History of the Tournament

The image of fully armoured knights charging toward each other on richly caparisoned steeds is one of the most endearing and heroic in history. It is an image easily conjured by almost anyone with even the most scant appreciation for heritage. But what was it all about?

Firstly we need to clarify the terms involved. The tournament was in itself one specific game that was part of the whole event, though in modern usage it has become synonymous with the event as a whole. The joust was another specific game. The tournament, or melee was the highlight of the event and was basically a mass battle on horseback, usually between organised teams using blunted swords; swords made of whalebone, or even padded clubs. This was the senior contest and was probably the oldest form of knightly pursuit. It ranked higher than the joust, being deemed the most dangerous of events. As this riotous set-to became less common as a feature the term tournament became more frequently applied to the whole event.

Previously the whole event was often called the ‘hastiludium’ or ‘hastilude’ literally meaning ‘spear game’. Though this term was popular in France and England it seems to have waned in use after 1400.

The joust was a match between two contestants using lances, though they could compete as part of a team depending on how the event as a whole was being organised. The joust event became more popular as the tournament evolved as a public spectacle, as it gave more opportunity for an individual knight to take centre stage and display his prowess.

Other events often included armoured combat on foot with a variety of weapons (for example the sword or poleaxe). These were often fought until a specified number of blows had been delivered or exchanged. It seems that such combats were fought between two combatants only (rarely en masse) and always with matched weapons. On occasion references exist for the playing of chess as another event, to test the knight’s aptitude as a battle commander in addition to his strength at arms.

The beginnings of the tournament are difficult to conclude due to the evolution of the games themselves. Roman cavalry practiced the ‘Hippoca Gymnasia’ or ‘cavalry sports’ from the time of the Empire. This was often held on a proclaimed day (as distinct from a normal training session) involved specialised armour and much decorative adornment. In these games teams took it in turns to play the attacker or the defender, to either wheel or fall back in squadrons. The weapon used was the thrown javelin, but with a wooden spearhead instead of the usual sharp iron one.

It is often held that an equestrian event held in 842 in honour of the alliance between Louis the German and Charles the Bald was the first tournament. Most historians refute this, as there does not appear to have been any blows delivered in the display. Clearly it has more in common with the military manoeuvres of roman times, but that is to expect the games to appear more akin to our concept of a tournament in it’s heyday.

More often the tournament proper is more recognisable toward the end of the eleventh century. In this time Frankish cavalry had evolved the use of the couched lance (in conjunction with the stirrup, which had been in use for several centuries). By couching the lance, or bracing the butt of it under the arm it could be extended further to give more reach than if wielded in the hand (which requires the holding of the shaft at point of balance, halfway along). In addition to greater reach, the couched lance ensured the charging horseman the benefit of the full force of momentum and weight behind the blow. Anna Comnena, a Byzantine princess had seen such a troop of Frankish knights and exclaimed that the force of their charge could “breach a hole in the walls of Babylon”. This tactic is believed to have originated in Northern France and was used to great effect in the First Crusade and may have been developed in the Norman Conquest of England. The Bayeux Tapestry seems to depict a few charging Normans using their lances under their arms, alongside other comrades using them as javelins over arm.

This technique required training to be able to stay in the saddle at the moment of impact, but more importantly it was a team effort- the charge had to be synchronised with a whole troop of knights impacting upon their foe as one. Consequently practice as a team was needed. For which the tournament provided that opportunity.

In its origins the tournament was the melee game only, fought over several miles of land as military manoeuvres. Rivers, woods and farm buildings provided terrain features for which a cunning team captain could use to good effect to ambush or retire. Boundaries to this skirmishing were vague, but a tournament could be proclaimed between two towns. This is not to imply the two neighbouring towns could field sufficient knights to content, but that this was the set ground, with each built up area as a team base.

