.gif)
Tournament (medieval)
Encyclopedia
A tournament, or tourney (from Old French
torneiement, tornei) is the name popularly given to chivalrous
competitions or mock fights of the Middle Ages
and Renaissance
(12th to 16th centuries). It is one of various types of hastilude
s.
_von_anhalt.jpg)
Of the several medieval definitions of the tournament given by Du Cange
(Glossarium, s.v. "Tourneamentum"), the best is that of Roger of Hoveden
, who described tournaments as "military exercises carried out, not in the spirit of hostility(nullo interveniente odio), but solely for practice and the display of prowess (pro solo exercitio, atque ostentatione virium)."
such cavalry games were still central to military training as is evidenced by Louis and Charles' military games at Worms in 843. At this event, recorded by Nithard
, the initial chasing and fleeing was followed by a general melee
of all combatants. But the tournament, properly so called, does not appear in Europe
before the 11th century. Medieval people themselves devised myths about its origins. A chronicler of Tours in the late twelfth century records the death, in 1066, of an Angevin baron named Geoffroi de Preulli, who supposedly "devised (invenit) tournaments." Rüxner's sixteenth-century Thurnierbuch details the supposed tournament laws of Henry the Fowler (king of Germany, 919-936).
In fact the earliest use of the word 'tournament' comes from the peace legislation by Count Baldwin III of Hainaut
for the town of Valenciennes, dated to 1114. It refers to the keepers of the peace in the town leaving it 'for the purpose of frequenting javelin sports, tournaments and such like.' The earliest reference to a recognisable tournament event is in the history of his church of St Martin of Tournai
composed by Hermann of Tournai
in the early 1140s, who refers to the accidental death of Henry III, Count of Leuven in his town in 1095 in a meeting between his knights and those of the castellan of Tournai. A pattern of regular tournament meetings across northern France is evident in sources for the life of Charles, Count of Flanders (1119-1127)
. The sources of the 1160s and 1170s portray the event in the developed form it maintained into the fourteenth century.
Tournaments centred on the melee
, a general fight where the knights were divided into two sides and came together in a charge (MFr 'estor'). Jousting
, a single combat of two knights riding at each other, was a component of the tournament, but was never its main feature.
The standard form of a tournament is evident in sources as early as the 1160s and 1170s, notably the Life of William Marshal and the romances of Chrétien de Troyes
. Tournaments might be held at all times of the year except the penitential season of Lent
(the forty days preceding the Triduum of Easter
). The general custom was to hold them on Mondays and Tuesdays, though any day but Friday and Sunday might be used. The site of the tournament was customarily announced a fortnight
before it was to be held. The most famous tournament fields were in northeastern France (such as that between Ressons-sur-Matz and Gournay-sur-Aronde near Compiègne
, in use between the 1160s and 1240s) which attracted hundreds of foreign knights from all over Europe for the 'lonc sejor' (the tournament season).
Knights arrived individually or in companies to stay at one or other of the two settlements designated as their lodgings. The tournament began on a field outside the principal settlement, where stands were erected for spectators. On the day of the tournament one side was formed of those 'within' the principal settlement, and another of those 'outside'.
Parties hosted by the principal magnates present were held in both settlements, and preliminary jousts (called the 'vespers' or premieres commençailles) offered knights an individual showcase for their talents. On the day of the event, the tournament was opened by a review (regars) in which both sides paraded and called out their war cries. Then followed a further opportunity for individual jousting carried out between the rencs, the two line of knights. The opportunity for jousting at this point was customarily offered to the new, young knights present.
