Camelot
375
MENTIONS
24
EPISODES
16
PODCASTS
Search complete. 375 mentions across 24 episodes found for "Camelot".
Oct 24, 2026
Addison AndersonNARRATOR
Writing in the 15th century, Malory couldn't have known how prophetic this inscription would turn out to be.
Addison AndersonNARRATOR
King Arthur has risen again and again in our collective imagination, along with his retinue of knights, Guinevere, the Round Table, Camelot, and, of course, Excalibur.
Addison AndersonNARRATOR
But where do these stories come from, and is there any truth to them? King Arthur, as we know him, is a creation of the later Middle Ages, but his legend actually has its roots in Celtic poetry from an earlier time, the Saxon invasions of Britain.
Addison AndersonNARRATOR
After the Romans left Britain in 410 CE, Saxon invaders from what's now Germany and Denmark quickly capitalized on the vulnerability of the abandoned territory.
Addison AndersonNARRATOR
He lived in the middle of the Crusades, and others imposed the preoccupations of the time on the Grail, casting it as a powerful relic from the crucifixion.
Addison AndersonNARRATOR
Numerous adaptations in French and other languages followed from Chrétien's work.
Addison AndersonNARRATOR
In the course of these retellings, Caerleon became Camelot, and Caliburnus was rechristened Excalibur.
Addison AndersonNARRATOR
In the 15th century, Sir Thomas Malory synthesized these stories in Le Morte d'Arthur, the basis of many modern accounts of King Arthur.
Tom HollandHOST
It definitely fades, but not completely.
Tom HollandHOST
And I think that there is a kind of Camelot-shaped hole left, and there still is, because as you say, even today as well, there is this kind of skepticism towards the existence of Arthur.
Tom HollandHOST
And that camelot-shaped hole reflects the fact that despite all this, people still want Arthur to be true, I think.
Tom HollandHOST
I think there is a kind of yearning to believe that some of the stories might have foundations.
36 MINS LATER
Tom HollandHOST
It has unusual fame for an archaeological dig.
Tom HollandHOST
And it was held at Cadbury Castle in Somerset, which we mentioned in episode one as being one of the possible sites for the Battle of Camelon.
Tom HollandHOST
And this was an Iron Age hill fort, which at least since the Tudor period had been identified with Camelot.
Tom HollandHOST
And in fact, there was a Welsh historian who was so offended by Polydor Virgil that he said, look at Cadbury Castle.
David SwarbrickHOST
Trapped in a tall tower on an island, she sat weaving her magic web.
David SwarbrickHOST
Forbidden for reasons never fully explained from looking directly out of the window towards Camelot, she watched the world's reflections instead in a mirror.
David SwarbrickHOST
But disaster struck.
David SwarbrickHOST
She saw the handsome Sir Lancelot pass by.
David SwarbrickHOST
Sick of shadows, the hermit lady gazed for the first time at Camelot, at which point the curse descended, the mirror cracked, and she ended up drifting downriver, singing a final song, dying before ever reaching the city.
David SwarbrickHOST
Later scholars argue about what all this actually means.
David SwarbrickHOST
Is it a metaphor that shows that an artist cannot survive in the real world? Is it a feminist tale in which women breaking out of a domestic world are punished by death? Or is it a story about the dangers of desire and how love can destroy everything? Living as I do in my ivory tower here in the jungle northwest of Kandy, I take care to break out now and again to descend on the bars and restaurants of Colombo and its society so I could keep track, albeit slimly, of what is meant to be the real world.
David SwarbrickHOST
On either side the river lie long fields of barley and of rye that clothe the world and meet the sky.
Nathan SchuerHOST
I am Nathan Schuer.
Nathan SchuerHOST
And joining me from Camelot, where he's been banned from the round table for requesting separate checks and insisting that he shouldn't have to subsidize Sir Gawain's appetizers because he's only had a flagon of mead, Sir Sam Coale.
Sam CoaleHOST
Am I, uh, am I, am I on a podcast? [laughs] Hi, Mom.
