What led to the fall of the round table in the story King Arthur?
Sources vary. Arthur’s nephew Mordred (who is some versions is also Arthur’s illegitimate son, fathered by Arthur on his sister) was made regent of Britain when Arthur went campaigning in Gaul. In some versions Mordred rebelled against Arthur and took Arthur’s queen Guenevere as his wife. In other versions Mordred, after rebelling, only attempted to take Guenevere as his wife, but Guenevere escaped from Mordred and held out against him in the tower of London. When Arthur learned that Mordred had rebelled, he returned to Britain. The following civil war ended in a battle in which most of the knights on both sides were slain, Mordred was slain, and Arthur was mortally wounded, but was taken away to the magic isle of Avalon to be healed and return some day. In some versions, the Round Table had been previously softened up and weakened by a war between Arthur and his chief knight Lancelot, when Arthur discovered that Lancelot and Guenevere were having a lover affair. See
