# A Guide to Medieval Knight Tournaments

An episode of [Human History ASMR](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6793196842), 5 Oct 2026, 1 h 13 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75551764/a_guide_to_medieval_knight_tournaments_human_voiced_no_ads.mp3

Step into the world of medieval tournaments and discover what life was really like for knights who gathered to compete in some of the most spectacular martial events of the Middle Ages. This episode explores jousting, mêlée combat, tournament grounds, armor, weapons, horses, noble spectators, rivalries, and the traditions that transformed military skill into elaborate public spectacle. Discover how medieval tournaments developed from dangerous training exercises into highly organized displays of martial ability, wealth, status, and chivalry. Explore how knights trained for combat, prepared their horses and equipment, selected their weapons, and faced opponents in events that could attract large crowds and participants from distant regions. Go beyond the romantic image of the jousting knight and examine the practical realities of tournament life. Learn how tournaments were organized, who financed them, how prizes and ransoms worked, and why kings, nobles, and wealthy knights invested enormous resources in these events. Explore the important roles played by squires, heralds, armorers, merchants, craftsmen, entertainers, and spectators. The episode also examines the dangers behind the spectacle. Serious injuries and deaths were genuine possibilities, while tournament combat could blur the boundary between sport, military training, personal rivalry, and warfare. Discover how rules and customs developed to regulate violence and how rulers and religious authorities sometimes attempted to restrict or control tournaments. Explore the evolution of tournament culture from early medieval mêlées to the increasingly formalized jousts of the later Middle Ages. Discover how specialized tournament armor and weapons developed, how the rules changed over time, and how tournaments became an important part of aristocratic culture and the medieval ideal of chivalry. Drawing on medieval chronicles, tournament records, illuminated manuscripts, archaeological discoveries, surviving armor and weapons, and modern scholarship, this episode separates historical evidence from the romantic legends that later surrounded the medieval knight. Discover what tournaments can reveal about medieval warfare, aristocratic society, honor, wealth, entertainment, and power. Narrated with a calm, human voice, this immersive journey is perfect for history enthusiasts, medieval history lovers, military history fans, documentary listeners, relaxation, or listening before sleep. Enter the tournament grounds and discover the warriors, traditions, dangers, ambitions, and spectacular traditions behind one of medieval Europe's most fascinating institutions.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: A wide green field at dawn. Banners fluttering. Trumpets blaring.
[0:09] Speaker 1: On either side, knights in gleaming armor sit astride restless
[0:14] Speaker 1: warhorses while a crowd of onlookers gathers. On one side,
[0:20] Speaker 1: a noble's retinue clusters under his banner. Opposite them, another
[0:25] Speaker 1: troop of armored horsemen awaits. A medieval tournament is about
[0:30] Speaker 1: to begin. Accounts of the time allow us to paint
[0:34] Speaker 1: the scene quite vividly. One thirteenth-century poet describes on the
[0:39] Speaker 1: morning of a tournament that knights appeared and stood before
[0:44] Speaker 1: their lodgings, carefully, splendidly armed, then rode out in tight,
[0:51] Speaker 1: well-ordered companies, with no private jousts discussed, only the challenge
[0:58] Speaker 1: to win or lose it all. There would be no
[1:03] Speaker 1: half-measures today. Every knight would stake his pride, his body,
[1:09] Speaker 1: even his life, on the field of honour. That's what
[1:14] Speaker 1: we're going to talk about today. These living events of
[1:18] Speaker 1: the medieval tournament. We'll explore what actually happened in a
[1:23] Speaker 1: historical context. Not quite what you see in the movies.
[1:27] Speaker 1: From the 10th through to the 15th centuries... the golden
[1:31] Speaker 1: age of these events, stepping beyond the stylized versions, getting
[1:36] Speaker 1: into the real experience and all the gritty details, the
[1:41] Speaker 1: chaotic melees of the early Middle Ages, the elegance and
[1:46] Speaker 1: danger of the joust, and even the theatrical extravagance of
[1:51] Speaker 1: the padam. Along the way, there's plenty of true stories
[1:55] Speaker 1: and anecdotes, drawn from Knight's own chronicles and medieval observers.
[2:02] Speaker 1: You'll find champions, crafty underdogs, exalted victors, and battered losers.
[2:10] Speaker 1: I hope that by the end, you'll feel as if you, too,
[2:14] Speaker 1: had spent a day amid all the colourful pageantry, the
[2:17] Speaker 1: deafening cheers, and the clashing steel. So let's enter the list.
[2:24] Speaker 1: What really happened at the tournament? Well, allow me first
[2:28] Speaker 1: to welcome you, as that is good manners. newcomers to
[2:33] Speaker 1: the channel, it's good to meet you. Those coming back,
[2:37] Speaker 1: thank you once again for meeting me back here on
[2:39] Speaker 1: this platform. Thank you very much to those supporting on
[2:44] Speaker 1: the Patreon, and those who decided to check out the
[2:47] Speaker 1: merch store. Now, with all that being said and done,
[2:52] Speaker 1: let's get down to the details.
[2:55] Speaker 2: Nice and relaxed, as always.
[3:01] Speaker 1: In the earliest forms of medieval tournaments, the main event
[3:05] Speaker 1: was not the gentlemanly joust of later fame, but rather
[3:11] Speaker 1: it was the melee, essentially a mock battle royale. Two
[3:17] Speaker 1: teams of knights, sometimes numbering even in the hundreds, charged
[3:21] Speaker 1: at each other on horseback and fought in groups, very
[3:25] Speaker 1: much like a real skirmish, just like the Simulations. There
[3:32] Speaker 1: were minimal formal rules at first, so these malays could
[3:36] Speaker 1: sprawl for miles beyond the initial field. Chronicles describe combats
[3:42] Speaker 1: roving across huge swaths of the countryside, occasionally even crashing
[3:47] Speaker 1: into towns and villages. Early tournaments were essentially war games.
[3:54] Speaker 1: Victory was decided by prowess, and sometimes by sheer numbers
[3:58] Speaker 1: or cunning on the field itself. You could only imagine
[4:03] Speaker 1: the breadth of that field for those poor souls who
[4:06] Speaker 1: decided not to show up to the tournament. Well, perhaps
[4:10] Speaker 1: you don't want to go to the tournament, but the
[4:11] Speaker 1: tournament is going to you.
[4:16] Speaker 2: Now, what about weight classes? Bad luck.
[4:20] Speaker 1: It was more about the strongest would survive. There were
[4:25] Speaker 1: really not very many fair fights. Knights could gang up
[4:29] Speaker 1: on opponents, and even infantry archers might join the fray
[4:33] Speaker 1: in some cases. It doesn't sound very chivalrous, doesn't it?
[4:39] Speaker 1: In fact, one 12th century account notes that the Count
[4:42] Speaker 1: of Flanders once boasted his team with 300 infantrymen to
[4:48] Speaker 1: ambush the opposition and.
[4:50] Speaker 2: Cover a retreat.
[4:52] Speaker 1: Clearly, The chivalry of the tournament was often more apparent
[4:56] Speaker 1: in poetry than in practice during his free-for-alls, and like
[5:01] Speaker 1: I did say, we're not sparing the gritty details. But
[5:07] Speaker 1: what motivated knights to fight with such ferocity, at least
[5:11] Speaker 1: outside of an actual war? Beyond the glory and the training,
[5:17] Speaker 1: one powerful incentive was, as old as time, profit. They
[5:24] Speaker 1: wanted to make money. In melee tournaments, you see, a
[5:28] Speaker 1: knight who managed to capture an opponent could demand a ransom,
[5:32] Speaker 1: or claim the loser's horse and armour as his own prize.
[5:37] Speaker 1: This turned tournaments into lucrative ventures for the skilled and lucky.
[5:43] Speaker 1: The career of the famed knight William Marshall illustrates this
[5:47] Speaker 1: quite well. Marshall, a landless younger son, made his name
[5:52] Speaker 1: on the 12th century tournament circuit, largely by capturing other knights.
[5:58] Speaker 1: At one tournament in 1177, at the village of Owe,
[6:02] Speaker 1: Marshall personally captured 10 knights and 12 horses in a
[6:06] Speaker 1: single day, a hall of ransoms and war gear that
[6:11] Speaker 1: greatly enriched him. Not bad for a morning's work, especially
[6:17] Speaker 1: in those times.
[6:19] Speaker 2: In fact, William.
