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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

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