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For other uses see joust (disambiguation)
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Jousting is a competition between two mounted knights. Jousting was at the peak of its popularity in the 14th to 16th centuries. The knights were often each equipped with three weapons; a lance, a one-handed sword, and a rondel. When one knight knocked the other off his mount, he was declared the winner of the round. If both knights were knocked off their mounts at the same time, it was considered a tie; they would then engage in sword combat, and the last standing was victorious. but if niether fell off their mounts the knight whos joust that was broken the most was the winner.(Most people would think if something is broken then they would lose. But not in jousting(brez)). The knights usually jousted in a best out of three situation.
Jousting was added to tournaments several centuries after their inauguration in the form of mêlées. Mêlées, being free-for-all between two sides, were better practice for actual fighting, but the joust permitted better display of individual skill and, while still dangerous, was less likely to result in wholesale slaughter. Considerable honor and fortune could be gained by jousting. Victors in these battles usually gained the armor of their opponents, with a value equivalent to the price of a house these days. Many knights made their fortune in these events and many lost theirs as well.
For an event that was extremely popular once, surprisingly little is known of the exact details of a joust.
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Two Primary types of Jousts
Jousting "au Plaisance" indicates that the combat is for the pleasure of the combatants and audience of the tournament, and uses a blunted lance tip. Jousting "au Outrance" is typically performed during wartime on battlefields and is performed "to the death" using sharpened lance tips. Death and serious injury could and did result from jousting "au plaisance". The greatest danger was that the visor of the protective helmet of the knight accidentally opened during a run, making it possible for the opponents lance or debris from a breaking lance to hit the unprotected face of the knight.
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English jousting
Another kind of jousting became popular in which points were awarded for breaking lances, with a minimum length to break off the lance. In this form, the riders were separated by a low wooden fence and combat was not continued on the ground if a rider fell off his horse. The lance had to break on a strike of the opposing knight: a break for instance due to hitting the other's saddle scored no points. One point was awarded for a strike to the torso. Two points were awarded for breaking a lance at the opponent's helmet. The highest score, three points, was awarded for knocking the opponent off his horse. In some tournaments, this accomplishment would also entitle the victor to the loser's horse.
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Training for jousting
Medieval manuscripts have revealed that training for the joust was first done on a wooden horse on wheels, pulled by several men. The trainee had to hit a rectangular board, lined with a thick rope meant to prevent the lance from sliding away. The board had a slit through which the trainer could observe the trainee. When training with a real horse, a target that would rotate when hit was used. This was called a quintain and had a square board mounted on a long, revolving pole. At the other end of the pole was a heavy weight. If the trainee hit the board head-on and in the center, then the device would spin around and the weight would miss him. If, however the lance struck off center and/or the rider was not fast enough, then the bag would swing and knock him off his horse.
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The horse
The two most common kinds of horses used for jousting were warmblood chargers and coldblood destriers. Chargers were medium weight horses bred and trained for agility and stamina, while destriers were heavy war horses. These were larger and slower, but helpful to give a devastating force to the rider's lance through its weight being about twice as large as that of a traditional riding horse. The horses were trained for ambling, a kind of pace that provided the rider with stability in order to be able to focus and aim better with the lance.
During a jousting tournament, the horses were cared for by their grooms in their respective tents. They wore caparisons, a type of ornamental cloth featuring the owner's heraldic signs. Competing horses had their heads protected by a chanfron, a shielding of iron as protection from otherwise lethal lance hits.
Other forms of equipment on the horse included long-necked spurs to be able to ride the horse with extended legs, a saddle with a high back to provide leverage during the charge or if becoming hit, as well as stirrups for the necessary leverage to deliver blows with the lance.
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The armour
Jousting was popular from the Middle Ages until the early 1600s. During that time armour evolved from being chain mail, and
using only a heavy, one-piece helmet, called a "great helm", and shield. In later times, after 1400, knights wore full suits of plate armour. The armour frequently had extra interchangeable elements , so that a light military combat suit could be re-enforced with heavier, "bolt-on" protective steel, on the cuirass (breastplate). It was a small attached shield, in some cases. These bolt-ons were usually much stronger on the side likely to take the impact of the lance. When the "Great Helm"
was replaced, with the introduction of plate armour, bolt-on safety appliances were used to make the face of the
closed helmet safer in the joust.
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The lance
Common rules of the game let the participating venants (challengers) decide whether to use a blunt "courtesy lance" or a pointed war lance by touching two different kinds of shields, one with a symbol of peace, the other with a symbol of war.
In modern times, jousting is often done for show or demonstration purposes, and the lances used are usually made of light wood and prepared so that they break easily. In a real joust, the lances are solid oak and a significant strike is needed to shatter them. Although the (blunt) lances will usually not penetrate the steel, the harnesses worn by the knights are lined on the inside with plenty of cloth to soften the blow from the lance.
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Jousting in Medieval Combat
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Jousting was not used just for tournament within the noblity but it was also used in combat as well. In combat mounted knights would charge at their enemies with a lance in an attempt to kill or knock the knight off his horse. Without the extra "bolt-on" armor used in the tournaments the knights were killed because of the force of the two horses charging at each other. With the advent of plate armor knights could carry bigger and heavier lances made out of whole tree trunks.
The primary use of the jousting lance was to unhorse an opposing rider. Typically used in Europe during the Middle Ages, these were usually accompanied by other melee weapons carried by the jouster, depending upon which jousting style is in use, which was determined by the time period in question, by any pre-established tourney format, and/or by the choice of the combatants.
The The Chronicles of Froissart record that, during a campaign in the Gatinois and the Beauce in France during the Hundred Years' War between the English and French, a truce was declared so that a joust could take place:
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The decline of jousting
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One high profile accident contributed to the decline of jousting as a sport. King Henry II of France was an avid sportsman who died after a jousting accident in 1559. A splinter from a broken lance entered the eye slot on his helmet and lodged in his brain. Afterward direct combat competitions declined and ring threading events gained popularity. *
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Modern-day jousting
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Today, tent pegging is the only form of jousting officially recognized by the International Equestrian Federation.The sport involves using a lance or sword to strike and carry away a small wooden ground target. The name "tent pegging" is derived from the cavalry tactic of causing confusion and havoc in enemy camps by galloping though the camps and collapsing the tents by pulling up the tent peg anchors with well-placed lance tip strikes. The actual sport of tent pegging, however, originates in medieval India, when horse cavalrymen would try to incapacitate elephant cavalry by striking the elephants with lances on their extremely sensitive toenails.
Ring jousting is the official state sport of Maryland, and was the first official sport of any American state.
Modern-day medieval-style jousting competitions feature riders on horseback attempting various feats of skill with a lance, performed at Renaissance fairs and other festivals. Examples range from full-contact combat jousts, to attempting to thread a lance through a ring, or striking another type of stationary target like vegetables or wooden blocks.
In the Italian town of Arezzo there is an annual jousting tournament that dates back to the crusades of the Middle Ages. Jousters wear colors representing different areas of the town and strike at a square target attached to a wooden effigy of a Saracen king. The other arm of the King holds a cat-o-three-tails -- three leather laces with a heavy wooden ball at the end of each. The riders strike the target with a chalk-tipped lance and score points for accuracy, but must also dodge the cat-o-three-tails after they have struck the target *.
Some modern-day variants on jousting include bike jousting, jet ski jousting, and, most recently, downhill ski jousting. Many Renaissance performers find these sports appalling, but they are gaining popularity among a younger demographic.
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See also
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