The Challenge

There were three theatres of combat for which a challenge was issued. The judicial combat or ordeal of battle was fought to settle a legal dispute, the presumption being that God would ensure that the guilty man was overthrown. Each combatant handed the judge a glove which was then exchanged. Such a procedure is described in the Chanson de Roland, the French epic from the late 11th century. In civil and some criminal cases opponents fought on foot, unarmoured and usually carrying a shield together with a club or pick-axe. The struggle went on until one contestant was killed or submitted. Some serious criminal cases involving men of rank appear to have been fought on horseback with weapons of war.

Whilst the judicial combat itself declined the idea of settling a dispute by force of arms found favour in the ideals of courtly behaviour and was taken up as the combat of chivalry or Gage of Battle. This was a duel between men of knighty rank and was usually invoked over disputes of honour or accusations of treason; it could be fought only in the presence of the king, marshal, constable or their deputies. Instances of this form of combat increased from the 14th century with its courtly chivalric codes and often took the form of a mounted contest with sharp lance and sword which differed from combat in the tournament as there was no limit to the number of blows which might be struck. The defendant was given the choice of weapons and, if not defeated by sunset, won his case.

The method of challenge involved the use of the gauntlet or gage, which was hurled to the ground in defiance. The other party in the argument signified acceptance of the challenge by picking it up. This was later transmuted into the slap across the face with a glove as a prelude to a duel on foot with edged weapons or pistols.

In the tournament the challenge was rather in the form of an invitation to combat than an accusation or personal slight. Sometimes the end of one tournament provided the occasion to announce the next. By the 14th century, in order to ensure that word of a tournament was spread effectively, the personal heralds of the king or lord were often sent to chosen courts and towns to announce the challenge, usually emphasizing their lord's superiority or that of his lady. Elaborate scenarios might be enacted to create an unreal world within which the tourney would take place.

The 15th century tournament book of René of Anjou admirably depicts the king-of-arms and pursuivants of the Duke of Brittany at the court of the Duke of Bourbon, the latter accepting the challenge by receiving a rebated tourney sword. The heralds then cry the list and hand out hat badges, bearing the coats-of-arms of the four judges, to would-be contestants of suitable rank. The time and place, forms of combat and weapons to be used were announced.

When acceptance meant travelling through hostile territory, such as during the Hundred Years War, the organisers might issue safe conducts to facilitate the attendance of foreign knights and squires. Smaller affairs in the 14th and 15th centuries might entail letters of challenge being sent by several knights to on equal number of adversaries. The challengers wore a specific article which their opponents could win, and such fights were carried out with sharp weapons, often both on horseback and on foot. In Germany tournament societies appeared during the 14th and 15th centuries, challenges being sent between them.

Once arrived at a tournament ground it was necessary for knights to choose their adversaries for individual combats, if this had not been arranged previously. Sometimes all contestants assembled in the lists and a single knight from one team would advance to challenge either a specific member of the opposing side or anyone willing to accept. This might result in several knights advancing at once, though the additional contestants usually withdrew out of courtesy. Increasingly from the 13th century a desire to joust might be made by using the lance to tap a challenger's shield, which had been nailed up by the heralds.

At the famous joust of St. Ingelvert near Calais in 1390, shields of war and of peace were displayed outside the tents of the three challengers or tenans. Often, and especially at the Pas d'armes (popular in the 15th century and derived from literary romances) each type of combat, such as foot or mounted, was represented by a differently decorated shield which was frequently hung from a real or artificial tree. Knights wishing to accept the challenge would signify this by touching the respective shield perhaps with a baton, or, where appropriate, would delegate this task to their herald. A token, such as a spur, was then left with the challenger's herald, who noted down the details.

This practical method of issuing and accepting a challenge blended perfectly with the chivalrous and increasingly fantastic world of the later medieval tournament and continued until its final demise.