[6:21] Speaker 1: and a comrade formed a sort of tournament partnership, fooling
[6:26] Speaker 1: their efforts in spoil, and in just ten months of
[6:30] Speaker 1: touring the melee fields, they captured one hundred and three
[6:36] Speaker 1: knights for ransom, a most unbelievable number. In fact, such
[6:42] Speaker 1: exploits earned martial fame as the greatest knight ever. And
[6:48] Speaker 1: on his deathbed, decades later, he allegedly recalled having unhorsed
[6:52] Speaker 1: 500 knights over his tournament career. Clearly, for knights like Marshall,
[6:59] Speaker 1: tournaments were not mere sport. They were high-stakes competitions, where
[7:04] Speaker 1: one could win fortune and reputation. Of course, the action
[7:10] Speaker 1: in melee was intense, unpredictable, and quite dangerous. The knights
[7:17] Speaker 1: would thunder together in a grand charge, lancers leveled, trying
[7:23] Speaker 1: to smash through the opposing line. After the initial collision,
[7:28] Speaker 1: the field had dissolved into dozens of swirling duels and
[7:32] Speaker 1: small group fights. They fought with blunted weapons at times,
[7:38] Speaker 1: but in earlier days, just as often with normal swords, maces,
[7:43] Speaker 1: and even lancers tipped with iron. A contemporary observer noted
[7:47] Speaker 1: that in the 12th century tournaments, mounted knights fought with lance,
[7:51] Speaker 1: sword and mace, while some dismounted men even used bows
[7:57] Speaker 1: and pikes, blurring the line between sport and real war.
[8:04] Speaker 1: The melee could last for hours, typically from morning until dusk.
[8:09] Speaker 1: Knights who were unhorsed or exhausted might try to withdraw
[8:13] Speaker 1: to a safe area, By the 13th century, there were
[8:17] Speaker 1: often designated reset zones on the field, where a combatant
[8:22] Speaker 1: could catch his breath or negotiate surrender without being attacked.
[8:28] Speaker 1: If captured, a knight gave his word as a prisoner
[8:31] Speaker 1: was expected to yield up his arms and pay a ransom.
[8:36] Speaker 1: In some cases, a captured knight would be escorted off
[8:40] Speaker 1: to a team's camp until he paid or at least
[8:43] Speaker 1: surrender his horse as surety. Enterprising fighters like William Marshall
[8:50] Speaker 1: became experts at seizing horses' bridles to lead away unlucky opponents.
[8:57] Speaker 1: To get a flavour of the chaos, let's recount an
[9:00] Speaker 1: eyewitness anecdote from the 1170s. William Marshall's biography, a verse, chronicle,
[9:07] Speaker 1: written by those who knew him, relates one tournament that
[9:11] Speaker 1: spilled out of control into the streets of a town
[9:14] Speaker 1: called Annette. Marshall and his patron, the young King Henry,
[9:21] Speaker 1: found themselves pursuing a group of enemy knights right into
[9:25] Speaker 1: the town's main street. In the melee of alleyways, Marshall
[9:30] Speaker 1: charged Sir Simon de Neufel, grabbed the bridle of Simon's horse,
[9:35] Speaker 1: and began dragging the hapless knight away as his prisoner,
[9:40] Speaker 1: Sir Simon, desperate not to be taken, suddenly reached up
[9:43] Speaker 1: and caught hold of a low-hanging house gutter overhead and
[9:48] Speaker 1: literally yanked himself off his horse. The astonished marshal galloped on,
[9:55] Speaker 1: not realising his captive had cleverly hooked himself onto a building.
[10:00] Speaker 1: King Henry, following behind, saw Simon dangling from the eaves,
[10:05] Speaker 1: but chose not to alert Marshal. Perhaps as a bit
[10:09] Speaker 1: of a joke, Marshal trotted back to his camp, leading
[10:12] Speaker 1: the bridle as horse, and proudly handing it to his squire, saying,'
[10:15] Speaker 1: Take charge of this night!' The young king burst out
[10:19] Speaker 1: laughing and quipped, I think you'll find that you've lost him.
[10:23] Speaker 1: He decided to hang around back there suspended from a gutter.
[10:29] Speaker 1: Only then did Marshall look back and see his would-be
[10:33] Speaker 1: prisoner nowhere in sight. And he had roared with laughter
[10:38] Speaker 1: at the trick. Fantastic little story.
[10:42] Speaker 2: Isn't it?
[10:43] Speaker 1: It shows the unpredictability of melee combat. and certainly a
[10:49] Speaker 1: human touch to the story. One minute a knight is
[10:54] Speaker 1: a victor leading off a captive. The next he's holding
[10:58] Speaker 1: an empty bridle and laughing at himself. Even in the
[11:02] Speaker 1: thick of competition, medieval knights appreciated a good joke when
[11:07] Speaker 1: fate played a hand. Of course, it wasn't all fun
[11:12] Speaker 1: and games. The danger of melees was very real. While
[11:18] Speaker 1: many combats ended with knights bruised or with dented armour,
[11:23] Speaker 1: serious injuries and fatalities were not uncommon. Perhaps the most
[11:29] Speaker 1: famous tournament fatality of the 13th century was Sir Gilbert Marshall,
[11:35] Speaker 1: the Earl of Pembroke.
[11:37] Speaker 2: Ironically, by the way, one of William.
[11:38] Speaker 1: Marshall's own sons. In 1241, Gilbert took part in a
[11:44] Speaker 1: tournament at Ware, against King Henry III's express prohibition, and
[11:51] Speaker 1: he met a quite gruesome end. Chronicles report that he
[11:56] Speaker 1: was thrown from his horse, and his foot hung up
[12:00] Speaker 1: in the stirrup. The panicked horse dragged Gilbert violently across
[12:04] Speaker 1: the field for a long distance, little by little inflicting
[12:09] Speaker 1: mortal injuries. The Earl died from the incident, and King
[12:15] Speaker 1: Henry was... understandably quite furious, even refusing to immediately allow
[12:21] Speaker 1: Gilbert's brother to inherit the title, because the family had
[12:25] Speaker 1: disobeyed royal orders. By attending that ill-fated tournament, Henry was, well,
[12:34] Speaker 1: furious at the whole situation. Well, especially in the early
[12:40] Speaker 1: melee-type tournaments, they truly walked the line between sport and slaughter.
[12:46] Speaker 1: It's no wonder that the medieval church looked askance at
[12:49] Speaker 1: these bloody games. Really, were they that far removed from
[12:55] Speaker 1: the gladiatorial combats of ancient Rome? Sure, there were rules,
[13:01] Speaker 1: but there were still fatalities. The church feared for knights' souls,
[13:05] Speaker 1: of course, and their lives. In 1130, Pope Innocent II
[13:11] Speaker 1: actually issued a ban on tournaments. declaring that those killed
[13:15] Speaker 1: in such, quote, abominable jousts and tournaments should be denied
[13:20] Speaker 1: a Christian burial. Many devout commentators argued that the only
[13:26] Speaker 1: justifiable use of knightly violence was war in the service
[13:29] Speaker 1: of God, not reckless mock battles for vanity and coin. Yet,
[13:38] Speaker 1: despite clerical disapproval and the occasional royal bans, The tournament
[13:44] Speaker 1: melee survived, and it thrived. It simply had too strong
[13:50] Speaker 1: a hold on knightly culture, and everybody was just having
[13:54] Speaker 1: way too much fun. Over time, however, the chaotic melee
[14:00] Speaker 1: did begin to civilize itself somewhat. By the 13th century,
[14:05] Speaker 1: official rules were introduced in some regions to reduce the mayhem.
[14:10] Speaker 1: For example, in England, King Richard the Lionheart decided to
[14:14] Speaker 1: allow tournaments, which his father had banned, by the way,
[14:18] Speaker 1: but only under strict regulation. In 1194, Richard designated specific
[14:25] Speaker 1: sites where tournaments could be held, and even charged entry
[14:29] Speaker 1: fees based on a knight's rank. A clever little way
[14:33] Speaker 1: to fill the royal coffers on the side, that's for sure.
[14:38] Speaker 1: Knights had to swear to keep the peace. and not
[14:41] Speaker 1: murder or pillage during the event. Later, in 1292, Edward
[14:46] Speaker 1: I of England's Statute of Arms took regulation even further.
[14:51] Speaker 1: Knights were forbidden from using pointed swords or lethal weapons
[14:56] Speaker 1: in the lists, and striking a fallen opponent was also prohibited,
[15:02] Speaker 1: not to mention bad form. Special care was taken to
[15:06] Speaker 1: prevent general brawls, Only a knight's own squire could help
[15:10] Speaker 1: him up if unhorsed, and any outsider who interfered would
[15:13] Speaker 1: face harsh penalties. The rule seemed to tame the melee
[15:18] Speaker 1: into a more gentlemanly contest, and to assure that a
[15:23] Speaker 1: tournament didn't accidentally escalate into a private war. By the
[15:29] Speaker 1: late Middle Ages, ballets were often fought with a plaissance,
[15:34] Speaker 1: blunted weapons, rather than allotrons to the death. This doesn't
[15:41] Speaker 1: mean that they became gentle pajama parties.
[15:45] Speaker 2: Sposals?
[15:46] Speaker 1: Far from it. Knights could still be knocked unconscious. Yeah,
[15:51] Speaker 1: or have bones broken. We've certainly seen that. Fatalities still occurred.
[15:58] Speaker 1: But gradually the emphasis shifted toward display and skill over
[16:02] Speaker 1: just blood. drenched carnage. And the rise of the Joust,
[16:09] Speaker 1: a more controlled combat event, was part of this big shift,
[16:13] Speaker 1: as we'll see next. But before we do leave the melee,
[16:18] Speaker 1: consider its lasting appeal. For all the risks, a group
[16:22] Speaker 1: melee offered a night, something that the Joust did not.
