A round table is a form of communication where hierarchies do not exist and all participants have the same rights to express themselves.
A table is a piece of furniture that has legs and is made up of boards. Its purpose is to serve as a support for different things, allowing a person to write or eat about it.
The concept of a round table is based on this piece of furniture to refer to a mode of communication between several individuals. It is an event where a certain number of subjects meet to develop a debate around a certain topic. The notion of a round table is symbolic since it does not refer to the furniture, but to the nonexistence of hierarchies or privileged positions within the framework of the debate. This means that, in a round table, all participants have the same rights and opportunities to express their opinion.
Development of a round table
Viewers of a roundtable discussion can also participate in the activity, usually by asking questions of the speakers and contributing to the debate .
The round tables usually have a coordinator who makes an introduction to the topic and is responsible for establishing the order of the participation, in addition to introducing the speakers and organizing questions from the public. The coordinator has the obligation to direct the debate impartially, without favoring any participant.
king arthur
We can note, finally, that the round table is the one that appears in the old English legend starring King Arthur , which states that when he began his reign in Camelot (Britain) he founded a mode of discussion that was called the round table. , with the characteristics that we have previously mentioned. Its participants were a group of men who belonged to an order of chivalry who, according to the story, were spread around this table to discuss the different issues that affected their domains.
The table at which they met had been a gift from the king of Leodegrance (father of Guinevere, Arthur's wife). It had capacity for 150 people, although not all of its seats were always filled, and when everyone was seated around it, hierarchies disappeared .
According to the legend of King Arthur, this monarch established a round table to discuss issues that affected his kingdom.
The importance of the round table
It is said that these debates were essential to maintain calm in the kingdom for a long time, until the persecution of the Holy Grail began and many knights tried to obtain it, finding death along the way. Finally, everything was destroyed when the witch Morgana, sister of King Arthur, made public the affair of her brother's wife with Lancelot, the first knight in the king's service. From then on a civil war broke out that ended with the death of the king, murdered by Mordred , son of Morgana. Morgana moved Arthur's body to the Island of Avalon, where, it is said, he has rested ever since.
The end of the reign of Arthur, a man who had been born marked by destiny to lead the British people, not only implied the beginning of a long era of anarchy in the land of Camelot, but also meant the end of the round table and Both Arthur and the knights who met there would become part of one of the most amazing and honorable legends. It is stated that since then such worthy men with such pure ideals have never met again in the same place and time.
This legend gave rise to round tables being held centuries later in many places; So much so that in France, Aragon and Valencia it became a popular custom and, in 1284, Edward I of England celebrated one to celebrate the conquest of Wales. In the great hall of Winchester Castle, visitors can see a round table where King Edward's entourage met, whose manufacture dates back to 1275. It was later used by Henry VIII.