CONTENTS

PAGE
Preface[ v]
Introduction[vii]
Bibliography[xix]
Outline of Principal Contents—
CHAPTER I

Origin of the Tournament—Its definition—Rules made anno 1066—Derivation of the word—The Behourd—The Joust: Its origin and definition—The Round Table game—Round Table held in 1252—Edward III revives the traditional Table glories of King Arthur—Actual Table at Winchester—Its history—Round Table held in 1389—Definition of the game—The Quintain—Its definition—Running at the Ring—Judicial duels properly classed with the Tournament

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CHAPTER II

Jousts of peace—Joutes à outrance—The term “À outrance”—Mediæval chronicles and chroniclers—Body-armour of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries—Brasses and effigies—Tournaments in the reign of King Stephen—Their introduction into England and France—Description of the Martial Sports of London by William Fitzstephen—William Rufus—The knight-errant—Tournaments of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries—Royal Edicts and Papal Bulls issued against them—Tournaments controlled by Royal Ordinances—Fees payable to the Crown—Tournament near Alençon—Philip Augustus sends a challenge to Richard of England—Tournament held at Brackley in 1250—Five authorized Lists in England—Form and decoration of Lists—The duties of varlets—Officials of Lists—The coronal of the lance—The routine of an early Tournament—Prizes—Tournaments in 1236, 1247 and 1248—Interdictions by the Church—Tournament at Rochester in 1251—Another in 1253—Tournament at Chalòns in 1247—Jousting at Blei in 1256—Round Tables at Warwick and Kenilworth—Hardyng’s poem on the last-named—The lance—Roll of purchases for the tournament held at Windsor Park in 1278—Statuta de armis, dating towards the end of the thirteenth century—Penalties for breaking the rules—Effigies of Edmund Crouchback and William de Valence—Effigy of Geoffrey de Mandeville—Knightly panoply of the period—The age of mail—Chain-mail—The hauberk and gambeson—Bards and trappers—Transition to plate-armour gradual

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CHAPTER III

The fourteenth century—The introduction of firearms—Romances of Richard Cœur de Lion, Sir Ferumbras, Roman du roy Miliades Meliadus, and others—The Froissart plates—Hefner’s Tratchten—Carter’s Painting and Sculpture—Froissart’s Chronicle—Royal jousts—Proclamation of tournaments—The issue of safe-conducts—“Tornies, justes,” etc., forbidden in 1302—Tournament at Condé in 1327—Royal jousts at Cheapside in 1330—“Great justes” at Dunstable in 1341—Royal tournament at London in 1342—To cry a tourney—Round Table at Windsor in 1344—Actual Table at Winchester—Order of the Garter—Jousts to be held annually at Lincoln—Round Table at Windsor in 1345, and many jousts at other places—Great wardrobe account—Round Table at Lichfield—White hoods—Verse from Chaucer’s “Knight’s Tale”—Romance of Perce Forest—“Kerchief of pleasance”—“Roiall justes” held in 1358, 1359, and in 1362 —Jousts at Mons and Rennes—Sir Nicholas Dagworth—His brass in Blickling Church—His armour—Armour of the Black Prince—Feat of arms at Toury—Tournament at Cambray in 1385—Duel at Montereau in 1387—Much jousting with pointed lances between cavaliers of France and England during the long wars between the two countries—Pas d’armes at Nantes—Combat à outrance near Vannes—Jousts at Paris in 1385—Realistic tournament at Paris—Feat of arms at Entença—Deed of arms at Bordeaux in 1389—Marshal de Boucicaut’s exploits in the lists—Pas d’armes at St. Ingelbert—The rôles of Tenans and Venants—Monkish chronicles—Royal tournament at London in 1390—Caxton’s remarks on the same—Another tournament proclaimed by King Richard II—The espinette—Body-armour of the fourteenth century—Crests—The Cap of Maintenance—The shield—Fatal accident in the lists to the young Earl of Pembroke in 1390—Jousting in Scotland in 1398

