subject: What You Can Learn About Modern Combat From The Medieval Tournament [print this page] The medieval tournament was a contest of knightly valor, a training experience for future warriors, and a ruckus party that would rival any modern sporting event. Beer would be served, merchants would pedal their wares, and the common man and noble alike would look on as knights battled it out for money and bragging rights.
More you look back at these events the more you realize sporting events really haven't changed that much accept maybe for the fact no noble was enjoying added revenue from the cable TV rights. One lesson though that the participants of these jousts did know that many seem to have forgotten is that a tournament was only preparation for war, and actual combat was a whole different animal.
Medieval tournaments first began appearing in France around 1066 the year when William the Bastard of Normandy crossed the English Channel to conquer England. The young Duke was of Viking stock, but his army was modern for the time and consisted of infantry, archers, and armored cavalry.
Tactics and his armored knights helped William win the battle of Hastings and the kingdom, and after that knights became the ultimate weapons system o the battlefield for centuries. Knights would be part European martial combat until the 1600's, and during that whole time jousting tournaments would develop.
Early tournaments had few rules and no referees, but a knight was supposed to respect the boundaries of a set area and allow his opponent a break if equipment broke. This didn't always happen and knights were known to chase down opponents and continue fights in the streets of nearby towns. Sometimes knights and princes would fight together in four man teams, and like professional wrestling it wasn't odd for someone to change sides in the middle of a fight.
Some knights would join the fight while other knights were exhausted, and what few rules there were varied by nation. In France only knights fought, but in Germany a knight was allowed to bring his men-at-arms and some brought as many as a 100 foot soldiers.
There was also a lot of money involved, because when a knight defeated another knight and captured him he would ransom him. The ransom could be as simple as exchanging horses to remember the victory or as harsh as taking virtually everything he owned. William Marshal of England started his career as a knight in the 1160's broke, but he was brave and had skills. It is believed that he won over 500 of the brutal matches, and amassed wealth and respect. He would serve four monarchs and become a respected statesmen and warrior.
Keep in mind all of the fighting was done with real weapons, and resulted in so many deaths that tournaments were banned in England, so if an English knight wanted to test his skills he would have to travel to Europe or join the Crusades (killing infidels wasn't a sin). The nobles had to develop rules for a tournament or they would continue to be little more than street fights.
The civilized jousts that we see in works like Geoffrey Chaucer's A Knight's Tale were the result of rules and traditions started in Germany that would spread throughout Europe, and turn tournaments into combat sports.
Tournaments would become more organized and there would be referees to control the action, and weapons would be blunted there would be scoring. Wood barriers would prevent horses from crashing into each other, and only knights were allowed to fight, so foot soldiers couldn't change the fight in another knight's favor.
Even the melee a mass combat event where two groups of knights fought it out to start the tournament was controlled. Coats of Arms would be used to identify knights, and because people could identify their favorite knight people would begin rooting for them (and bet on them). Women would give an article of clothing (usually a scarf, perverts) to her favorite knight, and like professional wrestling there would sometimes be a story with a knight taking up the cause of a young maiden and would oppose another knight.
As tournaments became safer knights didn't forget where they came from, and success on the tournament fields was never respected as much as it was on the battlefield. Still though tournaments gave knights a chance to learn like no other form of training, and gave us many of our romantic ideals when it comes to that period in history.
In reality though combat was bloody, muddy, and knights would have to take on hordes of experienced fighters who all wanted to knock them off their horse. On foot a knight would employ a sword, axe, or mace, and do his best to hack through armor and survive. Grappling wasn't unheard of and some knights would simply bash the other to death. As in any century combat wasn't fun, but knights knew the difference between the games and the reality, and those involved in combat sport today have to realize the same.