At some time in mid morning the knights would line up for the charge (estor). At a signal, a bugle or herald's cry, the lines would ride at each other and meet with levelled lances. Those remaining on horseback would turn quickly (the action which gave the tournament its name) and single out knights to attack. There is evidence that squires were present at the lists (the staked and embanked line in front of the stands) to offer their masters up to three replacement lances. The mêlée would tend then to degenerate into running battles between parties of knights seeking to take ransoms, and would spread over several square miles between the two settlements which defined the tournament area. Most tournaments continued till both sides were exhausted, or till the light faded. A few ended earlier, if one side broke in the charge, panicked and ran for its home base looking to get behind its lists and the shelter of the armed infantry which protected them. Following the tournament the patron of the day would offer lavish banquets and entertainments. Prizes were offered to the best knight on either side, and awarded during the meals.
There is no doubting the massive popularity of the tournament as early as the sources permit us to glimpse it. The first English mention of tourneying is in a charter of Osbert of Arden, a Warwickshire knight of English descent, which reveals that he travelled to Northampton and London but also crossed the Channel to join in events in France. The charter dates to the late 1120s. The great tournaments of northern France attracted many hundreds of knights from Germany
, England
, Scotland
, Occitania
and Iberia
. There is evidence that 3000 knights attended the tournament at Lagny-sur-Marne in November 1179 promoted by Louis VII of France
in honour of his son's coronation. The state tournaments at Senlis and Compiègne held by Philip III of France
in 1279 can be calculated to have been even larger events.
Aristocratic enthusiasm for the tournament meant that it had travelled outside its northern French heartland before the 1120s. The first evidence for it in England and the Rhineland is found in the 1120s. References in the Marshal biography indicate that in the 1160s tournaments were being held in central France and Great Britain. The contemporary works of Bertran de Born
talk of a tourneying world which also embraced northern Iberia, Scotland and the Empire. The chronicle of Lauterberg indicates that by 1175 the enthusiasm had reached the borders of Poland.
Despite this huge interest and wide distribution, royal and ecclesiastical authority was deployed to prohibit the event. In 1130 Pope Innocent II at a church council at Clermont denounced the tournament and forbade Christian burial for those killed in them. The usual ecclesiastical justification for prohibiting them was that it distracted the aristocracy from more acceptable warfare in defence of Christianity. However, the reason for the ban imposed on them in England by Henry II
had to have lain in its persistent threat to public order. Knights going to tournaments were accused of theft and violence against the unarmed. Henry II was keen to re-establish public order in England after the disruption of the reign of King Stephen
(1135–1154). He did not prohibit tournaments in his continental domains, and indeed three of his sons were avid pursuers of the sport.
Tournaments were allowed in England once again after 1192, when Richard I identified six sites where they would be permitted and gave a scale of fees by which patrons could pay for a license. But both King John and his son, Henry III, introduced fitful and capricious prohibitions which much annoyed the aristocracy and eroded the popularity of the events. In France Louis IX
prohibited tourneying within his domains in 1260, and his successors for the most part maintained the ban.
by William fitz Stephen (composed 1171). Bohorts might be held between travelling knights, or between parties of squires, or within an encamped army. They might also form part of court festivities. Their main feature was the limited use of arms and armour and emphasis on horsemanship.
The tirocinium is first mentioned by Otto of Freising
, referring back to an event at Würzburg
in 1127. That and later references indicate that it was a tournament held exclusively for newly-knighted youths (tirones). The new knight was often an easy victim for older and more experienced colleagues. The tirocinium allowed them to gain experience with less danger. Tirocinia were often held following the knighting of royal and princely youths, who were usually knighted in company with dozens or scores of other aspirants.
A further addition to the family of related events was the urban tournament, designed for the youths and young men of wealthy patrician families. These were facsimiles of the aristocratic event rather than simple bohorts. The most famous of them were the tournaments held in the market streets of the great Flemish cities, notably at the religious feast of the Epinette, which is mentioned at Lille
as early as 1283. They were not exclusively urban, and attracted neighbouring country knights, but their location and patronage distinguished them from the parallel aristocratic events. This form of mêlée tournament survived the longest.
