Shining Armour and Round Tables: Perspectives on the Tarot Knights

Back in the summer of 2019, I binge-listened to some of the Great Courses through my local public library app. The series ranged from comparative philology to Greek mythology, cognitive behavioural therapy to the history of Buddhism, and — a personal favourite — a multi-part lecture series on the Arthurian legend.

The complex patchwork of historical references and enduring folklore — poorly augmented by fleeting attempts at sparse archaeological linkages — reveal a dubious figure. It is difficult to say with certainty whether Arthur existed in the form popularized in literature; in fact, we can be pretty confident that he didn’t. The Arthur we know today was first sketched by the twelfth-century British cleric, Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his History of the Kings of Britain; however, we have evidence of an Arthur-type military leader of the Britons, likely of Roman origin, helping to stave off the Saxon onslaught as early as the sixth century. In short, this dux bellorum was nothing akin to the monolithic and quasi-romantic figure we find in literature — and certainly nothing like the Sean Connery portrayal in that long-forgotten First Knight film of the 1990s.

Nonetheless, the whole mythopoeic construct of an Arthurian Camelot, its famed round table, and gallant knights is enduring. From an imaginary and archetypal standpoint, regardless of whether King Arthur, Lancelot and the rest of the crew ever existed, the Tarot reader’s toolkit always benefits from literary, artistic…