[16:26] Speaker 1: The thrill of open combat with tactical and team elements,
[16:30] Speaker 1: much like a real battle. It was proving ground for
[16:33] Speaker 1: leadership and courage. In some periods, the melee was the
[16:38] Speaker 1: feature attraction, and the joust was just a sideshow. Knights
[16:44] Speaker 1: like William Marshall owed their fame to success in melees.
[16:49] Speaker 1: Even in later centuries, when jousting had become all the rage,
[16:53] Speaker 1: many tournaments still ended with a grand melee as a finale.
[16:58] Speaker 1: The controlled chaos of a hundred knights fighting in earnest
[17:02] Speaker 1: the roar of the crowd as one side began to
[17:04] Speaker 1: give way, the shouts of heralds trying to stop the
[17:07] Speaker 1: combated sundown. That was the heartbeat of medieval tournament, and
[17:14] Speaker 1: as a contemporary might say, it was chivalry's playground and
[17:19] Speaker 1: battlefield all in one. How about a quick little joke
[17:27] Speaker 1: before we move on? You know, You don't find many
[17:31] Speaker 1: people named Lance these days. But in the Middle Ages,
[17:37] Speaker 1: people were named Lance a lot. Well, let's move on
[17:43] Speaker 1: now to the joust. By the High Middle Ages, a
[17:47] Speaker 1: new form of contest had come to rival and eventually
[17:51] Speaker 1: overtake the melee in popularity, believe it or not. And
[17:55] Speaker 1: that is the joust. Unlike the free-for-all melee, the joust
[18:00] Speaker 1: was a single combat between two knights, fighting one-on-one with lances,
[18:06] Speaker 1: and sometimes swords if the lance broke. Early on, jousts
[18:10] Speaker 1: were often held on the side, either before the main
[18:13] Speaker 1: melee to entertain spectators, or after as a sort of encore.
[18:20] Speaker 1: But by the 14th and 15th centuries, entire tournaments were
[18:26] Speaker 1: were sometimes organised purely as jousting competitions, with elaborate rules
[18:31] Speaker 1: and pageantry all focused on these knightly duels. But what
[18:37] Speaker 1: made jousting so popular? Well, for one, it was much
[18:41] Speaker 1: easier to follow. The format was simple. Two men charged
[18:46] Speaker 1: at each other and tried to unhorse or strike the other.
[18:50] Speaker 1: The spectacle of two armoured knights clashing at full gallop
[18:53] Speaker 1: was incredibly thrilling. and of course much safer to watch
[18:57] Speaker 1: from a fixed arena than a roving melee. It also
[19:02] Speaker 1: fit the ideals of chivalry and romantic honour that blossomed
[19:05] Speaker 1: in late medieval culture. A joust framed the combat as
[19:10] Speaker 1: an individual test of courage, skill and courtly virtue, often
[19:15] Speaker 1: dedicated to a lady's favour or to honour one's lord.
[19:19] Speaker 1: In literature and art, the joust became the iconic image
[19:24] Speaker 1: of the tournament. epitomizing chivalrous combat. But in practice, jousting
[19:31] Speaker 1: could be just as fierce and rough as the melee could.
[19:37] Speaker 1: But it did develop its own sophisticated rituals and equipment.
[19:41] Speaker 1: By around 1300, specialized jousting armor was evolving. Heavier helmets,
[19:48] Speaker 1: like the frog-mouthed elm, and reinforced breastplates designed to withstand
[19:53] Speaker 1: lance impacts. Lancers for jousting were often made to break
[19:58] Speaker 1: on impact, to absorb force, and by the fourteenth century
[20:04] Speaker 1: many had blunted tips, sometimes fitted with a coronal head
[20:10] Speaker 1: a small, crown-shaped tip to prevent spearing. In some jousts,
[20:16] Speaker 1: the aim was explicitly not to unhorse your foe, which
[20:19] Speaker 1: could of course be very dangerous, but to score points
[20:23] Speaker 1: by shattering lances on each other's shields or armour. The lists,
[20:29] Speaker 1: jousting arenas, were usually enclosed by fences, and eventually a
[20:34] Speaker 1: wooden barrier called a tilt down the middle became common
[20:38] Speaker 1: by the 15th century to keep the charging horses separated,
[20:42] Speaker 1: minimising collisions and making jousts a lot more controlled. These
[20:48] Speaker 1: innovations reflect an ongoing trend, turning violent combat into an
[20:53] Speaker 1: organised sport. But, lest we think that jousting was all safe,
[21:01] Speaker 1: it really wasn't. Knights certainly still risked life and limb.
[21:06] Speaker 1: Being hit by a wooden lance at high speed, even
[21:10] Speaker 1: a blunt one, could be like being struck by a
[21:13] Speaker 1: heavy pole in a car crash. And I hope no
[21:17] Speaker 1: one has to figure out what that feels like. Many
[21:21] Speaker 1: knights were injured at jousting. Some were even killed, including,
[21:27] Speaker 1: later on, kings. The French king Henri II's death in
[21:31] Speaker 1: a joust in 1559 is one example, but that's just
[21:37] Speaker 1: one outside our period. Within our time frame, one dramatic
[21:42] Speaker 1: jousting injury happened to the French knight Jean de Caroget,
[21:46] Speaker 1: famous from a later judicial duel in 1386. At a
[21:51] Speaker 1: 1380s tournament, he took a lance blow that splintered and
[21:54] Speaker 1: drove wood into his groin, causing serious injury. Now, if
[22:00] Speaker 1: that's not a gruesome way to go, I don't know
[22:03] Speaker 1: what is. But Carroche survived. It certainly does show the
[22:09] Speaker 1: potential brutality of a joust gone wrong. And who knows
[22:14] Speaker 1: if his lance was still functional afterwards. Well, yet knights
[22:20] Speaker 1: and spectators alike were enchanted by the joust. Perhaps even
[22:25] Speaker 1: more so because of its dangers. All careers were built
[22:29] Speaker 1: on jousting prowess.
[22:31] Speaker 2: Take the case of.
[22:32] Speaker 1: Ulrich von Lichtenstein, a thirteenth-century Styrian knight, who left us
[22:38] Speaker 1: one of the most colourful, if perhaps exaggerated, memoirs of jousting.
[22:44] Speaker 1: In his book, The Service of Ladies, Ulrich was so
[22:50] Speaker 1: devoted to the ideals of courtly love, that he undertook
[22:55] Speaker 1: what can only be described as a jousting roadshow in
[22:58] Speaker 1: honour of the lady he adored. In the year 1227,
[23:01] Speaker 1: Ulrich donned a costume to impersonate Lady Venus, the goddess
[23:07] Speaker 1: of love, complete with lady's garb, and travelled from Venice
[23:12] Speaker 1: to various towns, challenging all knights he met to joust
[23:16] Speaker 1: with Frau Venus. He sent advance noticers to each of
[23:21] Speaker 1: the towns, announcing that the goddess of love would joust
[23:24] Speaker 1: with any knight for the honour of his lady. Astonishingly,
[23:29] Speaker 1: this was not just a fanciful tale. Ulrich really did
[23:34] Speaker 1: ride around dressed up like a woman, distributing gold rings
[23:39] Speaker 1: as prizes to any knight that managed to break a
[23:42] Speaker 1: lance against him. For over a month, he paraded through
[23:47] Speaker 1: central Europe, fighting countless jousts. At one stop a sceptical
[23:52] Speaker 1: countess insisted that this mysterious Lady Venus lift the veil
[23:58] Speaker 1: at mass, upon which she and the congregation discovered Ulrich's
[24:03] Speaker 1: moustached face underneath and burst into laughter. The countesses good-naturedly
[24:11] Speaker 1: gave Ulrich, still dressed as Venus, a kiss of peace,
[24:15] Speaker 1: despite the runes. certainly reveals the theatrical flair that jousts
[24:20] Speaker 1: could take on. And it reminds us that medieval people
[24:24] Speaker 1: could have a sense of humour. Ulrich's outlandish adventures was
[24:29] Speaker 1: one extreme example, to be sure. Part love-mad escapade, part
[24:34] Speaker 1: publicity stunt. But it shows that by the 13th century,
[24:39] Speaker 1: jousting wasn't just training for war. It was becoming a performance,
[24:45] Speaker 1: an art. Knights would go to incredible lengths to win
[24:49] Speaker 1: renown in the jousts and favour of noble ladies watching.
[24:56] Speaker 1: In more typical jousts, knights might wear their best heraldic attire,
[25:00] Speaker 1: brightly painted shields and surcoats bearing their coat of arms,
[25:05] Speaker 1: flowing crests on their helmets, sometimes fantastical papier-mâché animals or wings,
[25:12] Speaker 1: and their horses draped in embroidered caparisons. they often rode
[25:17] Speaker 1: out saluting the presiding nobles and ladies, perhaps displaying a
[25:21] Speaker 1: lady's token, a scarf or sleeve on their arm. Before
[25:26] Speaker 1: a joust began, there was quite a bit of ceremony.