But jousting had its own devoted constituency by the early 13th century, and in the 1220s it began to have its own exclusive events outside the tournament. The biographer of William Marshal
observed c.1224 that in his day noblemen were more interested in jousting than tourneying. In 1223 we have the first mention of an exclusively jousting event, the 'Round Table' held in Cyprus by John d'Ibelin, lord of Beirut
. Round Tables were a 13th-century enthusiasm and can be reconstructed to have been an elimination jousting event. They were held for knights and squires alike. Other forms of jousting also arose during the century, and by the 14th century the joust was poised to take over the vacancy in aristocratic amusement caused by the decline of the tournament.
It is a vexed issue as to what extent specialized arms and armour were used in mêlée tournaments. A further question that might be raised is to what extent the military equipment of knights and their horses in the 12th and 13th centuries was devised to meet the perils and demands of tournaments, rather than warfare. It is however clear from the sources that the weapons used in tournaments were initially the same as those used in war. It is not by any means certain that swords were blunted for most of the history of the tournament. This must have changed by the mid 13th century, at least in jousting encounters. There is a passing reference to a special spear for use in jousting in the Prose Lancelot (c.1220). In the 1252 jousting at Walden, the lances used had 'sokets', curved ring-like punches instead of points. The Statute of Arms of Edward I of England
of 1292 says that blunted knives and swords should be used in tournaments, which rather hints that their use had not been general until then.
regularly held tournaments, during which people often dressed up, sometimes as the Knights of the Round Table. In 1331 the participants of one tournament were all wearing green cloaks decorated with golden arrows. In the same year one was held at Cheapside
, in which the king and other participants dressed as Tartars and led the ladies, who were in the colours of Saint George
, in a procession at the start of the event. His grandson, Richard II
, would first distribute livery with his badge of the White Hart
at a tournament at Smithfield
.
In 1511, at the court of Henry VIII of England
, a tournament was held in honour of Catherine of Aragon
. Charles Brandon
came out of a tower which was moved onto the battlefield, dressed like a pilgrim. He only took off his pilgrim's clothes after the queen had given him permission to participate.
, the mêlée was postponed so long by jousting that the sun was sinking by the time the lines charged. The tournament survived little longer in France or Burgundy. The last known to be held was at Bruges
in 1379. That same year the citizens of Ghent
rioted when the count of Flanders announced a tournament to be held at their city. The cause of their discontent was the associated expense for them.
Old French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
torneiement, tornei) is the name popularly given to chivalrous
Chivalry
Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...
competitions or mock fights of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
(12th to 16th centuries). It is one of various types of hastilude
Hastilude
Hastilude is a generic term used in the Middle Ages to refer to many kinds of martial games. The word comes from the Latin hastiludium, literally "lance game"'...
s.
Definition
Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange
Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange or Ducange was a distinguished philologist and historian of the Middle Ages and Byzantium....
(Glossarium, s.v. "Tourneamentum"), the best is that of Roger of Hoveden
Roger of Hoveden
Roger of Hoveden, or Howden , was a 12th-century English chronicler.From Hoveden's name and the internal evidence of his work, he is believed to have been a native of Howden in East Yorkshire. Nothing is known of him before the year 1174. He was then in attendance upon Henry II, by whom he was sent...
, who described tournaments as "military exercises carried out, not in the spirit of hostility(nullo interveniente odio), but solely for practice and the display of prowess (pro solo exercitio, atque ostentatione virium)."
Origins
Military games were organized in Europe around 1000. Equestrian games of war are known from before the Romans: for example, chariot racing and the like were popular in Celtic Europe. Something like the medieval tourney was practiced by the Roman cavalry, from early on a critically important arm of the legions: two teams took turns chasing and fleeing each other, casting javelins in the attack and covering themselves with their shields in the retreat. These games, known as Hippica Gymnasia are known from ample archaeological and literary evidence to have been quite elaborate displays and were intended to impress their audiences. Special armor was made for them, including helms that fully covered the face against accidental injury, unlike the war helmets that left the face open for unimpeded vision and hearing. During the Early Middle AgesEarly Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
such cavalry games were still central to military training as is evidenced by Louis and Charles' military games at Worms in 843. At this event, recorded by Nithard
Nithard
Nithard ca. , a Frankish historian, was the grandson of Charlemagne, by Bertha, a daughter of the emperor. His father was Angilbert.-Life and career:Nithard was born sometime before Charlemagne was crowned Imperator Augustus in December 800...
