Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard
Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard
Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard
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KNIGHT<br />
<strong>The</strong> melee tournament<br />
was far closer to real battle<br />
than the one-to-one joust.<br />
This mid-14th-century<br />
image fails to show that<br />
such engagements could<br />
be fought over many<br />
miles. (© British Library)<br />
THE TOURNAMENT<br />
Such games had their formal equivalent, of course, in the tournament, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
tournament of the 12th <strong>and</strong> 13th centuries was indeed an excellent training ground for<br />
war. Its origins can be seen in the behourd <strong>and</strong> the similar wargames that we have<br />
already seen Carolingian horsemen performing at Worms in 842. As always, it is<br />
tempting to find a classical root for these sports. Roman cavalry units would conduct<br />
hippika fjymnihMa or militariludi (literally 'military games') often in elaborate armour,<br />
during which they would perform the evolutions <strong>and</strong> manoeuvres they would use on<br />
the field. <strong>The</strong> remains of an inscription from Lambaesis in north Africa records the<br />
speech made by the Emperor Hadrian following the military exercises of the garrison<br />
there. His comments concentrate on the tightness of the formation <strong>and</strong> the skill with<br />
which they h<strong>and</strong>le their weapons, saying of one unit that they performed a manoeuvre<br />
that 'has the appearance of real warfare '. What he had witnessed was still very much<br />
a display of skill at arms; there is something of the theatre about such classical games.<br />
In the full hippika gymnasia the cavalrymen would dress in finely decorated armour<br />
with masks in the form of Greeks or Amazons.<br />
However, the classical games lacked the competitive edge of the medieval events,<br />
which could quickly turn nasty. Richard the Lionheart's Sicilian behourd did just that.<br />
When William des Barres tore Richard's cap the king went into a fury <strong>and</strong> would have<br />
beaten the man severely if he had not been so skilled as to avoid the king's blows.<br />
<strong>The</strong> tournament of this earlier period was equally aggressive. <strong>The</strong> nrile'e was the main<br />
event <strong>and</strong> the one-to-one joust was a mere sideshow. It was a battle in all but intent,<br />
fought en nuutde over open large expanses of open terrain, generally between two towns.<br />
<strong>The</strong> tournament held in 1178 on l<strong>and</strong> between the northern French towns of Anet <strong>and</strong><br />
Sorel covered 1,400 acres along the south bank of the river Eure. <strong>The</strong> tourneyers used