<P> Nothing in Chrétien's poem suggests the level of importance Camelot would have in later romances . For Chrétien, Arthur's chief court was in Caerleon in Wales; this was the king's primary base in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and subsequent literature . Chrétien depicts Arthur, like a typical medieval monarch, holding court at a number of cities and castles . </P> <P> It is not until the 13th - century French prose romances, including the Lancelot - Grail and the Post-Vulgate Cycle, that Camelot began to supersede Caerleon, and even then, many descriptive details applied to Camelot derive from Geoffrey's earlier grand depiction of the Welsh town . Most Arthurian romances of this period produced in English or Welsh did not follow this trend; Camelot was referred to infrequently, and usually in translations from French . One exception is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which locates Arthur's court at "Camelot"; however, in Britain, Arthur's court was generally located at Caerleon, or at Carlisle, which is usually identified with the "Carduel" of the French romances . In the late 15th century, Thomas Malory created the image of Camelot most familiar to English speakers today in his Le Morte d'Arthur, a work based mostly on the French romances . He firmly identifies Camelot with Winchester, an identification that remained popular over the centuries, though it was rejected by Malory's own editor, William Caxton, who preferred a Welsh location . </P> <P> The Lancelot - Grail Cycle and the texts it influenced depict the city of Camelot as standing along a river, downstream from Astolat . It is surrounded by plains and forests, and its magnificent cathedral, St. Stephen's, is the religious centre for Arthur's Knights of the Round Table . There, Arthur and Guinevere are married and there are the tombs of many kings and knights . In a mighty castle stands the Round Table; it is here that Galahad conquers the Siege Perilous, and where the knights see a vision of the Holy Grail and swear to find it . Jousts are held in a meadow outside the city . In the Palamedes and other works, the castle is eventually destroyed by King Mark of Cornwall after the loss of Arthur at the Battle of Camlann . However maddening to later scholars searching for Camelot's location, its imprecise geography serves the romances well, as Camelot becomes less a literal place than a powerful symbol of Arthur's court and universe . It should be noted, too, that there is a Kamaalot featured as the home of Perceval's mother in the romance Perlesvaus . </P> <P> The romancers' versions of Camelot drew on earlier descriptions of Arthur's fabulous court . From Geoffrey's grand description of Caerleon, Camelot gains its impressive architecture, its many churches and the chivalry and courtesy of its inhabitants . Geoffrey's description in turn drew on an already established tradition in Welsh oral tradition of the grandeur of Arthur's court . The tale Culhwch and Olwen, associated with the Mabinogion and perhaps written in the 11th century, draws a dramatic picture of Arthur's hall and his many powerful warriors who go from there on great adventures, placing it in Celliwig, an uncertain locale in Cornwall . Although the court at Celliwig is the most prominent in remaining early Welsh manuscripts, the various versions of the Welsh Triads agree in giving Arthur multiple courts, one in each of the areas inhabited by the Celtic Britons: Cornwall, Wales and the Hen Ogledd . This perhaps reflects the influence of widespread oral traditions common by 800 which are recorded in various place names and features such as Arthur's Seat, indicating Arthur was a hero known and associated with many locations across Brittonic areas of Britain as well as Brittany . Even at this stage Arthur could not be tied to one location . Many other places are listed as a location where Arthur holds court in the later romances, Carlisle and London perhaps being the most prominent . </P>

Where did the story of camelot come from