[25:31] Speaker 1: Heralds would announce the names and titles of opponents to
[25:34] Speaker 1: the crowd. Each knight might touch the tip of his
[25:38] Speaker 1: lance to a symbolic target or shout a dedication. Well,
[25:43] Speaker 1: for example, they might say, Lance to joust for the
[25:46] Speaker 1: honour of Queen so-and-so.
[25:49] Speaker 2: Something like that.
[25:52] Speaker 1: And then the trumpets would sound, and with the blast
[25:55] Speaker 1: of a herald's cry, Let them go. The two would
[26:00] Speaker 1: spur their horses and thunder towards each other. Now, if
[26:06] Speaker 1: you didn't catch it, doesn't this sound quite similar to
[26:10] Speaker 1: how a modern boxing match would go? Perhaps the old
[26:15] Speaker 1: traditions carry forth. Ah, maybe it's more like a UFC match.
[26:22] Speaker 1: But the actual clash didn't go in rounds like our
[26:26] Speaker 1: modern boxing. It was really over in seconds. A shattering
[26:32] Speaker 1: crack as the lances struck armour or shield. Perhaps the
[26:37] Speaker 1: gasp of the crowd if a rider was unhorsed or
[26:39] Speaker 1: a horse stumbled. If both kept their seats and neither
[26:43] Speaker 1: was unhelmed or carried to the ground, they would wheel about,
[26:47] Speaker 1: receive fresh lances, and charge again for another pass. Jousts
[26:53] Speaker 1: were often decided by scoring system, points for hits on
[26:57] Speaker 1: the opponent's shield or helmet, extra points for breaking one's
[27:01] Speaker 1: lance cleanly, and automatic victory if your foe was unhorsed.
[27:07] Speaker 1: Some jousts, however, continued until one knight was dehorsed, or
[27:12] Speaker 1: unable to continue, if the joust was à outrance, or
[27:17] Speaker 1: to the uttermost, they might continue on foot with swords
[27:21] Speaker 1: until one yielded. But this was more common in few
[27:26] Speaker 1: driven duels, or later, paddhams, than in friendly sporting jousts.
[27:32] Speaker 1: one of the most famous jousting bouts of the 15th century,
[27:35] Speaker 1: exemplifies the grandeur of jousting as an international spectacle. The
[27:42] Speaker 1: 1467 Smithfield Tournament, between the Burgundian knight Antoine, the Bastard
[27:48] Speaker 1: of Burgundy, and the English champion, Lord Scales, also known
[27:54] Speaker 1: as Anthony Woodville, slightly less intimidating name than the Bastard
[28:00] Speaker 1: of Burgundy. Well, this was a prearranged joust of peace,
[28:06] Speaker 1: intended to honour the new alliance between Burgundy and England.
[28:09] Speaker 1: Over several days, these two knights jousted with various weapons, lances, axes, swords,
[28:18] Speaker 1: before King Edward IV, and a lavish crowd. The pageantry
[28:24] Speaker 1: was enormous, with each knight entering the lists accompanied by
[28:28] Speaker 1: courtiers and trumpeters. Chronicles revel in describing the brilliant, armour
[28:33] Speaker 1: and compliments exchanged. In one pass, Lord Scales broke several
[28:39] Speaker 1: lances cleanly, demonstrating superior skill. But the bastard of Burgundy
[28:45] Speaker 1: stubbornly continued. Eventually he suffered a heavy blow to the
[28:51] Speaker 1: face that broke his visor. He was nearly skewered, and
[28:55] Speaker 1: had to retire with a bleeding head wound. Both claimed
[29:00] Speaker 1: great honour from the encounter nonetheless, and feasting followed. The story,
[29:07] Speaker 1: which is, well, way too long to recount in all
[29:10] Speaker 1: of its details now, shows how by the 15th century,
[29:15] Speaker 1: the joust had become a spectator sport of the highest order,
[29:20] Speaker 1: a vehicle for diplomacy, personal honour, and of course entertainment.
[29:24] Speaker 1: It was like a world championship of a boxing match
[29:28] Speaker 1: of its day, except with a lot more armour, and
[29:33] Speaker 1: a few horses added in. Well, to further illustrate the
[29:38] Speaker 1: joust's pageantry, consider a grand tournament held in 1390 at
[29:43] Speaker 1: Saint-Inglevert in France, an event which actually combined the joust
[29:49] Speaker 1: with the Padam style, drawing participants from across all Europe.
[29:54] Speaker 1: Three renowned French knights, one of whom was the famous
[29:58] Speaker 1: Jean de Bossacorre, soon to be Marshal of France, issued
[30:02] Speaker 1: an open challenge to all comers. They would hold the
[30:06] Speaker 1: field at Saint-Inglevert for thirty days, jousting any knight who
[30:10] Speaker 1: wished to face them. Knights from England, Germany, and elsewhere
[30:14] Speaker 1: flocked to test themselves. Over a hundred knights and squires
[30:18] Speaker 1: reportedly took up the challenge. The French champions made elaborate preparations.
[30:26] Speaker 1: they set up three rich vermilion tents on the fields
[30:29] Speaker 1: of their pavilions, each adorned with their coat of arms.
[30:33] Speaker 1: Outside each pavilion hung two shields, one signifying a joust
[30:37] Speaker 1: of peace with blunted lance, and the other a joust
[30:42] Speaker 1: of war with sharp lance. Any challenger could ride up
[30:47] Speaker 1: and tap the shield of his choice with a ceremonial wand,
[30:51] Speaker 1: indicating which type of joust he was after. A herald
[30:55] Speaker 1: at the pavilion would then record the knight's name, lineage
[30:58] Speaker 1: and homeland, and the joust would be scheduled. This shield-touching
[31:04] Speaker 1: ritual was a brilliant bit of theatre and organisation. It
[31:08] Speaker 1: gave knights control over the risk level. Some preferred the safer,
[31:12] Speaker 1: blunted contests. The bold opted for the sharp combat, and
[31:18] Speaker 1: tightened the drama for spectators, as each contestant literally rang
[31:22] Speaker 1: the bell for battle. Over the month, dozens upon dozens
[31:28] Speaker 1: of jousts were held at Saint-Ingleville. Foissart, the chronicler, describes
[31:34] Speaker 1: splintered lances littering the field and roaring crowds as French
[31:37] Speaker 1: and English knights clashed day after day. King Charles VI
[31:42] Speaker 1: of France even came in disguise to watch incognito, mingling
[31:47] Speaker 1: with the onlookers. And in the end, the three French denoms,
[31:52] Speaker 1: holders of the field, acquitted themselves magnificently in what became
[31:56] Speaker 1: one of the greatest displays of chivalry of the age.
[31:59] Speaker 1: This event had all the events that made jousting splendid.
[32:07] Speaker 1: International camaraderie, chivalric theatre, heraldic pageantry, and genuine tests of arms,
[32:14] Speaker 1: but fortunately, seemingly without deadly.
[32:17] Speaker 2: Result, at least in this case.
[32:23] Speaker 1: Thus, the joust evolved into the perfectly packaged chivalric sport.
[32:30] Speaker 1: It was dangerous, yet usually non-lethal. It was structured, but exciting,
[32:39] Speaker 1: and it allowed knights to showcase individual heroism. For noble spectators,
[32:45] Speaker 1: especially ladies watching, the joust was a much more comfortable
[32:49] Speaker 1: and enjoyable thing to witness, rather than that.
[32:53] Speaker 2: Chaotic melee.
[32:55] Speaker 1: And so by the fourteenth century we see aristocratic women
[33:00] Speaker 1: regularly attending jousts, even presiding over them by giving prizes
[33:04] Speaker 1: or tokens to champions. This was a marked change from
[33:08] Speaker 1: the earlier times when, as noted, women often avoided melees
[33:11] Speaker 1: for safety. As one twelfth-century source bluntly put it, tournaments
[33:18] Speaker 1: then were too violent to be viewed by women. Well,
[33:24] Speaker 1: that's all good and well, until the melee bursts into
[33:28] Speaker 1: your town and all of a sudden the tournament comes
[33:30] Speaker 1: to you, as previously said. The presence of high-born ladies
[33:35] Speaker 1: as spectators only spurred knights to greater displays of courtesy
[33:39] Speaker 1: and courage. Jousting became intertwined with courtly love. Knights would
[33:46] Speaker 1: declare they rode in the name of a lady, hoping
[33:50] Speaker 1: to impress her with valour. One celebrated late medieval knight,
[33:56] Speaker 1: Jacques de Leyland of Burgundy, travelled around Europe in the
[34:00] Speaker 1: mid-fifteenth century, issuing challenges to joust in honour of his
[34:04] Speaker 1: prince and ladies. His feats and the chivalric vows he
[34:08] Speaker 1: undertook were recorded admiringly by contemporaries. Jousts could also be
[34:14] Speaker 1: staged as allegories. Knights might appear in costumes symbolising virtues
[34:19] Speaker 1: or classical heroes, before shedding them to fight. Take this
[34:24] Speaker 1: for an example. At a 15th century Burgundian banquet known
[34:28] Speaker 1: as the Feast of the Pheasant in 1454, a pseudo-tournament
[34:33] Speaker 1: was proposed where knights would dress as crusading figures.