, the initial chasing and fleeing was followed by a general melee
Mêlée
Melee , generally refers to disorganized close combat involving a group of fighters. A melee ensues when groups become locked together in combat with no regard to group tactics or fighting as an organized unit; each participant fights as an individual....
of all combatants. But the tournament, properly so called, does not appear in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
before the 11th century. Medieval people themselves devised myths about its origins. A chronicler of Tours in the late twelfth century records the death, in 1066, of an Angevin baron named Geoffroi de Preulli, who supposedly "devised (invenit) tournaments." Rüxner's sixteenth-century Thurnierbuch details the supposed tournament laws of Henry the Fowler (king of Germany, 919-936).
In fact the earliest use of the word 'tournament' comes from the peace legislation by Count Baldwin III of Hainaut
County of Hainaut
The County of Hainaut was a historical region in the Low Countries with its capital at Mons . In English sources it is often given the archaic spelling Hainault....
for the town of Valenciennes, dated to 1114. It refers to the keepers of the peace in the town leaving it 'for the purpose of frequenting javelin sports, tournaments and such like.' The earliest reference to a recognisable tournament event is in the history of his church of St Martin of Tournai
Tournai
Tournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....
composed by Hermann of Tournai
Hériman of Tournai
Hériman of Tournai , the third abbot of St Martin of Tournai, was a chronicler of his abbey and, in many anecdotal accounts connected with the abbey, a social historian of the world seen from its perspective...
in the early 1140s, who refers to the accidental death of Henry III, Count of Leuven in his town in 1095 in a meeting between his knights and those of the castellan of Tournai. A pattern of regular tournament meetings across northern France is evident in sources for the life of Charles, Count of Flanders (1119-1127)
Charles I, Count of Flanders
Blessed Charles the Good was Count of Flanders from 1119 to 1127. He is most remembered for his murder and its aftermath.-History:...
. The sources of the 1160s and 1170s portray the event in the developed form it maintained into the fourteenth century.
Shape of the tournament
Mêlée
Melee , generally refers to disorganized close combat involving a group of fighters. A melee ensues when groups become locked together in combat with no regard to group tactics or fighting as an organized unit; each participant fights as an individual....
, a general fight where the knights were divided into two sides and came together in a charge (MFr 'estor'). Jousting
Jousting
Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two knights mounted on horses and using lances, often as part of a tournament.Jousting emerged in the High Middle Ages based on the military use of the lance by heavy cavalry. The first camels tournament was staged in 1066, but jousting itself did not...
, a single combat of two knights riding at each other, was a component of the tournament, but was never its main feature.
The standard form of a tournament is evident in sources as early as the 1160s and 1170s, notably the Life of William Marshal and the romances of Chrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...
. Tournaments might be held at all times of the year except the penitential season of Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
(the forty days preceding the Triduum of Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
). The general custom was to hold them on Mondays and Tuesdays, though any day but Friday and Sunday might be used. The site of the tournament was customarily announced a fortnight
Fortnight
The fortnight is a unit of time equal to fourteen days, or two weeks. The word derives from the Old English fēowertyne niht, meaning "fourteen nights"....
before it was to be held. The most famous tournament fields were in northeastern France (such as that between Ressons-sur-Matz and Gournay-sur-Aronde near Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
, in use between the 1160s and 1240s) which attracted hundreds of foreign knights from all over Europe for the 'lonc sejor' (the tournament season).
Knights arrived individually or in companies to stay at one or other of the two settlements designated as their lodgings. The tournament began on a field outside the principal settlement, where stands were erected for spectators. On the day of the tournament one side was formed of those 'within' the principal settlement, and another of those 'outside'.
