SHARFRENNEN.
This form is characterised by heavy lances “sharp,” as the name for the course implies. The main object was “unhorsing,” and the saddle was unprovided with front and rear supports; it was, in fact, quite unlike the ordinary war-horse saddle—indeed, more resembling the English saddle of to-day. The object of this was that there should be nothing to impede the rider’s fall. The lances used in this course were not expected to break or splinter, though they did so sometimes. On the moment of impact each combatant dropped his lance to avoid injury to the arm from splintering, and this was the case in the other courses also. The consequence of a true impact was, as a rule, that at least one rider was unhorsed; but sometimes both riders fell, and occasionally both horses as well, so that all four combatants, for the horses may be said to have fought also, bit the dust. In cases where a rider was able to keep his saddle for a moment after impact and swaying in the endeavour to retain his seat, his varlets rushed forward to support him. Sometimes in case of lances slightly deflecting, or missing altogether, one and even both horses have been known to fall forward. There was a “rennen” between the Emperor Maximilian and Duke John of Saxony at Innsbruck in 1498.
The tournaments held at the imperial and princely courts were strictly games, the hosts often personally challenging their guests to a trial of skill. Much depended naturally on the training of the horses, which were sometimes ridden blindfold. The legs and feet of the competitors were without armour, except the “diechlinge,” so that the rider could sit firmly supported on the saddle. The “diechlinge” served as a protection for the thigh and knee. Such a defence was necessary, owing to the risk of these limbs of the combatants colliding. In the Dresden Museum, in the “Turnierwaffen-Saal,” an interesting and very realistic representation of a German “Sharfrennen” may be seen, the combatants facing each other, fully armed, with lances in rest. The defences are double throughout, each harness weighing about two hundred pounds. The period is 1550–53, and most of the riders in the “Saal” have sat their horses since the year 1591. The body-armour is engraved and fluted, and the helmet is the sallad. The breastplate of the harness nearest the entrance to the hall bears the monogram of the armour-smith Sigmund Rockenberger of Wittenberg, the other was made by Hans Rosenberger of Dresden. The grand-guard, volant-piece, and left shoulder-guard are of wood, strengthened with plate, and covered with leather. A curved plain shield is screwed on over the left shoulder, while an enormous vamplate, or shield with a bouche, guards the right, and through this the butt end of the lance rests.
The armour itself is of the heavy tilting kind, over which is a dress of stuff with bases, a sort of petticoat like the civil dress of the day. Stockings and slippers are worn, and there is no defence of plate over them excepting at the knee, over which is the great “diechlinge” already mentioned. The woollen stockings and slippers in these instances are restorations; but there is an actual tilting shoe of the period in one of the museum cases at Dresden. Spurs with long necks are used. The horses are barded and fully housed. Housings reaching nearly to the ground are usually highly and fancifully decorated, bearing the “arms” or “cognizance” of the rider, and are often ornamented with the figures of birds or animals. In the Royal Library at Dresden is a representation on parchment of a “Sharfrennen” between Kurfürst August of Saxony and Johann von Ratzenberg, and afterwards with Hans von Schönfeld, in 1545, at Minden. It was drawn by Heinrich Goding, the court painter in 1584. This combat was termed a “Gedritts,” signifying that the victor, in order to gain the prize, had after the first encounter still to dispose of a second antagonist—three were thus engaged, and hence the term. A copy of this interesting record follows in [Fig. 4]. An example of the armour worn in this course is given in [Fig. 5]. It was made for Kurfürst August, by Sigmund Rockenberger of Wittenberg in 1554. The form is graceful, and the ornamentation of a chaste character. The details are clearly marked, such as the screw for the volant-piece; the sharp-pointed, spearhead-like projection standing forward from the centre of the breastplate, a fashion that only endured for a few decades; the ponderous lance-rest, and heavy abdominal extra plate,—all being characteristic of a suit used for “rennen.” The elegant sallad differs materially from the earlier form, and is very shapely. Only persons of noble birth or those subsequently granted “arms” were permitted to take part in “rennen.”