[34:37] Speaker 2: Of course, the.
[34:38] Speaker 1: Days of the Crusades were long gone at that time.
[34:42] Speaker 1: Although that particular spectacle remained more pageant than joust, it
[34:47] Speaker 1: reflects how theatrical and symbolic the joust could become. So,
[34:52] Speaker 1: to sum it all up, The joust added precision and
[34:56] Speaker 1: polish to tournament combat. It distilled the action down to
[35:01] Speaker 1: just two men, two horses, and a couple of lancers,
[35:06] Speaker 1: in a clash that embodied the chivalric ideal. Yet for
[35:10] Speaker 1: all its formality, it retained the visceral thrill of potential
[35:15] Speaker 1: disaster at every charge. This tension between ideal and reality,
[35:21] Speaker 1: knights vying in noble combat, yet at risk of splintered
[35:25] Speaker 1: wood and shattered bone, made the joust a centrepiece of
[35:29] Speaker 1: late medieval aristocratic life. It was the sport of nobles,
[35:34] Speaker 1: the grand pastime of chivalry, and it set the stage
[35:39] Speaker 1: for even more elaborate martial pageants of the 14th and
[35:43] Speaker 1: 15th centuries, known as the Padam. Tournaments had become... increasingly ceremonial.
[35:55] Speaker 1: And as they did, knights and nobles with a flair
[35:58] Speaker 1: for drama developed the Padam, or in English, Passage of Arms. Now,
[36:06] Speaker 1: the Padam was a kind of themed tournament or chivalric
[36:10] Speaker 1: stunt popular in the 14th and 15th centuries, when knights
[36:14] Speaker 1: would create an imaginative scenario and challenge others to participate
[36:19] Speaker 1: under the rules of that story.
[36:22] Speaker 2: Think of it as a.
[36:24] Speaker 1: Live-action role-play version of a tournament, but with real weapons,
[36:29] Speaker 1: at real risk, but wrapped in layers of pageantry and
[36:35] Speaker 1: knightly myth.
[36:37] Speaker 2: A bit of a show.
[36:39] Speaker 1: In a typical padel, a knight or a group of knights,
[36:43] Speaker 1: called the tenants, those who hold the field, would declare
[36:47] Speaker 1: that they have taken up a defensive position They were
[36:50] Speaker 1: stoutly maintained against all challengers. This position could be a bridge,
[36:56] Speaker 1: a city gate, or even an imaginary castle or garden.
[37:02] Speaker 2: Anything, really. It just needed to have an objective.
[37:07] Speaker 1: They might give the Padam a romantic name, like the
[37:10] Speaker 1: Pass of the Golden Tree, or the Garden of Honor.
[37:15] Speaker 1: They'd often send out heralds, or letters to courts far
[37:19] Speaker 1: and wide announcing the challenge. Any knight who passes this
[37:23] Speaker 1: way must joust or fight them to gain passage, in
[37:27] Speaker 1: the name of knightly honour. Sounds just like the books
[37:32] Speaker 1: by Mallory, doesn't it? Well, these challenges sometimes coincided with
[37:38] Speaker 1: great feasts or royal occasions, ensuring a crowd of spectators
[37:42] Speaker 1: and ample challengers. The organisers would establish elaborate rules, sometimes
[37:48] Speaker 1: even styling themselves as characters, for example, knights pretending to
[37:52] Speaker 1: be knights of the round.
[37:53] Speaker 2: Table, etc.
[37:56] Speaker 1: It was chivalric idealism turned into a great performance piece,
[38:02] Speaker 1: yet with authentic combat at the core. Now, we already
[38:06] Speaker 1: heard of one of the famous Padam, the month-long joust
[38:09] Speaker 1: at St. Inglever in 1390. which had elements of a padam,
[38:15] Speaker 1: the three French knights holding the fields, as if it
[38:18] Speaker 1: were their pass to defend. But even more quintessential was
[38:23] Speaker 1: the spectacular Passo Hondroso, the honourable passage held at a
[38:30] Speaker 1: bridge in Spain in 1434. This was one knight's extravagant
[38:35] Speaker 1: gesture of love and honour.
[38:38] Speaker 2: Suero de Quignone.
[38:40] Speaker 1: A nobleman of Lyon, was passionately in love with the lady,
[38:44] Speaker 1: Doña Leonor. To prove himself worthy, and perhaps earn his
[38:51] Speaker 1: freedom from love's chains, Suero vowed to hold the bridge
[38:56] Speaker 1: over the Orbego river against all knights for a single month.
[39:01] Speaker 1: He and nine companions obtained permission from King Juan II
[39:05] Speaker 1: of Castile, and issued a challenge to all the knights
[39:09] Speaker 1: of Christendom. during the holy month of July, any knight
[39:13] Speaker 1: journeying to Santiago de Compostela, a common pilgrimage route, who
[39:19] Speaker 1: wished to cross the Orbego, must first joust Suero and
[39:23] Speaker 1: his team on the bridge. The declared goal was to
[39:27] Speaker 1: break three hundred lances in the course of the enterprise,
[39:32] Speaker 1: after which Suero's obligation to love would be considered honorably discharged.
[39:39] Speaker 1: Suero dramatized his romantic suffering by wearing an iron collar
[39:44] Speaker 1: round his neck every Thursday, symbolizing the chains of his affection.
[39:49] Speaker 1: and he proclaimed that the only victory in this pass
[39:53] Speaker 1: of honour would release him from that metaphorical bondage. The
[39:59] Speaker 1: Paso on Rosso at Orbigo was one of the best
[40:02] Speaker 1: documented tournaments of the age. A notary, named Pero Rodriguez,
[40:07] Speaker 1: was appointed to record every detail for posterity. And so,
[40:13] Speaker 1: for thirty days, from July 10th to August 9th, 1434,
[40:19] Speaker 1: Suero and his nine fellow defenders jousted all knights who
[40:24] Speaker 1: came to the bridge. And came they did. From all
[40:28] Speaker 1: over Europe, sixty-eight in total, came to try their skill.
[40:34] Speaker 1: Day after day, lances splintered on steel.
[40:39] Speaker 2: The rules were clear.
[40:40] Speaker 1: Each encounter would be a joust with standard arms. The
[40:45] Speaker 1: padam format meant Suero's team didn't fight all at once,
[40:51] Speaker 1: but rather rotated into face challenges one by one, or
[40:56] Speaker 1: one after the other. The event attracted pilgrims and noble spectators,
[41:01] Speaker 1: turning the bridge and nearby field into a month-long festival.
[41:06] Speaker 1: By the end, an astonishing 166 jousting matches had been fought,
[41:12] Speaker 1: Not quite the three hundred lancers hoped for, but certainly
[41:16] Speaker 1: a tremendous number. Well, people did have to travel. It's
[41:21] Speaker 1: hard to get all the way down there from England
[41:24] Speaker 1: in thirty days, I suppose. Now, what about Suero? Well,
[41:29] Speaker 1: he and his friends were badly bruised and injured. Imagine
[41:34] Speaker 1: the accumulated damage of dozens of bouts, day after day,
[41:39] Speaker 1: and no weekends either, that's for sure. One account says
[41:43] Speaker 1: that on the final day, each of the defenders bore
[41:46] Speaker 1: grievous wounds, yet none of the challengers had succeeded in
[41:51] Speaker 1: forcing passage across the bridge. And so, the judges declared
[41:57] Speaker 1: Suero de Quiñones and his men the victors, a vow fulfilled,
[42:04] Speaker 1: and Suero's ceremonial remove the iron collar from his neck,
[42:08] Speaker 1: finally free of his romantic enslavement. In celebration, the exhausted
[42:15] Speaker 1: victors then proceeded, limping, no doubt, on a pilgrimage to
[42:19] Speaker 1: Santiago to give thanks, even leaving the iron collar and
[42:24] Speaker 1: chain at the shrine as an offering. But there was
[42:27] Speaker 1: a final, happy note. The lady for whom Suero had
[42:31] Speaker 1: done all this for did agree to marry him a
[42:35] Speaker 1: year later. But chivalric tales often have twists, Incredibly, twenty-four
[42:43] Speaker 1: years later, an old adversary from the 1434 tournament, a
[42:48] Speaker 1: knight who felt that he had invested unfairly, challenged Suero
[42:53] Speaker 1: to rematch, and killed him in a joust. The Pass d'Orbigo,
[43:00] Speaker 1: for all its idealism, literally led to a blood feud
[43:05] Speaker 1: that ended in death decades later.
[43:09] Speaker 2: Old grudges. Die hard, I suppose.