Sam CoaleHOST
Oh.
6 MINS LATER
Nathan SchuerHOST
All right, uh, so let me just see one thing here.
Nathan SchuerHOST
So I have a really brief one here 'cause, uh, I think we can distill this down.
Nathan SchuerHOST
Merlin the magician helps Arthur unite the Britons and around, a- around the Round Table of Camelot, even as dark forces conspire to tear it apart.
Nathan SchuerHOST
There you go.
Robin CotterNARRATOR
After Arthur had proved his prowess in his contest with the eleven kings, he decided to establish his court and the Order of the Round Table.
Robin CotterNARRATOR
The place he chose was the city of Camelot in Wales, which had a good situation being built upon a hill.
Robin CotterNARRATOR
He called the wise Merlin and ordered him to make a great palace on the summit of the hill.
Robin CotterNARRATOR
Through his powers of enchantment, Merlin was able to do this very quickly, and within a week, the king and his personal attendants were settled in the palace.
6 MINS LATER
Robin CotterNARRATOR
The king's officers were very important members of Arthur's court.
Robin CotterNARRATOR
First of these came the Archbishop of Canterbury, who held the highest place in the king's regard.
Robin CotterNARRATOR
It was his duty to conduct the church services for Arthur and his followers and to christen, marry, and bury the people of Camelot.
Robin CotterNARRATOR
Next, Sir Ulphias as chamberlain superintended the care of the king's rooms.
John RichardsonHOST
I don't know what Portmerion is.
John RichardsonHOST
I think if it's the Round Table, then it's c- it's Camelot, isn't it? But I thought that was just off the M6.
Suzi RuffellHOST
Camelot.
John RichardsonHOST
Um, the old theme park.
John RichardsonHOST
Um, Tintagel.
John RichardsonHOST
Tintagel Castle?
IzzyPANELIST
I'd like to say I was close, but I wasn't.
IzzyPANELIST
I went for Camelot.
speaker_1HOST
Oh, definitely.
speaker_0HOST
If the showrunners actually stick to Andrzej Sapkowski's original novels, this blood-soaked, cynical, Eastern European-inspired universe is going to crash headfirst into Camelot.
speaker_1HOST
It's wild.
speaker_0HOST
Like the actual knights of the roundtable, Sir Galahad.
17 MINS LATER
speaker_0HOST
How does this massive, continent-spanning, millions-of-dollars-per-episode saga conclude?
speaker_1HOST
It's so simple.
speaker_0HOST
Galahad listens to her story, essentially says, that sounds awful, my lady, and invites her to Camelot.
speaker_1HOST
And she goes.
Tom HollandHOST
But he's given his word, and so he doesn't really have any choice.
Tom HollandHOST
And so Kay escorts Guinevere out from Camelot, into the wood, and there he's set upon by Meleagant, who then duly carries her off to Gore.
Tom HollandHOST
And so Guinevere has been taken.
Dominic SandbrookHOST
And to be fair to Guinevere, I mean, she doesn't always behave well in the Arthurian romances, but you can see why she would be-
11 MINS LATER
Tom HollandHOST
the patina of antiquity.
Tom HollandHOST
And Geoffrey very implausibly describes Caerleon as a match for Rome, which I think is probably overdoing it.
Tom HollandHOST
But Chrétien, by contrast, places Arthur's court at a place called Camelot, and this seems to be a name which again Chrétien has made up.
Tom HollandHOST
Because Camelot, this is the first appearance of that name in this poem, Lancelot.
Dalton McGeeHOST
Trying to box Brian out.
Dalton McGeeHOST
Here is your one key Monty Python question: according to the song, the Knights of the Round Table dine well in Camelot because they eat what three foods?
Bryan NashGUEST
Three? We are knights of the round table.
Bryan NashGUEST
Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.
speaker_8SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
The footwork impeccable.
speaker_8SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
We dine well here in Camelot.
speaker_8SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
We eat ham and jamon.
speaker_8SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
He dances a lot.
14 more episodes mention Camelot.
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