Post by wordy on Mar 4, 2010 7:45:51 GMT 10
Goldenlake's Guide to Jousting
by Zanna-Banna and Lisafer
Jousting in its original form has generally been credited to a French man named Geoffori de Pruelli. The "sport" - actually more of an occupation at the time - spread from France to Germany, to England, and into southern Europe during the tenth to twelfth centuries. Jousting tournaments were held as military exercises between the various nobles. Such tournaments often started peacefully and turned into bloody battles between jealous champions. Winning such tournaments was one way for a lowborn knight to make a quick name for himself and win riches beyond ordinary dreams. Gradually these petty local wars became more sport oriented and sophisticated and less a matter of life or death. Knights were considered gentlemen and were required to abide by the ideas of chivalry and fair play, then in vogue. Much of the credit for this fair-play code has always gone to King Arthur and the Round Table, the tales from the thirteenth century.
The first accounts of "Running at the Rings" dates to the days of James I of England demonstrating a knight's extreme skill, since the rings were obviously much smaller to lance than a man. The death of several nobles and at least one king, King Henry II of France in 1559, brought about the demise of the man-to-man type of jousting. It was also during this time that gunpowder was introduced into Europe from the Orient. Guns made warfare by horse-mounted lancers obsolete overnight. Although the precise evolution of ring jousting is not known, history does provide us with many well-documented great tournaments throughout the next several centuries. Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, of the "colonies" is reported to have been the first to introduce jousting to the United States. Jousting in Europe has declined whereas Americans, on the other hand, have built interest steadily. In Maryland, ring jousting is the official state individual sport.
In Tamora Pierce’s accounts of the history of Tortall, influences from Earth history are prevalent. Tournaments appear in Tortall (most notably during the Grand Progress of King Jonathan IV’s time, but were cited prior to that in nearby nations like Maren) as a display of warriors’ ability, and one of the most-watched fights in each tournament is that of tilting or jousting. Unlike medieval European history, however, the joust is simply a part of the tournament rather than a predecessor to the events, in the early history of tournaments, or as the sole draw, in later years. In Tortall, as well, knights can participate in something akin to more of a “practice” match, with padding, for safety, or they can issue serious challenges, with full armor and penalties paid by the losing participant in the bout. This is unlike European jousts, which often either had the “joust a plaisance”, a series of elimination jousts held over several days, to determine an overall winner, or the “Pas d’armes” jousting event, where one knight would issue a proclamation that he would take on all challengers on a specific date.
In Tortall, each participant has the right to refuse a match, if a challenge has not be issued. They have until midnight the evening before a match to remove their names from the boards. The following day, the event takes place in the lists, or the lists field. Each participant prepares at his or her end of the designated passing area, alone or with the assistance of squires or field monitors, and then charges at his or her opponents. According to Lord Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie’s Peak, the keys to a successful pass (as demonstrated by Lord Wyldon of Cavall, who is declared by Pierce to be the best living jouster in all of Tortall) are: strength, speed, powerful mounts, and precision.
A win, in Tortall, is declared by judges. While the specifics of the rules are not specifically cited, one should note that a win is often showed when an opponent is thrust from the saddle, unlike European tournaments where lance-breaking earned the largest amount of points and unseating a knight earned none.
Prior to reaching the level of skill to participate in a tilting match, young pages and squires in Tortall are trained against quintains, a “dummy” made from a pole with some sort of target; when struck, the pole spins around and the jouster can pass through with ease. In European history, the quintain was used as part of jousting games; in Tortall, Lord Wyldon added a sandbag to the set-up so a page who did not successfully make the pass would get thumped, to “make the lesson stick”. After mastering the quintain, the shield-target would proceed to the next level – ring jousting. The weight and heft of the ring, in fact, would change over time.
Contemporary studies from the era of Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan’s training show a discrepancy in training stages. According to one source (Page),”Lord Wyldon set the fourth-years to tilting at each other”. However, according to the lady knight’s narrative accounts (Squire), her tilting experience against Lord Raoul appears to be her first against a live target: “Kel instantly noted the difference between her old targets, which stayed in nearly the same place, and this new one.”
Whether it is as pages or squires that a knight-in-training learns to joust against live targets, it should be noted that it is always done with safety in mind. Padding is always worn, and the lance tips are fitted with coromanel, to spread the impact in several directions and lessen the force.
Even with the increase in injuries that were reported by the Chief Palace Healer, it is grudgingly accepted that training young boys and girls to joust properly on horseback better prepares them for life in the field, or in the lists.