Parties hosted by the principal magnates present were held in both settlements, and preliminary jousts (called the 'vespers' or premieres commençailles) offered knights an individual showcase for their talents. On the day of the event, the tournament was opened by a review (regars) in which both sides paraded and called out their war cries. Then followed a further opportunity for individual jousting carried out between the rencs, the two line of knights. The opportunity for jousting at this point was customarily offered to the new, young knights present.
At some time in mid morning the knights would line up for the charge (estor). At a signal, a bugle or herald's cry, the lines would ride at each other and meet with levelled lances. Those remaining on horseback would turn quickly (the action which gave the tournament its name) and single out knights to attack. There is evidence that squires were present at the lists (the staked and embanked line in front of the stands) to offer their masters up to three replacement lances. The mêlée would tend then to degenerate into running battles between parties of knights seeking to take ransoms, and would spread over several square miles between the two settlements which defined the tournament area. Most tournaments continued till both sides were exhausted, or till the light faded. A few ended earlier, if one side broke in the charge, panicked and ran for its home base looking to get behind its lists and the shelter of the armed infantry which protected them. Following the tournament the patron of the day would offer lavish banquets and entertainments. Prizes were offered to the best knight on either side, and awarded during the meals.
Popularity and prohibitions
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Occitania
Occitania
Occitania , also sometimes lo País d'Òc, "the Oc Country"), is the region in southern Europe where Occitan was historically the main language spoken, and where it is sometimes still used, for the most part as a second language...
and Iberia
Iberia
The name Iberia refers to three historical regions of the old world:* Iberian Peninsula, in Southwest Europe, location of modern-day Portugal and Spain** Prehistoric Iberia...
. There is evidence that 3000 knights attended the tournament at Lagny-sur-Marne in November 1179 promoted by Louis VII of France
Louis VII of France
Louis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England...
in honour of his son's coronation. The state tournaments at Senlis and Compiègne held by Philip III of France
Philip III of France
Philip III , called the Bold , was the King of France, succeeding his father, Louis IX, and reigning from 1270 to 1285. He was a member of the House of Capet.-Biography:...
in 1279 can be calculated to have been even larger events.
Aristocratic enthusiasm for the tournament meant that it had travelled outside its northern French heartland before the 1120s. The first evidence for it in England and the Rhineland is found in the 1120s. References in the Marshal biography indicate that in the 1160s tournaments were being held in central France and Great Britain. The contemporary works of Bertran de Born
Bertran de Born
Bertran de Born was a baron from the Limousin in France, and one of the major Occitan troubadours of the twelfth century.-Life and works:...
talk of a tourneying world which also embraced northern Iberia, Scotland and the Empire. The chronicle of Lauterberg indicates that by 1175 the enthusiasm had reached the borders of Poland.
Despite this huge interest and wide distribution, royal and ecclesiastical authority was deployed to prohibit the event. In 1130 Pope Innocent II at a church council at Clermont denounced the tournament and forbade Christian burial for those killed in them. The usual ecclesiastical justification for prohibiting them was that it distracted the aristocracy from more acceptable warfare in defence of Christianity. However, the reason for the ban imposed on them in England by Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
had to have lain in its persistent threat to public order. Knights going to tournaments were accused of theft and violence against the unarmed. Henry II was keen to re-establish public order in England after the disruption of the reign of King Stephen
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
(1135–1154). He did not prohibit tournaments in his continental domains, and indeed three of his sons were avid pursuers of the sport.
Tournaments were allowed in England once again after 1192, when Richard I identified six sites where they would be permitted and gave a scale of fees by which patrons could pay for a license. But both King John and his son, Henry III, introduced fitful and capricious prohibitions which much annoyed the aristocracy and eroded the popularity of the events. In France Louis IX
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
prohibited tourneying within his domains in 1260, and his successors for the most part maintained the ban.
