done worthy of much note or relation, but on the Sunday next after the feast of the Blessed Mary, at Windsor, the Lord King kept a very great solemnity and a great feast ; to which he invited his first-born son the Prince of Wales, the earls, barons, and knights, and very many other nobles of his kingdom. There were also there the Lady Queen Philippa, with her children, the lady Queen-mother, the lady Isabella, countesses, baronesses, as well as ladies and gentlewomen, with an indescribable host of people about to delight in so great a solemnity. And so at feasts that were expensive and abounding in the most alluring of drink they were sustained to the satiety of everyone. Among the lords and ladies dances were not lacking, embraces and kissings alternately co-mingling. Among the knights continued joustings were being practised for three days; the best melody is made by the minstrels, and divers joyous things; to these are given changes of raiment, to those offerings were abounding; these being enriched with plenty of gold and silver.

This same solemnity lasted Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday ; on which day at night, after the end of the jousts, the Lord King caused to be proclaimed that no lord or lady presume to depart, but await until morning, to know the Lord King’s pleasure. When the morning, that is the Thursday, came, about the first hour the King caused himself to be solemnly arrayed in royal and festive vestures, and he had on uppermost a mantle of very precious velvet and the royal crown placed upon his head. The Queen was likewise most nobly adorned. The earls and barons, and the rest of the lords and ladies, with all the decency they could, according to the King’s command, prepared themselves to go with him to the chapel in the Castle of Windsor and hear mass. Which having been celebrated, the Lord King went out of the chapel, the lord Henry earl of Derby, as seneschal of England, and the lord William, earl of Salisbury, as marshal of England, going before him, each in virtue of his office carrying a staff in his hand, and the Lord King himself holding the royal sceptre in his hand. There followed him the young Lady Queen, and the lady Queen-mother, the Prince of Wales, the earls, barons, knights and nobles, with the ladies and all the people about to see so unwonted a spectacle, to the place appointed for the assembly. In which place the same Lord King and all the others at the same time stood up, and having been offered the Book, the Lord King, after touching the Gospels, took a corporeal oath that he himself, at a certain time limited to this, whilst the means were possible to him, would begin a Round Table, in the same manner and condition as the lord Arthur, formerly King of England, appointed it, namely to the number of 300 knights, a number always increasing, and he would cherish it and maintain it according to his power.

To observe, sustain, and promote which with all its appendages, the earls of Derby, Salisbury, Warwick, Arundel, Pembroke, and Suffolk, the other barons and very many knights, whom probity and renown put forward to be worthy of praise, made a like oath. Which being done, with trumpets and nakers sounding all together, the guests hastened to a feast; which feast was complete with richness of fare, variety of dishes, and overflowing abundance of drinks: the delight was unutterable, the comfort inestimable, the enjoyment without murmuring, the hilarity without care. The last things therefore corresponding to the first, the royal feast was ended, so that on the fifth day each might return to his own affairs.'

As we might expect for so lavish an occasion, Edward's costs were expensive, and not just for carving his Round Table. Works clearly involved erecting a building that the Round Table would be installed in, like a council room, although it didn't have to be used only for business. This involved a lot of money and various employees were called upon to carry out Edward's vision.  Two men were paid to drive two carts of sand over the 'bridges of the Castle... lest they be broken with the heavy carriage of the Round Table'. Their work took them two days and they were paid two shillings eight pence. Four men were paid to scatter the sand for the two days, with more sand delivered the following March. The building of the Round Table itself was begun on 15 February 1344. A carpenter named William Hurley was in charge of the project, and was asked to recruit carpenters from other towns and cities to work with him on the project. A mason named William of Ramsey was assigned for the same work. It was William of Langley's job to make sure the workers had enough stone and timber, which was to be brought from Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Middlesex. John Knyght was recruited to bring materials by boat 'between London and Windsor'. John Waleraund was 'overseer and controller of the works' and responsible for paying the bills. 

It's not known for certain what happened to Edward's building, but it no longer survives at the castle today. However its trace in historical sources and witness accounts acts as a reminder of the king's forward-thinking, chivalrous and ambitious approach to cultural identity during his reign. He died in July 1377 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

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 Source: W.H. St John Hope. Windsor Castle, An Architectural History Volume 1. London, 1913.