These raw engagements had no rules nor marshals to supervise them and the only proviso would be set areas marked as off limits where rest or re-arming could take place unmolested. The other rule was the concept of ‘sine qua non’- the object was to subdue and capture opponents and not kill them. It was common for several to band together against one, even if he had lost a vital piece of armour. Several teams could participate, with as many as 200 knights per team, led by their overlord under whom they would serve in a real war. Indeed, it would be very difficult to distinguish these events from a real battle and complaints to restrict the use of bows and crossbows were upheld- to preserve the spirit of the game as one of equestrian feats of arms. This could be the first rule to deviate the tournament from a realistic military exercise.

Such events could be quite lethal despite the object being to capture only. Indeed removing a political opponent or furthering a vendetta under the guise of accidentally doing too much harm in a tournament was an expedient tactic.

By the twelfth century tournaments were on the rise. In one instance the Byzantine Princess, Anna Comnena relates one interesting point when recounting how a Frankish knight on the First Crusade caused great insult to the Emperor by insolently sitting on his throne. The knight exclaimed that he was of noble birth and went on to recount his prowess thus: -

“One thing I know: at a crossroads in the country where I was born is an ancient shrine: to this anyone who wishes to engage in single combat goes, prepared to fight; there he preys to God for help and there he stays awaiting the man who will dare to answer his challenge. At that crossroads I myself have spent time, waiting and longing for the man who would fight- but there was never one who dared”

This provides us with a different activity to the mass war games- single combat at a waypoint against all comers. This appears replicated in the later ‘pas d’armes’ rituals of knight errantry echoing literary romances, where a challenger would defend a spot against all answerers to his call.

By 1130 the sport seems to have become widespread. Prolific enough that the church stepped in to control unruly knights and prohibit the bloodshed and destruction to villagers’ crops- or indeed to unwary peasants themselves. Local church councils made efforts to restrict the games to days that were not holy or feast days, but at the Council of Cleremont in 1130 it was decreed: -

“We firmly prohibit those detestable markets or fairs at which knights are accustomed to meet to show off their strength and their boldness and at which the deaths of men and dangers to the soul often occur. But if anyone is killed there, even if he demands and is not denied penance and the viaticum, ecclesiastical burial shall be withheld from him”

It is interesting to note that the term tournament is not used, clearly these affairs had reached problem proportions before this term had been commonly applied.

The church maintained that the seeking of honour in tournaments was a sin of vanity and that the spilling of Christian blood by other Christians was an affront to God (though it wholeheartedly advocated Christian knights setting their energies to slaughtering non Christians in the Holy Land!). In reality the tournament was becoming a danger to political stability- aside from pursuing grudges, lords could use the gathering for a tournament as a cover story for massing an army to begin an insurrection or rebellion.

Though the lack of a Christian burial was a serious concern in the middle ages, it appears that knights did not take this too seriously, for tournaments continued. It may be that this edict was overlooked at local level (the church enjoyed patronage of the knightly class), or possibly that knights entered these contests not expecting the worst to happen to them.

If the church had not achieved control of the knights’ excesses then the state was still at risk of insurrection under the pretence of the tournament. Moreover the trampling of innocent farmers’ land remained a problem. In England Richard I managed this by decree in 1194. In flagrant disregard of the church’s ban he drew up a licensing scheme to permit the sport to continue within state control and limits. Five set sites were set aside, in Wiltshire, Warwickshire, Suffolk, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire. For 10 marks a charter or licence could be bought for one of these sites to hold a tournament, with an additional surcharge according to rank and therefore wealth. This decree not only put a tax on the sport, but prohibited foreign participants (removing the risks of armed invasion or foreign mercenaries being brought into the country on the pretext of tournying).

Literature was instrumental in steering the tournament. The chansons de geste of the early twelth Century told of battles and emphasised the bonds of loyalty to overlords. All noble and manly stuff- but not popular reading beyond the men to which it was of interest. In the 1170s new romances began to emerge. These relished scenes of courtly love and service to the lady who inspired that love, set in a rich court full of ceremony and colour. Heroes of these fictions fought for their lady’s honour, displayed their skill and courage and won their love.

Patronage of literature and hosting tournaments often was from the same source and thus tournaments featured heavily in the romances- with romantic ‘plots’ being written into tournaments. By the end of the12th Century the tournament was a solid part of mythology and a very real pursuit for the rich. Whilst different countries in Christendom developed regional differences to the exact conduct of the events, there was sufficient in common for knights to travel from country to country to indulge their pastime.