Bohorts, tirocinia and urban festivities
There was a family of events which resembled the tournament in their day, and which are often confused with it. The most common was the bohort (buhurdicium). This was a play tournament, which might be held informally on a variety of occasions. There is a record of one being held regularly by the youth of the city of London in the life of Thomas BecketThomas Becket
Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
by William fitz Stephen (composed 1171). Bohorts might be held between travelling knights, or between parties of squires, or within an encamped army. They might also form part of court festivities. Their main feature was the limited use of arms and armour and emphasis on horsemanship.
The tirocinium is first mentioned by Otto of Freising
Otto of Freising
Otto von Freising was a German bishop and chronicler.-Life:He was the fifth son of Leopold III, margrave of Austria, by his wife Agnes, daughter of the emperor Henry IV...
, referring back to an event at Würzburg
Würzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
in 1127. That and later references indicate that it was a tournament held exclusively for newly-knighted youths (tirones). The new knight was often an easy victim for older and more experienced colleagues. The tirocinium allowed them to gain experience with less danger. Tirocinia were often held following the knighting of royal and princely youths, who were usually knighted in company with dozens or scores of other aspirants.
A further addition to the family of related events was the urban tournament, designed for the youths and young men of wealthy patrician families. These were facsimiles of the aristocratic event rather than simple bohorts. The most famous of them were the tournaments held in the market streets of the great Flemish cities, notably at the religious feast of the Epinette, which is mentioned at Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
as early as 1283. They were not exclusively urban, and attracted neighbouring country knights, but their location and patronage distinguished them from the parallel aristocratic events. This form of mêlée tournament survived the longest.
Jousting and the tournament
As has been said jousting formed part of the tournament event from as early a time as it can be observed. It was an evening prelude to the big day, and was also a preliminary to the grand charge on the day itself. In the 12th century jousting was occasionally banned in tournaments. The reasons given are that it distracted knights from the main event, and allowed a form of cheating. Count Philip of Flanders made a practice in the 1160s of turning up armed with his retinue to the preliminary jousts, and then declining to join the mêlée until the knights were exhausted and ransoms could be swept up.But jousting had its own devoted constituency by the early 13th century, and in the 1220s it began to have its own exclusive events outside the tournament. The biographer of William Marshal
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
Sir William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke , also called William the Marshal , was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He was described as the "greatest knight that ever lived" by Stephen Langton...
observed c.1224 that in his day noblemen were more interested in jousting than tourneying. In 1223 we have the first mention of an exclusively jousting event, the 'Round Table' held in Cyprus by John d'Ibelin, lord of Beirut
John of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut
John of Ibelin , called the Old Lord of Beirut, was a powerful crusader noble in the 13th century, one of the best known representatives of the influential Ibelin family...
. Round Tables were a 13th-century enthusiasm and can be reconstructed to have been an elimination jousting event. They were held for knights and squires alike. Other forms of jousting also arose during the century, and by the 14th century the joust was poised to take over the vacancy in aristocratic amusement caused by the decline of the tournament.
Equipment
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
of 1292 says that blunted knives and swords should be used in tournaments, which rather hints that their use had not been general until then.
Tournaments as an art form
By using costumes, drama and symbolism, tournaments became a form of art, which raised the expenses for these events considerably. Edward III of EnglandEdward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
regularly held tournaments, during which people often dressed up, sometimes as the Knights of the Round Table. In 1331 the participants of one tournament were all wearing green cloaks decorated with golden arrows. In the same year one was held at Cheapside
Cheapside
Cheapside is a street in the City of London that links Newgate Street with the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Mansion House Street. To the east is Mansion House, the Bank of England, and the major road junction above Bank tube station. To the west is St. Paul's Cathedral, St...
, in which the king and other participants dressed as Tartars and led the ladies, who were in the colours of Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
, in a procession at the start of the event. His grandson, Richard II
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
, would first distribute livery with his badge of the White Hart
White Hart
The White Hart was the personal emblem and livery of Richard II, who derived it from the arms of his mother, Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent", heiress of Edmund of Woodstock...
at a tournament at Smithfield
Smithfield, London
Smithfield is an area of the City of London, in the ward of Farringdon Without. It is located in the north-west part of the City, and is mostly known for its centuries-old meat market, today the last surviving historical wholesale market in Central London...