[43:13] Speaker 1: Another example of how even the most theatrical of tournaments
[43:18] Speaker 1: could have very real consequences. Other badaws were held throughout
[43:25] Speaker 1: the 15th century, especially in the Burgundian realm, where chivalry
[43:30] Speaker 1: was almost a civic religion. Duke Philip the Good of
[43:34] Speaker 1: Burgundy famously encouraged such events. In 1443, for instance, A
[43:41] Speaker 1: pat-arm called the Pass of the Golden Tree was staged
[43:44] Speaker 1: during a great feast at Lille. An elaborately made golden tree,
[43:50] Speaker 1: laden with shields, stood in the banquet hall. Knights who
[43:54] Speaker 1: took up the shield committed to themselves to joust or
[43:56] Speaker 1: fight on foot to defend the honour of the golden
[44:00] Speaker 1: tree and the lady it represented. At a signal, the
[44:04] Speaker 1: company moved outside to the lists. and promised combatants were
[44:08] Speaker 1: carried out before the gathered court. These paddhams blended masquerade
[44:14] Speaker 1: allegory and sport, knights might dress as pilgrims, or as
[44:19] Speaker 1: figures from Arthurian legend, or even as wild men, or moors,
[44:25] Speaker 1: depending on the theme. Challengers were often couched in flowery language.
[44:31] Speaker 1: For example, a knight would publish a notice saying, Sir
[44:35] Speaker 1: so-and-so and his companions will guard the path of love
[44:38] Speaker 1: by the fountain of tears.
[44:40] Speaker 2: Any knight who.
[44:40] Speaker 1: Wishes to pass must prove his worth in arms. During
[44:46] Speaker 1: the Burgundian Padam of the Bridge of Tears in 1453,
[44:51] Speaker 1: one knight famously went into lists wearing a lady's veil
[44:55] Speaker 1: around one eye, declaring he would fight half-blind until inspired
[45:00] Speaker 1: to remove it by some truly worthy deed he witnessed.
[45:05] Speaker 1: though sometimes dismissed as chivalric theatrics. Badams had real utility
[45:11] Speaker 1: for knights. They provided opportunities for young knights to test
[45:17] Speaker 1: themselves and gain renown in a relatively controlled setting. Because
[45:22] Speaker 1: these events drew large audiences of nobles, a knight who
[45:26] Speaker 1: excelled could catapult his reputation overnight. Badams also fostered international camaraderie,
[45:33] Speaker 1: Knights from different realms would travel far to participate, creating
[45:37] Speaker 1: a pan-European fellowship of chivalry. At the same time, the
[45:42] Speaker 1: scripted courtesy of padams, the elaborate salutes, prearranged narratives, it
[45:48] Speaker 1: helped to keep the violence contained and tempered by a
[45:52] Speaker 1: good amount of mutual respect. In a way, the padams
[45:57] Speaker 1: was the apotheosis of the tournament. Combat was no longer
[46:02] Speaker 1: a means to an end. that is, profit or resolving disputes,
[46:07] Speaker 1: but an end in itself, as a showcase of virtuoso
[46:12] Speaker 1: knightly performance. So before moving on, let's remember that even
[46:20] Speaker 1: in these styled events, the combat could be fierce. An
[46:25] Speaker 1: impressive example, at the Padalms in 1386, known as the
[46:30] Speaker 1: Challenge of the Barriers, the French knight, Boussacourt, again the
[46:35] Speaker 1: same Boussacourt as Saint-Inglevert, now a celebrated marshal, fought so
[46:40] Speaker 1: furiously in a joust and foot combat that he defeated
[46:44] Speaker 1: multiple English knights one after the other. Froissart relates how Boussacourt,
[46:52] Speaker 1: despite the courteous context, aimed to prove French superiority in arms,
[46:58] Speaker 1: and indeed he was lauded unbeatable that day. it shows
[47:04] Speaker 1: up beneath the layers of showmanship. Knights took the martial
[47:08] Speaker 1: aspect very seriously. After all, honour was always on the line.
[47:14] Speaker 1: So in summary, the Paterhams turned tournaments into a form
[47:21] Speaker 1: of medieval performance art, a blend of imagination and reality,
[47:27] Speaker 1: events that amplified the social-cultural dimensions of the tournaments, which
[47:32] Speaker 1: of course now leads us to consider what was happening
[47:36] Speaker 1: around and beyond the fights themselves. While the knights fought
[47:45] Speaker 1: for glory on the field, there was a whole world
[47:48] Speaker 1: of activity around the tournament grounds. A medieval tournament was
[47:52] Speaker 1: not just a sporting event. It was a major social festival.
[47:58] Speaker 1: Part fair, part political summit, part carnival. Understanding the day-to-day
[48:05] Speaker 1: happenings of a tournament helps put a human touch on
[48:08] Speaker 1: the events, beyond a clash of steel. So what exactly
[48:13] Speaker 1: was it like to attend or participate in a tournament,
[48:16] Speaker 1: aside from the fighting?
[48:20] Speaker 2: Travel and Arrival.
[48:23] Speaker 1: Knights would often travel long distances to join a famed tournament,
[48:28] Speaker 1: and travel back then, well, it wasn't easy. They might
[48:32] Speaker 1: spend weeks on the road with their retinues of squires,
[48:36] Speaker 1: grooms and packhorses laden with armour and provisions. As they
[48:40] Speaker 1: arrived near the host town or castle, many knights chose
[48:43] Speaker 1: to make dramatic entrances. It was pretty common for groups
[48:48] Speaker 1: of knights to ride in together under the Lord's banner,
[48:51] Speaker 1: as William Marshall did with his Lord's company in his youth.
[48:56] Speaker 1: Someone sent a squire ahead to announce their coming to
[48:59] Speaker 1: the Heralds. townsfolk likely turned out to watch the parade
[49:03] Speaker 1: of arrivals. There was a chance to see exotic arms
[49:07] Speaker 1: and armours, and knights in all their finery. For local
[49:13] Speaker 1: merchants and innkeepers, the tournament influx was a boon. They
[49:18] Speaker 1: would lodge and feed many extra mouths we even have
[49:22] Speaker 1: records of towns buying up vast quantities of food and
[49:25] Speaker 1: drink in preparation for the tournaments knowing that hundreds of
[49:28] Speaker 1: visitors would need meals and wine and ale the night
[49:34] Speaker 1: before the tournament the area would be lively with campfires
[49:38] Speaker 1: and tavern revelry as knights and their followers mingled. Temporary
[49:43] Speaker 1: pavilions or tents sprung up around the field, serving as
[49:47] Speaker 1: knights' quarters, armories, social lounges, too. In fact, some knights
[49:54] Speaker 1: decorated their tents with banners and painted devices to advertise
[50:00] Speaker 1: their presence. You know, all the colours and finery that
[50:04] Speaker 1: you see. Now what about the opening ceremony? There had
[50:08] Speaker 1: to be one of them, too. Most tournaments began with
[50:12] Speaker 1: some form of ceremonial opening. Often there was a church service,
[50:17] Speaker 1: a mass in the morning, when knights prayed for protection
[50:21] Speaker 1: and vowed to behave honorably. Though the church was critical
[50:25] Speaker 1: of tournaments, by the later Middle Ages it often participated
[50:29] Speaker 1: in its blessings of the proceedings. Perhaps a pragmatic concession
[50:35] Speaker 1: to this entrenched custom If you can't beat them, join them.
[50:41] Speaker 1: After Mass there might be a procession, knights on horseback
[50:45] Speaker 1: circling the lists, saluting the dignitaries and ladies present. At
[50:50] Speaker 1: the Tournament of Saint-Inglevelle, for instance, the three defending knights
[50:55] Speaker 1: rode out each day from their tents in a little
[50:57] Speaker 1: parade with trumpeters, before taking their stations. The heralds would
[51:03] Speaker 1: then formally announce the tournament's rules and the day's programme.
[51:07] Speaker 1: ensuring everyone, participants and spectators, knew exactly what to expect.
[51:14] Speaker 1: A tournament's rules could be pretty complex. They specified the
[51:18] Speaker 1: allowed weapons, how many courses of jousting, what constituted a victory,
[51:23] Speaker 1: and so on. At Richard II's court in England, detailed
[51:28] Speaker 1: ordinances for the tournaments were written, including how fallen knights
[51:33] Speaker 1: were off limits to further attack. and how ransom should
[51:37] Speaker 1: be handled, reflecting a very organized affair, a long way
[51:43] Speaker 1: from the old melee days, that's for sure. Now what
[51:48] Speaker 1: about the roles of heralds? Well, heralds were effectively the referees,
[51:54] Speaker 1: the masters of ceremonies, and the record keepers of the tournament.
