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The Sports |
Jousting |
           
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Well, yes it was but there are many modern medieval societies which have brought the sport back to life and there is even a world-wide Jousting championship schedule. New Zealand has a lively jousting community and recently held a round of the World Championships. The History of Jousting - The Tournament The Tournament had become highly important to the culture of medieval knights by the middle of the 11th century, it provided an arena for all the important knightly virtues. It was regarded as a vital training ground in which young knights could practise the handling of their horses and weapons, the tactics of attack and defence and of co-ordinating their actions with a team of companions. In the early days, tournaments were fairly unregulated free-for-alls, and they were so violent that there was little difference between real battle and the sport. Two teams of knights would attack one another, ranging over a designated area and taking as many prisoners as possible. A knight could win or lose considerable sums at tournaments - armour, horses and ransoms. Occasionally, tournament tempers would flare to such an extent that real battles would ensue to settle the differences of the combatants. It wasn't until around the mid 15th century when jousting as a competition between individual knights began to appear initially as an introductory contest prior to the melee. The tournament became so popular that Edward I had to impose strict bans on them during his campaigns to stop his knights sneaking off every time there was a pause in hostilities. It was about the mid 16th century that rules were introduced, such as blunted weapons and forbidding squires and grooms from being armed. During this time the popularity of knighthood was waning due to the extravagant costs and decreasing status. Competition Rules The modern competitions are most similar to those of the late 16th and 17th century, probably due to that fact that these were the most ceremonial of contests and most documented. Training the modern charger
Modern Armour Modern jousters tend to use the armour of the 11th and 12th centuries, with shields and chain mail (by the 15th-16th century knights no longer required shields due to the heavy armour they possessed)but can choose the armour of any period. The armour used is made by modern armourers, enthusiasts and hobbyists. |
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| Jousting Links | |
| New
Zealand Links
Order of the Boar - all you could ever want to know about modern 'knights' and tournaments Peter Lyon - Armourer and medievalist The Auckland Sword and Shield Society The Modern Middle Ages in NZ Medievalist's List This page has the contacts for many groups In The Lists - a forum for New Zealand Jousters, keep up to date with jousting news, chat and see the latest photos. Very active, includes many photos of the New Zealand world champs rounds 2003 and 2004 ! The Official Site of the International Jousting Association International Jousting Knights Assoc National Jousting Association (US) The Order of Blak Pryns-Australia The Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.(SCA) is an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating pre-17th-century European history. All persons interested in such study are invited to use these pages to obtain information about the SCA.
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Isn't
Jousting a medieval sport?
Naturally
enough there are few horses around these days who are used to knights
clanking around in armour near them so all horses are carefully schooled
to ensure they are suitable and find the experience enjoyable rather than
frightening. In the picture below one of the local 'knights' is
practising with a 12ft bamboo pole while the knight has not yet donned any
armour (apart from a modern riding helmet). Training usually starts
with the rider carrying a dressage whip or short pole to get the horse
used to something waving around his head, this then progresses to a long
staff and the horse is gradually desensitised to the rider banging on the
quintain or other objects with the tip of the whip\pole until eventually
practice with a full length lance jousting at a quintain from a canter is
achieved.