.
In 1511, at the court of Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, a tournament was held in honour of Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
. Charles Brandon
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG was the son of Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Through his third wife Mary Tudor he was brother-in-law to Henry VIII. His father was the standard-bearer of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and was slain by Richard III in person at...
came out of a tower which was moved onto the battlefield, dressed like a pilgrim. He only took off his pilgrim's clothes after the queen had given him permission to participate.
Later days
The decline of the true tournament was not a straightforward process, although the word continued to be used for jousts until the sixteenth century. Tourneying continued to be regarded as the best test of a warrior in 14th-century society, an idea reinforced by the prominent place that tourneying occupied in popular Arthurian romance literature. The tournament had a resurgence of popularity in England in the reign of the martial and crusading king, Edward I (1272–1307) and under his grandson, Edward III (1327–1377), yet nonetheless the tournament died out in the latter's reign. Edward III encouraged the move towards pageantry and a predominance of jousting in his sponsored events. In the last true tournament held in England in 1342 at DunstableDunstable
Dunstable is a market town and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, 30 miles north of London. These geographical features form several steep chalk escarpments most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north.-Etymology:In...
, the mêlée was postponed so long by jousting that the sun was sinking by the time the lines charged. The tournament survived little longer in France or Burgundy. The last known to be held was at Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
in 1379. That same year the citizens of Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
rioted when the count of Flanders announced a tournament to be held at their city. The cause of their discontent was the associated expense for them.
Primary sources
There are a few surviving tournament books describing the style, horsemanship and rules of the tournaments of the 15th and 16th centuries, as well as accounts of tournaments dating back to the 13th century.- L'Histoire Guillaume le Maréschal (ed. P. Meyer, Paris, 1901), ca. 1219
- SarrazinJean François SarrazinJean François Sarrazin , or Sarasin, was a French author.-Biography:Sarrazin was born at Hermanville, near Caen, the son of Roger Sarasin, treasurer-general at Caen....
, Le Roman du Hem, poetic account of a tournament of 1275. - Ulrich von Liechtenstein, Frauendienst, 13th century, ed. R. Bechstein (Leipzig, 1888).
- Le Tournoi de Chauvency, 1285 (ed. M. Delbouille, Liege, 1932).
- The Book of Chivalry and Questions Concerning the Joust, Tournaments and War by Geoffroi de Charny, 14th century
- Chronicles of Jean FroissartJean FroissartJean Froissart , often referred to in English as John Froissart, was one of the most important chroniclers of medieval France. For centuries, Froissart's Chronicles have been recognized as the chief expression of the chivalric revival of the 14th century Kingdom of England and France...
, 14th century - Livro da ensinanca de bem cavalgarBem cavalgarBem cavalgar, fully Livro da ensinança de bem cavalgar toda sela , is a book written by Edward of Portugal, left incomplete as Edward died of a plague in 1438. It is one of the oldest remaining manuals of medieval horsemanship and jousting...
(1438) - Traictié de la forme et devise d'ung tournoyKing René's Tournament BookLe Livre des tournois by René d'Anjou of ca. 1460 describes rules of a tournament....
by René d'Anjou (ca. 1460) - Pero Rodríguez de Lena, El passo honroso de Suero de Quiñones, 15th century (ed. Amancio Labandeira, Madrid: Fundación Universitaria España, 1977).
- Alfonso de CartagenaAlfonso de CartagenaAlfonso de Santa María de Cartagena was a Jewish convert to Christianity, a Roman Catholic bishop, diplomat, historian and writer of pre-Renaissance Spain....
, Chivalric Vision, ca. 1444 - La form quon tenoit des tournoys et assemblees au temps du uterpendragon et du roy artus, 15th century
- Díaz de Gámez, Gutierre. El victorial: cronica de don Pero Niño, 15th century (Madrid, 1989).