[51:59] Speaker 1: Having evolved from simple trumpeters into a professional cast, heralds
[52:04] Speaker 1: by the 14th century knew all the knightly lineages and
[52:08] Speaker 1: coats of arms by heart. They orchestrated the proceedings, starting
[52:14] Speaker 1: bouts with trumpet signals, enforcing rules, for example, stopping a
[52:19] Speaker 1: fight if a knight was disarmed or in danger of
[52:23] Speaker 1: serious harm, and also adjudicating disputes. Harold also kept track
[52:29] Speaker 1: of the hits and falls to decide the winners, essentially
[52:33] Speaker 1: keeping score in the jousts. but perhaps most importantly, they
[52:38] Speaker 1: identified the combatants for the audience. In an age when
[52:43] Speaker 1: each knight was encased in steel from head to toe,
[52:47] Speaker 1: individual identity rested on the colourful coats of arms painted
[52:51] Speaker 1: on the shields and surcoats. The heralds could read these
[52:55] Speaker 1: symbols like modern sports commentators read jersey numbers. They would announce,
[53:02] Speaker 1: Here come Sir Goulême of Bourgeau. bearing Arjean a lion ghouls,
[53:08] Speaker 1: and the crowd would know exactly who was who. After
[53:12] Speaker 1: a day of combat, the heralds might confer to determine
[53:16] Speaker 1: who had fought best. We have accounts, actually, of tournaments
[53:21] Speaker 1: where heralds or appointed judges declared one knight the champion
[53:25] Speaker 1: of the day. In one tournament in France, the judges
[53:30] Speaker 1: decided to give an award to the worthiest, the most
[53:34] Speaker 1: deserving the one whose weapons had been used to great effect.
[53:39] Speaker 1: They chose William Marshall for this honour. He was presented
[53:44] Speaker 1: with a ceremonial lance or pike as a trophy. Amusingly,
[53:48] Speaker 1: when the knights went to deliver this prize, they found
[53:51] Speaker 1: Marshall not preening at his tent, but over at the
[53:54] Speaker 1: blacksmith's forge. You see, his helmet had been smashed so
[53:59] Speaker 1: badly onto his head that he needed a smith to
[54:02] Speaker 1: pry it off with hammers. They literally found him with
[54:06] Speaker 1: his head laid on the anvil, being freed from his
[54:10] Speaker 1: battered helm. Only once he was out of his steel
[54:15] Speaker 1: prison could he graciously.
[54:17] Speaker 2: Accept his prize.
[54:21] Speaker 1: Well, what about the spectators? The audience at a tournament
[54:25] Speaker 1: ran the gamut from kings and queens to peasants who
[54:29] Speaker 1: sneaked a view from a distant hillside.
[54:32] Speaker 2: For the nobility.
[54:34] Speaker 1: special stands or viewing galleries were erected. These were often
[54:39] Speaker 1: decorated with tapestry and ribbons, placed at a safe vantage
[54:44] Speaker 1: point where they could see the field. High-ranking ladies and
[54:47] Speaker 1: lords occupied the best spots, sometimes under a canopy, with
[54:52] Speaker 1: heralds or squires in attendance to explain the action. The
[54:56] Speaker 1: presence of ladies in these stands was significant. Chroniclers frequently
[55:01] Speaker 1: comment on the knights performing in the sight of their ladies.
[55:07] Speaker 1: A knight might fight even more fiercely if he knew
[55:10] Speaker 1: his beloved, or, perhaps even more fiercely than that prospective
[55:15] Speaker 1: love interest was watching. In many tournaments, a particular high-born lady,
[55:22] Speaker 1: at being a princess or countess, was given the honour
[55:25] Speaker 1: of awarding the grand prize to the victor, essentially presiding
[55:30] Speaker 1: as the queen of beauty and love for the event.
[55:35] Speaker 1: This prize could be a wreath of flowers, a jewelled brooch,
[55:39] Speaker 1: or a fine piece of cloth, or if you were lucky,
[55:43] Speaker 1: perhaps a purse of gold. For example, at the Night
[55:47] Speaker 1: of the Golden Tree, Bad Elm, in 1468, prizes awarded
[55:52] Speaker 1: included a golden jewelled brooch presented by a noble lady
[55:56] Speaker 1: to the best jouster. Common folk also attended tournaments in
[56:01] Speaker 1: droves where they were open to the public. Some royal
[56:05] Speaker 1: tournaments were admittedly more exclusive. It was a day of merrymaking.
[56:12] Speaker 1: Vendors would sell food, drink trinkets, much like at a fair. Jugglers,
[56:17] Speaker 1: minstrels and dancers often performed on the sidelines or between bouts.
[56:24] Speaker 1: The whole affair had an atmosphere of a festival or carnival.
[56:28] Speaker 1: Games of chance might spring up. One can imagine enterprising
[56:32] Speaker 1: folks placing bets on which knight would win each joust,
[56:36] Speaker 1: although direct evidence of medieval betting at tournaments is pretty scant.
[56:43] Speaker 1: But if we're going to take human nature as a
[56:46] Speaker 1: bit of a reference, you could probably assume.
[56:50] Speaker 2: That it happened.
[56:52] Speaker 1: For the hosting town, a tournament was a spectacle and
[56:56] Speaker 1: an economic boom. For the knightly participants, It was as
[57:01] Speaker 1: much as a social event as a competition. When not
[57:05] Speaker 1: in the saddle, knights networked. They courted favour with the powerful,
[57:10] Speaker 1: made friendships or rivalries with their peers, and basked in
[57:14] Speaker 1: the limelight. A young knight, hoping to attract a patron's attention,
[57:19] Speaker 1: would certainly want to shine at a tournament, and then
[57:22] Speaker 1: mingled at the banquets afterwards. In a sense, tournaments were
[57:27] Speaker 1: the networking conferences of the chivalric world. And then, of course,
[57:35] Speaker 1: after the day's combats were done, usually at sunset or
[57:38] Speaker 1: earlier if the schedule was filled, the revelry.
[57:41] Speaker 2: Continued into the evening.
[57:44] Speaker 1: The hosting lord would typically put on a lavish feast
[57:46] Speaker 1: for all the noble guests and combatants. Based on a
[57:50] Speaker 1: great hall, with trestle tables groaning under roasted meats, pies
[57:55] Speaker 1: and subtleties, sugar sculptures and decorated dishes, wine and ale
[58:01] Speaker 1: flowing freely, the Chronicles often mentioned celebratory drinking, in moderation ideally,
[58:09] Speaker 1: since more jousting might come the next day, and you'd
[58:12] Speaker 1: need to be on your game for that. Entertainment at
[58:16] Speaker 1: night could include minstrel songs, poetry, or even short plays.
[58:22] Speaker 1: Often there was dancing, with knights now out of armour
[58:26] Speaker 1: and dressed in their finest court attire, vying to partner
[58:29] Speaker 1: the ladies. This was a prime time for courtly flirtation
[58:34] Speaker 1: and forging alliances. The knight who impressed on the field
[58:39] Speaker 1: might receive a token of esteem from the lady doing
[58:41] Speaker 1: the feast. Perhaps she would send him a ribbon or
[58:45] Speaker 1: her veil as a sign of favour to wear in
[58:47] Speaker 1: the following day's competition. In the history of William Marshall,
[58:52] Speaker 1: there was a charming scene during a tournament at Joigny.
[58:56] Speaker 1: While waiting for their opponents to arrive, William Marshall and
[59:00] Speaker 1: the other knights, still in their armour, passed the time
[59:04] Speaker 1: by dancing with the local countess and her ladies, who
[59:08] Speaker 1: had come out to support them. so do imagine the
[59:12] Speaker 1: scene of male clad knights clanking around trying as gracefully
[59:17] Speaker 1: as they could to dance a carol.
[59:20] Speaker 2: It was such a rare.
[59:22] Speaker 1: Sight that a minstrel in attendance composed a song on
[59:26] Speaker 1: the spot about it teasing Marshall to give me a
[59:30] Speaker 1: good horse. Marshall good-naturedly obliged the performer. Once the combat
[59:36] Speaker 1: had begun, and he unhorsed an opponent, he gifted that
[59:40] Speaker 1: very horse to the bold minstrel as a reward. At
[59:46] Speaker 1: some tournaments, the evening banquet included a ceremony of prize-giving.
[59:51] Speaker 1: The heralds or judges would announce the tournament's standout performers.
[59:56] Speaker 1: The assembly hall would applaud. and prizes would be rewarded.
[1:00:01] Speaker 1: For instance, in one fifteenth-century Burgundian joust, the duke himself
[1:00:07] Speaker 1: gave a heavy gold chain to the knight who had
[1:00:09] Speaker 1: unhorsed the most opponents. There might also be informal honours.
[1:00:16] Speaker 1: A lady might crown a knight as her champion with
[1:00:19] Speaker 1: a laurel wreath. Such moments were certainly highly sought after.