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CHAPTER IV

The fifteenth century—The tourney milder—Body-armour strengthened—Milan the chief seat of manufacture—Less costly armour made in Germany—Maximilian imports Italian smiths, and Germany gradually becomes the chief centre of the industry—Ameliorations in the tourney—The tilt—Jousting without the tilt—The vamplate—Special harness for the lists—The lance-rest—The queue—Jousting lances and lance-heads—Barriers—Reinforcing pieces—The kolbenturnier—The kolben or baston—Crests—Hours of the tourney—Lists often artificially lighted—The tournament in Germany—Training of the chargers—Their chests protected by a mattress—Spurs and saddles—The tournament at Aix and in Burgundy—The Chronicles of St. Remy, Monstrelet, Chastelain and De la Marche—Bibliothèque de Bourgogne—Ashmolean MSS.—The Order of the Golden Fleece—Cottonian MSS.—Life of Richard Beauchamp—Roman de Saintré—Tournois du Roi René—Statutes of Lord Typtofte, 1466—Confusion in the terms employed by chroniclers in descriptions of the tourney—A Scharmützel—Description of a pas d’armes—Chapitres d’armes—Manner of adjudging prizes—French ordinance against duels with the English—“Solemne justs” attempted in 1400, but which proved abortive—Challenge of an esquire of Arragon in 1400—Deed of arms near Bordeaux in 1402—The Duc d’Orleans sends a challenge to Henry IV of England—Deeds of arms at Valentia—Exploits in the lists of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick—Three Portuguese fight three Frenchmen in 1415—Subterranean combats in 1420—Statutes d’armes, temp. Henry V—Jousts in the reign of Henry V—Duel at Arras in 1425—The bec de faucon—Tournament at Brussels in 1428—Pas d’armes at Arras in 1430—Early mention of the tilt—Passage of arms at Arras in 1435—Sir John Astley’s fight on foot in 1442

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CHAPTER V

Pas d’armes at L’Arbre de Charlemagne, Dijon, in 1443, at which there was jousting at the tilt, and reinforcing pieces were employed—The lists—The challenges—A few of the encounters—The chapitres d’armes—Various Harleian MSS.—Picture of a King of Arms proclaiming a tournament—Combat, at Ghent, between Jehan de Boniface and Jacques de Lalain in 1445—Definitions of an esquire—The duties of a King of Arms—Additional or reinforcing pieces—Small set of reinforcing pieces in the Wallace Collection—Feat of arms at Edinburgh in 1448—Distinction made in the dress of a knight and that of an esquire—Armour of the fifteenth century—Brass of Sir John Wylcotes and that in South Kelsey Church—Hoveringham effigy—Collar of SS.—Gothic armour—The Beauchamp effigy its finest type—Great armour-smiths of the fifteenth century—Enrichment of armour—Paper by Viscount Dillon, printed in Archæologia, on a MS. collection of ordinances of chivalry of the fifteenth century—“Abilment for Justes of the Pees”—“To Crie a Justus of Pees”—“The comyng into the felde”—“To arme a man”—Combats on foot—Jousting at the tilt—Definition of terms—The Pas de la Pélerine in 1446—Feat of arms at Arras between Philippe de Ternant and Galiot de Baltasin in the same year—The lists—The first joust of the Comte de Charolais at Brussels in 1452—Tournament at Brussels in the same year—Jousting now frequently combined with masques, mummeries and pageants—Example of this in 1453—Tournament in celebration of the coronation of Edward IV—Pas d’armes held by Edward IV in 1467, at which the Bastard of Burgundy took part—The lists—Ashmolean MS.—Costly pageant, combined with jousting and the tourney, in celebration of the marriage of Charles the Bold with Margaret of York (L’Arbre d’Or)—Jousts held at Paris in 1468—Royal jousts in honour of the marriage of Richard Duke of York in 1477—Royal jousts and fêtes at Greenwich in the reign of Henry VII—Caxton’s epilogue—Tapestry at Valenciennes—Joust at Jena in 1487 between Johannes Duke of Saxony and Cuntz Metzschen—A “Solemne Triumphe” at Richmond—Collections of armour at Vienna and Dresden