- Pas de Saumur, kept in the Russian National Library, St. Petersburg
- manuals produced at the court of Maximilian IMaximilian I, Holy Roman EmperorMaximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
: Freydahl, Die Ehrenpforte - Turnierbuch of Duke William IV of Bavaria (1541)
- Rüxner Turnierbuch (1530, 1532)
- tournament book of Duke Heinrich II of Brunswick-Lüneburg, State Library, Berlin
- Challenges and Combats Afoot, Dresden Library
- Tournament book, Metropolitan Museum of Art, before 1597
- The Great Tournament Roll of Westminster, 16th century
- Chacón, Hernán. Tractado de la cauallería de la gineta (1551)
External links
- Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts (AEMMA), Toronto, Canada. The structure of the pas d'armes at AEMMA focuses on "combats on foot" only and encompasses numerous attributes of a late 14th and early 15th centuries balanced to satisfy the expectations of the spectators in a 21st century context by allowing them to witness extraordinary unscripted single armoured combats, while providing opportunities for the combatants to demonstrate their prowess and technique through the challenges presented in the bouts by the appellants and all the while, maintaining a strong foothold in its historical counterpart.
- What Was At Stake in Formal Deeds of Arms of the 14th Century? "Thus the formal deed of arms had an individual aspect and a collective one, and in both aspects something very real was at stake. The individual was there to be tested. Every man entered the contest intending not just to look good, but to survive, and to come away from the field worthy of greater respect. Some inevitably gained more than others. For the group, the formal deed was not so much a test but an act of definition. It was, at least in the eyes of its participants, proof that they were all armed gentlemen and that armed gentlemen deserved the lofty place in society that they in fact enjoyed. The group itself was reaffirmed in a way that was essential to its self-image. "
- The Tournament at St. Inglevert "Three French knights hold a tournament at Saint Inglevert, near Calais, and defend the lists for thirty days against all comers."
- A Collection of Accounts of Formal Deeds of Arms of the Fourteenth Century "Modern people often make a big distinction between 'tournaments' and 'real war,' but the distinction was much more fluid in the fourteenth century."
See also
- Kipper (medieval tournament)Kipper (medieval tournament)In medieval tournaments a kipper was a person employed by a knight, usually a vassal of the knight such as a slave, serf, or peasant. Kippers might also be fighters of non-knightly status, who therefore did not fight on horseback....
- Pas d'ArmesPas d'ArmesThe pas d'armes or passage of arms was a type of chivalric hastilude that evolved in the late 14th century and remained popular through the 15th century...
- JoustingJoustingJousting is a martial game or hastilude between two knights mounted on horses and using lances, often as part of a tournament.Jousting emerged in the High Middle Ages based on the military use of the lance by heavy cavalry. The first camels tournament was staged in 1066, but jousting itself did not...
- KnightKnightA knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
- Horses in the Middle AgesHorses in the Middle AgesHorses in the Middle Ages differed in size, build and breed from the modern horse, and were, on average, smaller. They were also more central to society than their modern counterparts, being essential for war, agriculture, and transport....
- HastiludeHastiludeHastilude is a generic term used in the Middle Ages to refer to many kinds of martial games. The word comes from the Latin hastiludium, literally "lance game"'...
- The Flyting of Dumbar and KennedieThe Flyting of Dumbar and KennedieSchir Johine the Ros, ane thing thair is compild, also known as The Flyting of Dumbar and Kennedie, is the earliest surviving example of the Scottish version of the flyting genre in poetry. The genre takes the form of a contest, or "war of words", between two poets, each trying to outclass the...
- FlytingFlytingFlyting or fliting is a contest consisting of the exchange of insults, often conducted in verse, between two parties.-Description:Flyting is a ritual, poetic exchange of insults practiced mainly between the 5th and 16th centuries. The root is the Old English word flītan meaning quarrel...