[1:00:25] Speaker 1: They can vote almost as much prestige as winning a
[1:00:27] Speaker 1: battle in war. But keep in mind, tournaments were a
[1:00:35] Speaker 1: very expensive thing. The lord had to cover the cost
[1:00:39] Speaker 1: of the feasts, the prizes, and sometimes even repairs to
[1:00:44] Speaker 1: the town if things got really out of hand. But
[1:00:48] Speaker 1: there were also an investment in prestige, and prestige is
[1:00:52] Speaker 1: worth more than money can buy. a successful grand tournament,
[1:00:57] Speaker 1: could put a lord's court on the map and attract
[1:01:00] Speaker 1: the best knights to his service. King Edward III of
[1:01:04] Speaker 1: England famously used tournaments as tools of statecraft, organising lavishly
[1:01:09] Speaker 1: themed events, like the round-table tournament of 1344 at Windsor,
[1:01:13] Speaker 1: to solidify camaraderie among his nobles, and advertise the glory
[1:01:18] Speaker 1: of his reign. Knights themselves often spent lavishly to upgrade
[1:01:23] Speaker 1: their armour and attire for the tournaments. One could not
[1:01:27] Speaker 1: appear shabbily in front of the discerning eyes of peers
[1:01:30] Speaker 1: and ladies. This spurred advances in armour craftsmanship and the
[1:01:35] Speaker 1: textile arts, for splendid heraldic surcoats and banners. The culture
[1:01:41] Speaker 1: of heraldry itself was greatly stimulated by tournaments. Knights needed
[1:01:46] Speaker 1: unique and striking arms to be known in the lists.
[1:01:51] Speaker 1: and heralds compiled rolls of arms listing who appeared at
[1:01:55] Speaker 1: which tournament. Many extant medieval rolls of arms, essentially pictorial
[1:02:02] Speaker 1: directories of noble coats of arms, were originally created for
[1:02:06] Speaker 1: tournament record-keeping. Now we should also mention the atmosphere of camaraderie,
[1:02:14] Speaker 1: but sometimes grudges that tournaments generated. During the fights, knights
[1:02:20] Speaker 1: who fought honorably might develop a mutual respect. We read
[1:02:25] Speaker 1: of opponents embracing after a particularly good joust, praising each
[1:02:29] Speaker 1: other's skill. A knight defeated in the melee might be
[1:02:33] Speaker 1: invited to dine at the tent of the one who
[1:02:35] Speaker 1: captured him, after ransoming back his horse, of course. These
[1:02:41] Speaker 1: interactions soften the edges of international or inter-family rivalries. a
[1:02:48] Speaker 1: French and an English knight who became friends at a tournament,
[1:02:52] Speaker 1: might think twice before treating each other cruelly in wartime.
[1:02:57] Speaker 1: In contrast, a dispute or perceived cheating at a tournament
[1:03:01] Speaker 1: could spark feuds. The story of Suero de Quiñones being
[1:03:06] Speaker 1: killed years later by a knight he beat at Paso
[1:03:08] Speaker 1: on Rosso shows how tournament outcomes could certainly fester in
[1:03:12] Speaker 1: the memory. Generally, though, The chivalric code urged knights to
[1:03:18] Speaker 1: treat the tournament as separate from real enmity, an ideal
[1:03:23] Speaker 1: space where they could compete fiercely, and then make merry
[1:03:28] Speaker 1: together afterwards, leaving those old grudges behind on the field.
[1:03:34] Speaker 1: And so, by the end of the multi-day tournament, the
[1:03:37] Speaker 1: town would have a party-like atmosphere. Imagine the streets decorated
[1:03:42] Speaker 1: with banners and torches, knights riding through the town, with
[1:03:46] Speaker 1: the populace cheering them on. A fifteenth-century description of a
[1:03:50] Speaker 1: tournament in Brussels mentioned the townsfolk singing songs about the
[1:03:55] Speaker 1: favourite knights as they departed, and children, too, play acting
[1:04:00] Speaker 1: the jousts in the streets for weeks after. The legend
[1:04:05] Speaker 1: and gossip from a big tournament would persist long after
[1:04:08] Speaker 1: the event. Chroniclers would write chapters about it, and tales
[1:04:13] Speaker 1: of great deeds or perhaps amusing mishaps, as we've certainly
[1:04:19] Speaker 1: talked about plenty of them, would spread across the courts.
[1:04:25] Speaker 1: In this way, tournaments were certainly a key part of
[1:04:28] Speaker 1: the medieval popular culture, as well as the aristocratic. There
[1:04:34] Speaker 1: were stories in the making. A knight who performed brilliantly
[1:04:39] Speaker 1: could become a local hero, or in some respects, a
[1:04:44] Speaker 1: cross-border celebrity. And so, our tour of medieval knightly tournaments,
[1:04:55] Speaker 1: from the wild mallets of the twelfth century to the
[1:04:58] Speaker 1: staged padams of the fifteenth, reveal a world both familiar
[1:05:04] Speaker 1: and alien. Familiar, because we still recognise the competitive spirit,
[1:05:11] Speaker 1: the love of spectacle, and the way sporting events can
[1:05:14] Speaker 1: hold this deep cultural meaning.
[1:05:19] Speaker 2: But alien.
[1:05:20] Speaker 1: Because where today we have our games and our sports,
[1:05:24] Speaker 1: medieval folk did it with armoured men and warhorses, risking
[1:05:28] Speaker 1: their life for honour and applause. Of course, we still
[1:05:32] Speaker 1: have the re-enactments of the melees today. You can find
[1:05:36] Speaker 1: them in Europe. I believe they have them in the
[1:05:38] Speaker 1: United States as well. I think it's called ultimate medieval
[1:05:43] Speaker 1: fighting or something. It's quite entertaining. Well, as we conclude today,
[1:05:52] Speaker 1: let's briefly recall a final human moment from the many
[1:05:56] Speaker 1: that we discussed. I want you to picture the knight
[1:06:01] Speaker 1: William Marshall, late in life, now a venerable statesman, reflecting
[1:06:08] Speaker 1: on his youth. According to a eulogy, the old marshal
[1:06:13] Speaker 1: said that no one could untangle all the exploits he'd
[1:06:16] Speaker 1: done in tournaments. There were so many, they blurred together.
[1:06:23] Speaker 1: But the glory he gained there carried him to the
[1:06:26] Speaker 1: highest heights. This sentiment might be true of many knights.
[1:06:31] Speaker 1: The tournaments were where legends could be made. And they
[1:06:36] Speaker 1: were fun.
[1:06:38] Speaker 2: Dangerous, yes. and sometimes deadly. Serious, but also fun. An
[1:06:45] Speaker 2: outlet for.
[1:06:46] Speaker 1: Joy and skill and camaraderie. A German knight, after a
[1:06:51] Speaker 1: long day of jousting in the 1480s, reportedly exclaimed, What
[1:06:55] Speaker 1: a fine game we have played today. And one can
[1:07:00] Speaker 1: almost imagine a grin through that visor. In the end,
[1:07:07] Speaker 1: what happened at medieval knight tournaments Well, the same thing
[1:07:12] Speaker 1: that happened at sporting events today.
[1:07:15] Speaker 2: Life happened.
[1:07:17] Speaker 1: Young men chasing fortune and fame.
[1:07:20] Speaker 2: Or failure.
[1:07:21] Speaker 1: Friends drinking and singing together. Enemies met with grudging respect
[1:07:27] Speaker 1: on neutral ground. Communities celebrated. The mighty showed their splendour
[1:07:33] Speaker 1: and the humble could for a moment touch glory. Herald
[1:07:38] Speaker 1: recorded the names ladies bestowed their smiles. and the crowds
[1:07:42] Speaker 1: cheered or groaned with each clash of lance on steel.
[1:07:46] Speaker 1: It was the Super Bowl or the World Cup of
[1:07:51] Speaker 1: the age, with an extra dash of danger and romance
[1:07:55] Speaker 1: thrown in. Through the medieval tournament, it's a unique window
[1:08:00] Speaker 1: into the heart of chivalry, equal parts combat and camaraderie,
[1:08:05] Speaker 1: ritual and revelry, honour and humility. And that's where we close.
[1:08:13] Speaker 1: At least for now. It's enough for tonight. I hope
[1:08:19] Speaker 1: you've enjoyed it. Well, I definitely enjoyed doing this reading.
[1:08:27] Speaker 1: Always a good fun to talk about those old times
[1:08:30] Speaker 1: and give them a bit of a human touch. That
[1:08:34] Speaker 1: William Marshall is quite a character I'm still thinking about.
[1:08:39] Speaker 1: him having his head up against the anvil trying to
[1:08:42] Speaker 1: pry his helmet off. Now that is something. Now I'm
[1:08:47] Speaker 1: going to thank my top dear patrons. Dark, Kimberly, Christine, Sally, Amber, Susan, Legitmus, Carrie, Charlene, Lynn-Therese, Katiana, Nick, Ulf, Edneer, Alexander, Charles, Christine, Dr. Neuronerd, Erin, Jaden, Jim, Jeffrey, Jessica, Madeline, Melissa,
[1:09:11] Speaker 1: Orthodox Review, Scott, Stark Factory, Shell, Wendy, Josie, Sarah, Ryan, Thor, Cameron, Stefan, Kevin, HMSHH, Crystal, Tauri, Anthony, Lucy, Brandon,
[1:09:27] Speaker 1: and Gugububonic. Thank you so much. And I will see
[1:09:32] Speaker 1: you at the next tournament. Good night, everyone. Lots of
[1:09:40] Speaker 1: love to you all. I hope you're doing okay out there.
[1:09:43] Speaker 1: Best of luck to all of you.
[1:09:45] Speaker 2: Good night.

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