The tournament
Before a youth of noble blood could become an efficient knight, it was essential that he undertook a long and arduous course of training in manners, in horsemanship, and, above all else, in skill at arms. His parents would have sent him at a tender age to serve as a page at the king's court or at least at that of the local count, where he would have learnt courtesy and service to his elders.
Between the age of twelve and sixteen he would have become a squire and commenced his serious training for warfare. Vegetius, in his De re militari, one of the most popular of Roman books throughout the Middle Ages, instructs the recruit to practise the different sword cuts on a stout post erected on the exercise field, all the time keeping himself carefully covered with his shield.
The marginal illustrations of the mid-fourteenth-century Romance of Alexander, in the Bodleian Library of Oxford, show youths at practice. One runs on foot to strike a quintain with his spear. The target is a shield fixed at one end of a horizontal arm which pivots on the top of an upright post. At the other end hangs a weight which, when the target was struck, was whirled round. Unless the novice was very agile he received a severe buffet, and, if on horseback, might be unhorsed. Another boy, seated on a wooden horse on wheels and armed with a lance, is being pushed along by his companions towards a target.
The young squire would also have wrestled and fought with all different weapons against his own companions and against more experienced men. Meanwhile, he would also have learnt about horsemanship, the care of his steed and the control of its action and movements. In the later Middle Ages, the young man would have studied manuals on the management of his horse and weapons, such as that written by Duarte, King of Portugal, about 1434.
All this training was aimed, not only at teaching the boy military skills, but also at hardening him to the acute physical pain and the strain of battle. Roger of Hovedon, writing in the late twelfth century said, "a youth must have seen his blood flow and felt his teeth crack under the blows of his adversary and have been thrown to the ground twenty times... thus will he be able to face real war with the hope of victory".
Practice combats between two groups for training purposes must be nearly as old as war itself, and the tournament probably developed from these. The chronicler Nithard mentions cavalry games consisting of mock battles held in 842. No doubt the classical precedent of the Ludus Trojae, described by Vergil in the Aeneid, helped to encourage such things.
Whatever their antiquity, it is clear that by the middle of the 12th century, tournaments were an important part of military life almost everywhere in Europe. At first they were fought in the open countryside between relatively large bodies of cavalry armed with all the weapons of war, and sometimes supported by bodies of infantry, including archers and crossbowmen.
Apparently only two rulers applied: firstly, the contestants could retire for a time into certain stipulated refuges to rest, refresh themselves, and, if necessary, rearm; secondly, the object was not to kill the opponent but to capture and ransom him. The ransoms and the armour and horses of the vanquished were the only prizes to be gained. Occasionally, fortunes were made by the brave, lucky, or devious. William the Marshal (about 1146-1219) did not hesitate to hold back from combat until he could capture some knight who had exhausted himself with his efforts. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, such combats frequently lasted all day and resulted in many casualties and fatalities.
The appearance of the tournament at about the time when the method of using the cavalry lance was changing is probably significant. Until the eleventh century the lance was still wielded at arm's length and very often over-arm. The new method of holding the lance couched, that is, tucked under the right arm with the hand held just in front of the shoulder, gave greater rigidity to the weapon. The strength of the wielder's right arm was replaced by the combined momentum of horse and rider acting on the point of the lance.
Rather than fighting in a series of individual contests, the knights could be organized into units and taught to charge like all later cavalry. The evidence both of the rolls of the heraldic arms of those who took part in a particular tournament and of the contracts with retainers for service both in war and tournament suggest that the contestants tourneyed in "battle groups" under their accustomed commander. The tournament was therefore particularly important as training in the control of the movement in action of large bodies of cavalry, particularly of the final charge and the subsequent rally. In addition, regular success on the tournament field would improve the morale of troops for war.
The church originally disapproved of tournaments because of the loss of life involved, the waste of energy which could have been better expended on a crusade, the antagonsims aroused, and the opportunities for sin. Those taking part were threatened with eternal damnation and, if killed, were sometimes refused Christian burial. Partly because tournaments were opportunities for the disaffected to meet and plot treason, and because quarrels begun on the tournament field could spill over into politics, some monarchs supported the church and forbade tournaments within their territories. Others, Richard the Lion Heart for instance, licensed tournaments in order to control hem, to raise revenue, and, it was said, to improve the quality of their cavalry.
The tournament proper was the mêlée described above, but gradually the term began to be used to embrace all the other forms of friendly combat and eventually, all military displays within an area. Unfortunately, the precise meaning of the various terms used by contemporary writers for the different combats is far from clear.
