Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

normal sharp points. Some tournaments and most behourdd might be fought with
wooden clubs or weapons made of cuir bouilli or whalebone. In the German
tournament known as the Hohenzeugcjestech, knights scored points for splintering
lances, so special ones were designed to shatter on impact, much as those in modern
tournament shows. Otherwise the weapons were much the same as those used for
open battle; foot combats might take place using pollaxes, spears or swords. Paj
d'armed, organized challenges often fought a L'outrance during lulls in military
campaigns, were frequently arranged to comprise a series of engagements with
different weapons, with a set number of blows being struck with each.
THE SELECTION OF WEAPONS
AND ARMOUR
From this whistle-stop tour there appears to be a clear development in both arms and
armour, resulting from improvements in iron and steel that allowed the development
both of ever more complex plates and of weapons designed specifically to beat them.
It would be wrong, however, to think that there was a single linear trend in the
development of arms and armour across the whole of Western Europe. There were
both regional and personal variations, with a variety of factors involved in making
the choice.
Regional styles played a not-insignificant role, particularly in the 15th century.
Although the arms industry was trans-national, with major centres of production
such as Chartres (for mail armour), Passau (for sword blades), Milan and Augsburg
exporting to clients across Europe, it is clear from the source material that at various
times certain areas had styles that were particular to them. Frustratingly, however,
all too often our sources provide no detail as to what that distinction might be.
Climate may have had some impact upon these regional developments, since the
armour worn in the Spanish and Mediterranean states tended to be lighter than that
worn elsewhere in Europe. However there is surprisingly little evidence to suggest
that the crusading knights made concessions for the heat of the Middle East. It has
been suggested that the adoption of surcoats at the beginning of the 12th centuiy may
have been the crusaders' attempt at covering armour from the sun, but it is also possible
that it was an extra medium of display adopted for the tournament, which was
becoming hugely popular at this time. One example we do have comes from the
eyewitness account of Louis IX's crusade to Egypt in 1250, by the knight Jean de
Joinville who served on the campaign. During a lull in the fighting at Mansourah