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CHAPTER VI

Much that is fanciful and unreal written about the tournament—Scientific writers on the subject—Narrations of chroniclers—German records—Ashmolean, Harleian and Cottonian MSS.—Hall, Holinshed and other chroniclers—The tournament reaches its highest development in the first half of the fifteenth century—Decline of the tournament—The introduction of barriers in combats on foot—The bâton of illegitimacy—The tournament restricted to cavaliers of noble birth—Prizes—New forms of jousting—German tournament-books—Harnesses for the tiltyard made in Germany—The tournament as practised at the German Courts—The Freydal of Maximilian—Other works of the kind—Tournament-books at Sigmaringen and Dresden—Paintings of jousts at Dresden—Jousting on wooden horses equipped with mechanical apparatus for charging—Trappers: their paintings, devices and embroideries—Prices of knightly armour—Tourney book of Duke William IV of Bavaria—Other tourney-books—Forms of jousting and equipment—Bards and saddles—The Gestech in its several forms—Maximilian I armed for Hohenzeuggestech—Two armours for Gestech at Paris—Harness for the Gestech in the Wallace Collection, London—Other examples—The lance, vamplate and coronal—A Gestech at Leipsig in 1489—The frontispiece, which represents a Gestech—Gestech im Beinharnisch—Jousting with pointed lances (Scharfrennen)—The lance and vamplate—Salient features of the forms—Examples of the armour employed—Realistic representation of a joust with sharp lances—Maximilian II mounted and armed for Scharfrennen—Geschiftrennen—Geschifttartscherennen—A Rennen held at Minden—Geschiftscheibenrennen—Bundrennen— Auzogenrennen—Krönlrennen—Pfannenrennen—Feldrennen—The mêlée—Feldturnier—All these forms defined—Joust at the tilt—Its inception—The salient features—A joust at the tilt at Augsburg in 1510—Armour employed—Two harnesses for this type of joust at Paris—A German suit dated 1580—Realgestech—Three armours in London for jousting at the tilt—Fatal accident to Henry II of France in a joust of this kind—Triumph of Maximilian—Drawings by Hans Burgmaier—Combats on foot—Barriers and Foot Combats: a paper by Lord Dillon—Armour for foot-fighting—Weapons employed—The Fussturnier—The Freiturnier—Armour employed—Realgestech—The Scharmützel—The Karoussel or Carrousel—Permanent lists—Harness for the tiltyard—Best armours imported from Italy—Interest taken by Henry VIII in armour-making—German smiths employed at Greenwich—The iron imported from Innsbruck—Alleged inferiority of English iron—“Hoasting” armour of the sixteenth century—Its form slavishly follows that of the civil dress—Fluted or “Maximilian” armour—Tonlet armour—Bards—The expression “trapped and barded”—Some armour for campaigning made much lighter—“Pfeifenharnis”—Its unsuitability—The enrichment of armour—Armour of the middle of the century—The “Peasecod-bellied” doublet and breastplate