The béhourd, when it first appears in the 13th century, seems to have been a mêlée in light armour, probably for esquires, who in those days were not entitled to wear the mail-shirt. It is probably the ancestor of the mêlée with clubs and blunt swords which René of Anjou described and had so beautifully illustrated. The club tournament made its last appearance at Worms in 1487.
The Round Table, which clearly relates to the cult of Arthur of Britain, appears to have been a sort of festive gathering with feasting and dancing, accompanied by informal tourneying or jousting, usually with blunt weapons. The first known reference to a Round Table is to one held in Cyprus in 1223. The word hastilude, meaning a game with lances, is used by Matthew Paris as though synonymous with the word "tournament", but later writers seem to distinguish between the two.
What is clear, however, is that as well as the tournament or mêlée, just described, from the later thirteenth century onwards, combats also took place between pairs of horsemen, known as "justs" (jousts). A little later still combats are recorded between dismounted men in the barriers, the arena in which the fight took place. Foot combats were usually fought by two people at a time, less often by small teams of two or three, very ocassionally by quite large groups.
At first, these lesser combats were fought with sharp weapons, but by the middle of the thirteenth century, according to Matthew Paris, it was customary for the lance to be blunted for some types of combat.
By the end of the century, a distinction was being made between those contests which were fought with sharp weapons - à plaisance. The first of these remained characteristic of challenges between people of different race, perhaps at time of truce or in wartime when not much action was going on, or between those travelling courts of Europe, seeking release from an oath made to their lady by exchanging a set number of blows with worthy antagonists abroad. By the late 15th century, in some jousts normally run with sharp weapons, relatively blunt ones were actually used, for instance in the Scharfrennen in the German Lands.
On the other hand, the jousters illustrated in the Book of Hours of Joffrey d'Aspremont of about 1290 have the heads of their lances divided into several points to reduce the risk of penetration (National Gallery, Melbourne). This type of lanc head was called a "coronel", because of its resemblance to a crown. Lances enrochies, that is with coronels, are mentioned in the poem Les Tournois de Chauvenci of 1284. Pieces of armour designed specifically for the tournament, as distinct from war harness, begin to be mentioned in literature during the second half of the thirteenth century, and to appear in illustrations by the second quarter of the next century.
By the very nature of the tournament in its earliest form, there was no place for spectators. However, the poem Moriz von Craûn, written about 1200, describes a tournament held under the walls of a castle so that the Countess, in honour of whom the whole occasion was being held, would be able to watch from the safety of a tower. The hero's entry in a great ship, drawn by caparisoned horse and "rowed" by his singing men, shows that the pageantry and make-belive, which were such essential features of later tournaments, were already in existence.
William the Marshal normally behaved at tournaments as though personal profit was his sole consideration. He only bheaved with generosity to his victims at the one tournament in whichhe took part where the presence of women is recorded. The changes in chivalric ideas in the late twelfth century, such concepts as generosity to a fallen enemy, and particularly the softening of the attitude towards women, led to changes in the way tournaments were conducted. Women, now the objects of courtly love, became the heroines of tournaments. By the second half of the thirteenth century, they commonly attended them and gradually, as the allegorical part of the event increased in importance, began to take part.
In 1331, each of the contestants at a tournament in London was accompanied in the opening procession by a lady. It became quite usual for a contestant to wear his lady's favour, her richly ebroidered sleeve, a flowing veil, or even some sepcially made piece of embroidery. A number of such things survive today in the old Imperial Armoury in Vienna. Tournaments were held in honour of a lady, but in spite of what the poets tell us, she was never in fact the prize.
At some time early in the fifteenth century, and possibly first in Portugal, a safety barrier, called the tilt, was introduced to separate riders when jousting, and to prevent the horses from colliding. The earliest mention of the use of a tilt in Northern Europe is by the chronicler, Monstrelet, describing a joust held at Arras in 1430. The contestants at the tilt rode with their left sides towards their opponents, in the usual way, but had to aim their lances over the barrier, which was usually about the height of a horse's back. Although sometimes consisting of no more than a light fence hung with cloth, as shown in the fifteenth-century Dutch Hours of Yolande de Lalaing, in the Bodlian Library, the barrier was normally more substantially built, with horizontal planks nailed to stout uprights. The Birth Life and Death of Richard Beauchamp, in the British Library, shows planks nailed to each face, presumably so as to present an equally smooth face to each contestant.
Latterly, light fences, the counter lists, were erected flanking the tilt, to prevent the horses form swerving away from the barrier. These were originally provided at the Field of Cloth of Gold 1520, for instance. The tilt was never universally employed, and jousts continued to be fought in open lists. The choice apparently depending on the whim of the person holding the tournament. Frequently a tilt was held on the first day of a tournament and a joust in open field on the second. Even for the joust in open lists, the precaution was sometimes taken of laying parallel tracks in sand of contrasting colours across the lists to guide the contestants. This is clearly shown in the painting of the tournament held in the courtyard of the Vatican Belvedere in 1565, at the marriage of Conte Annibale Altemps and Ortenzia Borromeo.
