Camelot

Camelot
Matter of Britain location
Gustave Doré's illustration of Camelot from Idylls of the King (1867)
First appearanceLancelot, the Knight of the Cart
Created byChrétien de Troyes
In-universe information
RulerKing Arthur
CharactersGuinevere, Knights of the Round Table, Morgan le Fay

Camelot is a legendary castle and court associated with King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the Arthurian world.

Medieval texts locate it somewhere in Great Britain and sometimes associate it with real cities, though more usually its precise location is not revealed. Most scholars regard it as being entirely fictional, its unspecified geography being perfect for chivalric romance writers. Nevertheless, arguments about the location of the "real Camelot" have occurred since the 15th century and continue today in popular works and for tourism purposes.