Through it’s spread in literature and confining to certain venues, it became relevant and acceptable to enclose the games for the purpose of public viewing. How could those much-venerated ladies observe for themselves if the contest ranged for miles? How could poets and songwriters, storytellers, nobles and guests know of the prowess and recount the fame of a knight? This, and the courtly social occasion (befitting of those romantic tales) conducted with these gatherings of gentry led to the events becoming more frequently set in an enclosed arena, called a ‘lists’. Now spectators could be given prime boxes to view seated in comfort. Great decoration, costume, colour and ceremony could be added to the proceedings, banquets and hospitality and prize giving could take place. Indeed, a tournament could be added to compliment a social occasion- such as a wedding, just as much as a feast could be held to enhance a tournament. Tournaments could be held as a celebratory feature to mark the end of a military campaign, as coronation, a knighting ceremony or as part of the hospitality shown to a foreign dignitary.

By the fourteenth century this was complete - meaning that much of the risks from armed insurrection and all of the wanton damage to agriculture were obviated. Indeed fatalities were lessened by the very nature of how the games were conduced. The sport had become stylised to the sting of specific events. Marshals presided over rules of conduct and scoring and heralds representing the competitors adjudicated challenges. Separate days were given over to different events. A tournament often began on a Tuesday (Monday was a practice day) so that all was done by the Friday (a feast day). Chivalry, an important feature in those romances, governed the knight’s conduct inside the lists and out. The old style free-range melee was firmly set aside, no more being recorded after 1342. The joust had firmly taken centre stage.

Tournaments could also occur as a sideshow to real war. Courtly gatherings were conducted ‘a pleasance’ or with blunted weapons- often called the joust of peace. A joust of war ‘a outerance’ meant fighting with sharp weapons. In the course of England’s wars with Scotland and particularly with France (noted for the prowess of it’s knights) knights sought opportunities to put their tournament skills to the test. A battlefield was a chaotic place where individual renown may not be noted- but in one such limited skirmish or joust with sharp lances a knight could win significant kudos. Consequently these stylised games could make the bizarre transition back into the original theatre of war.

English kings were often instrumental in the fluctuations of the frequency and popularity of tournaments. Edward I often participated, even as civil war loomed in 1260. Military commitments in the 1290s required armies to be sent to Scotland, Wales and Gascony and Edward was obliged to imprison numbers of knights for leaving his armies during lulls in fighting because they had chosen to set forth back to England to attend tournaments. Edward I was to some extent a victim of his own propaganda success, for he had instituted several ‘round tables’ of knights to increase their esprit de corps and improve their resolve to fight his wars.

Edward II was not noted for martial pursuits and made the mistake of allowing the arrangement of tournaments to fall to those more inclined. This created an opportunity for his political opponents. In 1312 his earls used the excuse of massing for a tournament to concentrate their forces before marching to capture and remove his favourite, Piers Gaveston.

Edward III was a more avid enthusiast of the tournament. He is noted has having held several jousts on the occasion of his accession and three weeks of jousting, dancing and other celebrations on the occasion of his marriage in 1328. His wife Phillipa of Hainault was a keen spectator and regularly attended the numerous jousts her husband patronised. Royal fashion must have led to an increase in female attendance beyond previous figures.

Adding costume and themes to proceedings grew ever more in popularity. Characters could be assigned to the participants. For example at Cheapside, London in 1331 the market square was enclosed with a lists and stands built for spectators (some of which collapsed causing injury). A crusade theme seems to have been used as the ‘defenders’ were all dressed as Tartars, each led through the streets by a damsel in matching outfit.

Upon their return from the successful Calais campaign, Edward III and the Black Prince held a string of jousts. These were clearly extravagant affairs as the Royal Wardrobe had the headache of producing sumptuous outfits and fabulous costumes for jousts at Reading, Eltham, Windsor, Lichfield, Bury St Edmunds and Canterbury. The King’s entire household and that of his wife were in attendance, along with all the captured nobility of his enemies, including the King of Scotland. These events not only flaunted his great captives but also increased his international reputation as a chivalric figure. Ten years later Edward III was able to repeat the exercise with the King of France AND the King of Scotland among his ‘guests’.