About 1500, a lighter barrier was introduced to separate the contestants in some types of foot contest, for instance that with pike and sword.
By the fifteenth century, the tournament had become a carefully organized sport, regulated by an elaborate set of rulers. No longer simply a military training exercise, it had developed into a public specacle, held on such occasions as weddings and knightings. As a result, the particpants went to enormous expense over equipment and magnificent costumes both for themselves and their attendants.
The combats themselves were only part of the pageantry accompanying the enactment of some complicated allegory, which might last many days, or even months, and involve knights errant, magicians, beautiful ladies, enchanted castles, giants, dwarfs, wildmen-of-the-woods, fire-breathing dragons, and real or simulated wild beasts. The contestants represented particular characters, and even uttered carefully prepared speeches so that the actual combat would arise out of a dramatic dispute or as part of the allegorical story set out in the published challenge. As well as being designed to entertain the court and the common people, tournaments were an opportunity to display personal bravery, not on campaign in some distant land, but before the admiring eyes of the ladies, and without the discomforts to be met with when camping in a hostile and devastating country.
The tournament was now normally announced by the heralds, who published the Artibles of the Challenge throughout the realm, and often at foreign courts also. These Articles described the allegorical setting, announced the date and place of the tournament, and gave the names of the challengers and the judges. They also laid down the types of combat to be undertaken, including, in some cases, the number of blows to be exchanged and the type of armour and weapons to be used. They also described the prizes to be won for each sort of combat, and occasionally, any forfeits to be paid for failure to accomplish the undertaking.
Few castles were as well equipped as Rosenburg, in Lower Austria, where a great stone-built tournament yard still survives, complete with its stands and its Gate of Honour. In many cases, the buildings around the courtyard of the castle or palace or a town square served both to define the lists and to act as the stands. Elsewhere, as at Edinburgh in 1507, the lists and the stands for the spectators and musicians had to be laid out in the open countryside, and the tents for the Wild Knight, the Black Lady, the contestants, the chapel, the armourers, and perhaps even for the wildmen, had to be ordered and erected. Some tall objects was set up, a tree with silver leaves and golden fruit, a perron (a mound or pillar) or a unicorn for instance. On this were hung the shields which those accepting the challenge would touch to indicate the combat in which they wished to take part.
A watered-down version of the old mêlée between two groups of horsemen armed with lances and swords still survived, but usually it took place on the last day of the tournament, invariably with blunt weapons, and within an arena of very limitid size, rather than in an open field. Two engravings by Cranach, made in 1509, show mêlées, perhaps connected with the festivities held the previous year at Wittenberg.
The mêlée was preceded firstly by a series of mounted duels of different kinds, and secondly by series of duels on foot, for instance with axes, or with swords, usually with a stipulated number of blows to be exchanged. Usually each variety of combat was fought on a separate day, and often in a different type of armour. Occasionally, the mounted mêlée was replaced by the assault on a castle. In the joust, a point was gained by hitting one's opponent, and a second point if the lance broke. A blow on the head counted for more than one on the body. Points were deducted for faults, such as striking the saddle or the tilt.
The prizes were no longer the arms and horses of the vanquished, but usually consisted of jewels or exceptionally richly decorated weapons awarded by the judges, frequently assisted by the ladies of the court. The beautiful sheild painted with the Knight, Death and the Lady in the British Museum is perhaps such a prize. The announcement of the winners would normally be made at the subsequent banquet by the heralds, saying all in a high voice:
John hath well justid, Richard hath justid better and Thomas hath justid best of all.
At the Smithfield tournament in 1390, the lady who was judged to have danced best at the feast was also awarded a prize.
Costly gifts were presented to those taking part, and the cries of the heralds for "Largess" would not go unheeded - so much of a man's reputation depended on them. Sometimes interests of policy were involved, as at the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520, when Henry VIII of England met Francis I of France. As a result, a treaty of friendship was signed between the two traditional enemies.
Although the tournament began as team-training for war, and retained useful aspects right through the sixteenth century, according to contemporary writers, some of whom were soldiers, latterly it was essentially a sport. Men took part for the simple enjoyment of pitting their strength and skill against those of a well-armed and experienced opponent, and for fame - the fame to be gained by the exhibition of personal prowess and courage, and the fame to be gained by the display both of costly and elaborate costumes, and of fine armour and weapons. Richly decorated armours were sometimes ordered for a specially important tournament; the "Rosenblattgarnitur" at Vienna was apparently made for the Emperor Maximilian II to wear at the tournament held in 1571, to celebrate the marriage of Archduke Charles of Styria.
