I hope not for Galahad does not seem the most friendliest of knights, keeping himself to himself most of the time. the old stories tell us that he is being kept in Avalon until Mordred reappears and then we will see him again.
The earliest reference to Arthur is in Aneirin's poem Y Gododdin (c. 594). While his fame may have increased in the intervening years, the facts about his life have become less discernible, as the genealogy's depict.
There was no Camelot mentioned in the early Arthurian traditions recorded by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wace, and Layamon. Arthur's chief court was in Caerleon in Wales;
It is a site of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman legionary fortress and an Iron Age hill fort. It also has strong literary associations as Geoffrey of Monmouth makes Caerleon one of the most important cities in Britain in his Historia Regum Britanniæ, and Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote Idylls of the King while staying in Caerleon.
Caerleon like Camelot, is becoming a Christian City by the time of Geoffrey's writing.
Geoffrey of Monmouth makes Caerleon one of the most important cities in Britain in his Historia Regum Britanniæ. He gives it a long glorious history from its founding by King Belinus then making it the location of a metropolitan see, an Archbishopric superior to Canterbury and York under Saint Dubricius. He was followed by St David who moved the archbishopric to St David's Cathedral. This builds up to its use by Geoffrey as a Court for King Arthur.
Geoffrey of Monmouth writes of Caerleon in the mid 12th century:
"For it was located in a delightful spot in Glamorgan, on the River Usk, not far from the Severn Sea. Abounding in wealth more than other cities, it was suited for such a ceremony. For the noble river I have named flows along it on one side, upon which the kings and princes who would be coming from overseas could be carried by ship. But on the other side, protected by meadow and woods, it was remarkable for royal palaces, so that it imitated Rome in the golden roofs of its buildings... Famous for so many pleasant features, Caerleon was made ready for the announced feast." (Historia Regum Britanniae "History of the Kings of Britain")
Camelot was referred to infrequently and only in translations from French. Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the fabulous Arthurian world.
The castle is mentioned for the first time in Chrétien de Troyes' poem Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, in line 34 of Chrétien de Troyes's Lancelot, dating to the 1170s, though it is not mentioned in all the manuscripts. It is mentioned in passing, and is not described:
A un jor d'une Acenssion / Fu venuz de vers Carlion / Li rois Artus et tenu ot / Cort molt riche a Camaalot / Si riche com au jor estut.(Lancelot Ou Le Chevalier De La Charette)
Upon a certain Ascension Day King Arthur had come from Caerleon, and had held a very magnificent court at Camelot as was fitting on such a day(Lancelot, vv. 31-32.
In the thirteenth-century Vulgate Cycle, Camelot becomes the principal city of Arthur's realm and remains so in many, though certainly not all, later texts. For the English-speaking world Camelot is Arthur's central city because of Malory, who identifies it with Winchester. The image many modern readers have of the Camelot coincides with Tennyson's description of it in Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" as "many-tower'd Camelot." Tennyson's image of Camelot is much more complex.
It was not until the late 15th century that 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.
Lacy, Norris J. (1991). "Camelot". In Norris J. Lacy (Ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, p. 67. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4. commented that "Camelot, located no where in particular, can be anywhere." This had lead to more recent, largely through the influence of T. H. White, Camelot has come to be associated with the values Camelot is believed to have represented (White's "Might for Right"). The moral overtones still often remain but sometimes "Camelot" is used only to represent an ideal place.
The name's derivation is also unknown. John Morris, the English historian who specialized in the study of the institutions of the Roman Empire and the history of Sub-Roman Britain, suggested in his book The Age of Arthur that as the descendants of Romanized Britons looked back to a golden age of peace and prosperity under Rome, the name "Camelot" of Arthurian legend may have to the capital of Britannia (Camulodunum - modern Colchester) in Roman times. If historical the first part of it, Cam, could also reflect the Celtic word meaning "crooked" which is commonly used in place names as seen in Camlann.
Given Chrétien's known tendency to create new stories and characters, being the first to mention the hero Lancelot and his love affair with Queen Guinevere for example, the name might also be entirely invented. The romances depict the city of Camelot as standing along a river, downstream from Astolat a legendary city, adding to the evidence that so is Camelot. Astolat also has links with the Atrebates tribe who Arthur is supposed to have descended through, so his seat of government might not be to far from his birth place. It is surrounded by plains and forests, and the chivalry and courtesy of its inhabitants and its magnificent cathedral, St. Stephen's, is the religious centre for Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. Even at this stage Arthur could not be tied to one location
In Celtic mythology, Camulus or Camulos was the god of war of the Remi, a Gaulish tribe who lived in the area of today's Belgium. Traces of his cult are also found in Britain.
Cunobelinus (Shakespeare's Cymbeline), a chief of the Catuvellauni who was called Britannorum rex by the Roman historian Suetonius, made Camulodunum his capital after defeating the local Trinobantes. He established a mint there, and coins bearing his head are still found occasionally in the area
Also History and Literature come from the same root source and bards journeying from one tribe to another mixed real events in with mythic ones to make their story more interesting, but also as an aid to memory. News of other tribes and people all combined into one long story told over a couple of days to make it more interesting.