Richard II proved a lavish successor to the mantle of royal patronage set by his predecessors. It may have been that he was wise not to allow the privilege of royal patronage to slip from his grasp into the hands of his political opponents. Notably his jousts of 1390 were announced abroad and attended by the counts of St Pol and Ostrevant and the Duke of Gueldres. Richard III led twenty knights through London to the tournament ground at Smithfield. He attempted to repeat this successful event at Windsor eight years later, but this occasion met with less noble attendance as he was by then the subject of much hostility.

Henry VI, though an active jouster prior to coronation, was never a noted patron after. An assassination plot at a joust at Windsor probably left him wary. He did hold several events, but these were usually occasions dictated as mandatory by protocol- the coronation of his wife as queen or the arrival of foreign kings and emperors on state visits.

Henry V was arguably the most warlike and militarily capable of England’s medieval kings, but it cannot be said that his interest ran to the tournament or the joust. His dedication to the pursuit of his war aims in France precluded any interest in sporting dalliances. Indeed he actively took things further than his predecessor. On the occasion of his marriage to Catherine of France the French proposed the obligatory celebratory jousting. Henry’s cold response was that his knights’ energies aught better be employed laying siege to Sens!

The approach of Henry V seems to have become typical of royal patronage thereafter. It seems that the official view was that joust was all good entertainment to keep the eye in whilst the nation was at peace, but in time of war such decadent pastimes and lavish expense were a waste of energy and monies best employed upon the enemy. Given that the expectations were by this stage for ever more extravagant events the sums required to hold such jousts made them the exclusive preserve of highest nobility or royalty, this effectively drew a line under such grand jousts in England for the time being.

By this time the sheer expense of laying on a full tournament made these events rather akin to Formula One today. Indeed the games themselves had become so stylised that the activities within the lists-compared to real warfare- are borne out by this analogy. Compare the expense of Formula One events today and the driving taking place with the cost and practical requirements of a typical driver.

An alternative grew popular in Europe- the pas d’armes where an individual or team of knights proclaimed their undertaking to defend a given place against all comers- either in the interests of sport (a plaisance). In England the more local and less lavish meeting, the Behourd continued. These events had been popular in the provinces in the past, but in the absence of extravagances of the crown they fulfilled the knightly aspirations to the best a limited purse could afford. In some respects this was arguably a more pure version of the sport- competitors came to take part despite the glitter and gloss of the grand events.

On the continent the royal tournament could still be found, in Spain, Portugal, The Holy Roman Empire (modern Germany) and Burgundy. King Rene of Anjou, a major parton of the tournament, held notable events. In Nancy in 1445 he held one for the marriage of his daughter Margaret of Anjou to Henry VI of England. Here King Rene had a tent of red, white and green silk set at one end of the lists, and at the other a green pillar. Rene made his entrance on a horse caparisoned in purple velvet and gold, followed by six other knights whose horses were covered in velvet caparisons of variously crimson, blue, black, grey and yellow. The last horse wore ‘white cloth of gold’. Each caparison was richly embroidered with different devices. The Count of St Pol, Messire de Breze, The lord of Lorraine and other defenders, equalled this splendour.

The action of the jousting event gives good insight into what could be seen at such an occasion. Charles VII himself ran three passes against King Rene, then against Pierre de Breze. It was muttered that de Breze had used too solid a lance (displaying they were by now being clearly weakened to ensure a spectacular shatter) as the king lost his shield though both did break their lances. Then the Count of Foix, Gaston IV, took up the role of challenger and faced the Count of St Pol, nearly unhorsing him. Then in his third pass, the Count of Foix met with the Lord of Lorraine and shattered his lance so forcefully that pieces flew high into the air to the cheers of the crowd. His fourth pass against Pierre de Breze failed because de Breze’s horse shied away. The Count of Foix ran twelve passes in total breaking eleven of his lances, unhorsing one opponent and almost unseating another (Count of St Pol). Ten further challenges followed breaking somewhere between six and eleven lances between them. At the end of the day the challenger’s prize went to the Count of Foix and the defenders’ prize went to the Count of St Pol.