The joust in field armour appears to have been the most popular of the mounted combats, possibly because no specialised armour was required. However, other forms, such as the Joust Royal and the Gestech, which required an expensive armour of very oldfashioned form, still occasionally took place. The Nuremberg city "Stech Of all the great Orders of Chivalry founded in the High Middle Ages, such as the Garter and the Golden Fleece, only the Castilian Order of the Band stipulated in its rules that its members must take part in tournaments. On the other hand, private societies dedicated to holding jousts and tournaments were found in the German Lands and occasionally elsewhere.
It is usually thought that noble birth was a requisite of all who took part in tournaments. Certainly in some places and at some other times, proof of nobility, as well as of courteous behaviour, was indeed demanded. However, the citizens of London seem to have taken part in some of the tournaments of Edward III. In many of the great commercial cities of Europe, burgher tournaments were a regular feature of life. Nuremberg still has many of its joust armours from the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries. There are even occasional references to peasants tournaments.
By the middle of the sixteenth century, some of the grandest tournaments were clearly carefully stage-managed performances. It is, for example, inconceivable that Virtue should not have been victorious in the tournament of le TempioAmore held at Ferrara in 1565.
Here the set scene, typical of the old Burgundian pas d'armes, was replaced by lavish changes of scenery in the manner of the contemporary stage. In spite of all the precautions which were increasingly taken, fatalities still occured. The death of Henry II of France in 1559 from a wound received in the tilt-yard is the most notorious, but even as laste as 1610, four contestants were killed at Naples, when they all collided when running in pairs at the "campo aperto".
In Italy, tournaments sometimes differed from those held elsewhere in that they included displays of horsemanship quite distinct from any combat. It is possible that it was from these that the last phase of the tournament, the carousel, developed. This was a cavalry ballet in which the only vestige of combat was the attack with a very light lance on elaborate quintains, often set on the edge of the arena. Examples of such quintains, made in the form of Moors, survives in the Töjhusmuseum, Copenhagen. Latterly, it became customary to shoot a similar targets with pistols.
In the Stallburg at Vienna is a light and elegant carriage, made after designs by Balthasar Moll, for the ladies taking part in the Carousel of 2nd January 1743. Perhaps the grandest of all these carousels were those held at the court of Louis XIV. For Les Plaisirs de l'Isle enchantée in 1664, the lavish costumes were designed by Henri de Gissey and the scenery by Ludovico Vigarani, while the action was recorded in the engravings of Israël Silvestre.
Little French children when playing on the roundabouts in the Champs Elysée, which they call carousels, still take small rings from the side of the machine with miniature lances.
The Romantic Revival of the late eighteenth century saw a renewed interest in all aspects of medieval life, including, of course, tournaments. "Gothick" castles began to spring up all over Europe. By 1791 the park of Laxenburg near Vienna was equipped with a tournament field, and rather convincing armours were constructed in Vienna for those who were going to take part in the carousel held there.
Gustavus III of Sweden in order, as he said, to revive the Age of Chivalry, held a number of exceptionally grand tournaments (in the form of carousels). In his L'Entreprise de la Forêt enchantée, which was based on the Gerusalemme Liberata of Tasso, some three-hundred people took part disguised as Greeks, Roman lictors and slaves, medieval knights, Indians, Persians, Saracens, Turks, Chinese, Tarters, and negroes. The challenge and the reply were carried out in the ancient manner, but apart from a revival of a form of the club tournament, the contests were against quintains.
Certainly the best known of all the nineteenth-century revivals was that held by Archibald Montgomerie, Earl of Eglinton, in 1839 at Eglinton in Ayrshire, Scotland. It was a wonderfully romantic idea to reconstruct a great "medieval" tournament, but after months of careful preparation, heavy rain on the first day ruined everything. This extravagant display of wealth also ruined the family for a generation.
Even today, reconstructions of tournaments occasionally take place, usually carefully rehearsed to ensure that the villainous "Black Knight" gets his just deserts and noboby is seriously damaged. Their organization probably owes more to Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe than to anything written by Olivier de la Marche or Marc Vulson de la Colombière. Jousting is extremely popular in Denmark today and is the "national sport" of Maryland, in the States. In Friesland, a curious version of running at the ring still survives. A lady, driven in a cart behind a pair of beautiful black horses, uses a miniature lance to secure a tiny ring from the side of the lists. The carousel survives in Great Britain as the Musical Rides of the Household Cavalry, the King's Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery, and the Royal Corps of Signals (on motorcycles). A quintain still stands on the village green of Offham in Kent, today untroubled by aspiring Lancelots.