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CHAPTER VII

The Chevalier Bayard—His career in the tourney—Pas d’armes at Westminster in 1501—Dates of chroniclers unreliable—The term “tourney”—“Solemne Triumph” in 1502—Joust at Naumburg in 1505—An Auzogenrennen in 1512—The kind of shield employed—Tilting at Paris and Lille in 1513 and 1515—Letters of Safeguard—Curious rule in foot contests—Charles V engaged in tournaments in 1518—Tournaments of the reign of Henry VIII—Hall and Holinshed’s narrations—Jousts at the coronation—The King jousts incognito—Other combats—Jousts in honour of Queen Katharine—The tenans and articles of combat—Hall’s florid account of the meeting—Ashmole MS. No. 1116—Proportion of attaints—Other pas d’armes—Jousts in honour of the Queen of Scotland—Articles of combat—Field of the Cloth of Gold—Jousting in England—King Henry ran great risk of losing his life when jousting in 1524—Henry a successful jouster—Jousts in 1536 and 1540—The ceremony of the degradation of a knight—Fights at barriers in 1554—jousting fell into disuse in England during the reign of Edward VI and that of Philip and Mary—Efforts made in Elizabeth’s reign to revive the tournament—Sir Henry Lee the Queen’s champion—Succeeded by the Earl of Cumberland—Jousts and barriers in 1558—The pas d’armes in 1559 at which Henry II of France was fatally injured—Viscount Dillon’s Barriers and Foot Combats—Tournaments at London in 1570—“Checques” or score-tablets and their illustration—Articles of combat and prizes—Proportion of attaints made by the Earl of Oxford—Jousting in the night in 1572—The duties at a tournament of a King of Arms and of a Pursuivant—Scoring “Checques”—Their definition—Rules and regulations for conducting tournaments in Tudor times—Romance of three kings’ sons—“Ordinaunce of keeping of the Feelde”—Tournaments and jousts at Westminster in 1581—King Henry IV challenges the Duc de Mayenne to single combat—A Scharmützel—A water quintain in 1585—Fights at barriers in 1606 and 1610—Tournament in 1612—First coming into the tiltyard of Prince Charles of Wales in 1619—Tournament of the knight of the royal Amaranthus in 1620—The tournament lingered long in Germany—The decline of armour—Causes of the gradual disuse of armour—Armour of the seventeenth century—A harness belonging to Louis XIV—Plate-armour gradually disappears—Conclusion—Revivals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—The Eglington tournament in 1839—The tournament at Brussels in 1905—“Triumph” at Earl’s Court in 1912—The Judicial Duel

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CHAPTER VIII

Trial by combat curiously interlinked with common law—References among Ashmolean, Harleian and Cottonian MSS.—Introduced into England by the Normans—Unknown to the Anglo-Saxons—Principle involved—Earlier forms of ordeal—Found among the laws of nearly all the German tribes, the Swedes and Lombards—Flourished greatly in France—The Grand Assize—Enclosures or lists—The custom never took deep root in England—Civil cases usually connected with disputes concerning land—Actual number of judicial duels small in England—Persons excused from battle—Women not exempt—Early ordinances—Trial by combat in civil cases—Trial by combat in criminal cases—Picture of a legal duel, temp. Henry III—Rules and ordinances for conducting judicial combats in France, temp. Philip IV—The lists—Judicial duels defined—Singular duel between two Jews—Reported duel between a man and a dog—Knightly duel in 1380—Legal duel temp. Richard II—Duel between Jean de Carouge and Jacques le Gris in 1386, as described by Froissart and others—Duel, in 1398, between the Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk—Trial by combat in Germany—Rules of procedure there—Duels in Germany between men and their wives—Duel with spiked shields—Duel with spiked clubs—With shields, swords and daggers—With bec de faucons—With two-handed swords—Rules and regulations, temp. Richard II, by Thomas Duke of Gloucester, Constable of England—Rules for judicial combats in the reign of Richard III—Judicial duel at Quesnoy in 1405—An English duel in 1415—Knightly trial by combat at Arras in 1431—Duel stayed in 1446—Fight at Smithfields same year—Interesting duel fought at Valenciennes, in 1455, with knotted clubs—Course of procedure, temp. Henry VIII—Picture of a judicial duel—Duel in France in 1547—The “coup de Jarnac”—Judicial duel in 1548—Irregular duel in the lists at Sedan—Catalogue of judicial duels in England—Trial by combat became rare temp. Elizabeth—Strong influences brought to bear against the practice—Treatises against duels—A duel ordered in 1571, which proved abortive—Reports of duels in 1602 and 1631—The king’s declaration against duels in 1658—The law for judicial combats practically in abeyance until early in the nineteenth century—Duel ordered in 1817, which proved abortive—The law repealed in 1818

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APPENDICES
A.The Ashmolean MSS. relating to the Tourney[169]
B.The Harleian MSS. ”””[173]
C.The Cottonian MSS.”””[177]
D.The Instructions given by the Emperor Maximilian I 
as to the Selection of Plates for ”Freydal”[178]
E.The Ashmolean MSS. relating to Judicial Combats[179]
F.The Harleian MSS.”””[181]
G.The Cottonian MSS. ”””[182]
H.Letter from Thomas Duke of Gloucester[184]
Index[189]