King Rene continued to hold jousts. At Chinon in 1446 he named the event ‘Emprise de la gueule de dragon’ or the Enterprise of the Dragon’s Mouth’. A dragon rampant was marked on a pillar and erected in the market place and hung with the shields of the four ‘defenders’. Any lady who passed this post was to be accompanied by a knight, who must break two lances for the love of her.

King Rene’s next event was at Saumur, also in 1446. This endeavour was titled ‘Le pas de la joyeuse garde’. Central was a wooden built mock castle- named after the fortress of love from the Arthurian legends. It was an astronomical affair of indulgence. The procession was led by two men dressed as Turks leading real lions on silver chains, then drummers and pipers and judges on horseback. Then came Rene’s shield, borne by a dwarf, then King Rene himself, being led by a lady by her scarf, tied through his horse’s bridle.

Rene’s third endeavour was held at Tarascon in 1449, though very complex in programme and setting it was a modest affair designed as a private entertainment and not a grand public spectacle.

King Rene of Anjou’s passion for these events was synopsised in his treatise on devising tournaments, being his findings on how such events were best arranged. Many of these practices seem to have been already in existence, and other events seem to have echoed the sentiments written down.

Great events were held all over Christendom: St Omer in 1441, Dijon in 1443 (Pas de l’abre de Charlemagne), St Omer in 1449, Calais 1449 (Pas de la Belle Pelerine) Chalon sur Salone in 1449 (Pas de la Fontaine de Pleurs), Barcelona in 1455 (Pas du pin aux pommes d’or), Bruges in 1463 (Pas du Perone Fee), Bruges 1468 (the marriage celebrations of Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy to Margaret of York), and Ghent in 1477 (Pas d’armes de la Dame Sauvage). All of these events had amazing colour and richness; themes of mythology or knight errantry from Arthurian romances; sometimes even free wine for all spectators, dispensed from ornate and inexhaustible fountains!

The most noted event in England was held in 1467 at Smithfield. King Edward IV’s brother in law, Anthony Woodville, Lord Scales issued challenge to Antoine de la Roche, the Bastard son of the Duke of Burgundy. Both were held to be among their respective nations’ finest jousters of their day and this clash of champions was set to be top billing. When the day came the combat was unfortunately marred by the death of Antoine’s horse. It was maintained that this had been achieved by accident (it may have been that Lord Scale’s mount was a trained warhorse which had, unbidden, taken it upon itself to set upon the other beast). The contest continued on foot with poleaxe with Lord Scales getting the better of the Burgundian champion.

Jousting in England had a brief renaissance under Henry VIII, most noted for his joust in Calais called the Field of the Cloth of Gold due to the tented encampment being constructed of cloth of gold. Jousting thereafter declined- the ongress of firearms in warfare removed the use of the heavily armoured lancer from the battlefield. Cavalry games involved games such as the carrousel- training for light cavalry for war involving reloading pistols in a circuit and to discharge them again when the rider passed the target each time.

Joust fell away completely with the outbreak of the Thirty Years War in Germany in 1618. Changes in attitudes among the nobility no longer placed emphasis on the romances and ideals surrounding the tournament.

Subsequent attempts to revive the sport have had to contend with the initial expense of the armour required in the first instance - prolific among the nobility during the Middle Ages. Most noted among these was the Eglington Tournament in Scotland held in 1839 during the gothic revival of Queen Victoria’s reign. Despite a fortune spent the weather turned the event into a disaster.

Today jousting (that is competitive jousting, not theatrical mummery often seen) is on the rise - at least among a few exponents and enthusiasts across the world. Destrier is proud to provide a little of what a spectator could hope to see and for a dedicated few obsessive individuals - the chance to experience a bit of what it was like to participate in a tournament or joust.