"In the Easter holidays they have a game resembling a naval conflict. A target is fastened to a post in the middle of the river: in the prow of a boat, driven along by oars and the current, stands a young man who is to strike the target with his lance: if, in hitting it, he break his lance and keep his position unmoved, he gains his point, his wish is fulfilled; but if his lance be not broken by the blow, he is tumbled into the river and his boat passes by. Two boats, however, are placed there, one on each side of the target, and in them a number of young men, to take up the tilter when he emerges from the stream. On the bridge and in chambers by the river-side, stand the spectators:—
----multum ridere parati.
"During the Summer holidays the young men exercise themselves in leaping, in archery, wrestling, stone-throwing, casting javelins beyond a mark, and in fighting with shields."
In the Winter, skaters, "binding under their feet the shin-bones of some animal, take in their hands poles shod with iron, which at times they strike against the ice, and are thus carried along with the rapidity of a bird on the wing, or a bolt discharged from a cross-bow. Sometimes two of the skaters having by mutual agreement placed themselves far apart, come together from opposite sides: they meet, and with their poles strike each other: one or both fall, not without some bodily hurt: even after their fall, they are carried along to a great distance from each other by the velocity of the motion; and whatever part of their heads comes in contact with the ice, is laid bare to the very skull. Frequently the leg or arm of the person who falls, if he chance to light on either, is broken. But youth is an age eager for glory and desirous of victory: thus, in order to distinguish themselves in real fight, these tyros contend with so much boldness in counterfeit battle."
Among the exercises glanced at in this sketch of the Londoner's sportive year, the Quintain is conspicuous. This was especially the game of the "non-noble," and might be practised either on horseback or on foot. The more ancient quintain was merely a post or a shield fixed on a pole, which the tyro attacked in lieu of a living antagonist. But a new element was soon given to the quintain, which at once brought it into favour with the populace: it was so contrived as to inflict summary punishment on the inexpert. To one kind, a bag of sand was fastened, which, whirling round from the force of the blow struck at the opposite end, buffeted the tilter who was not expeditious enough to get out of its way. Others were made in the form of a Turk, armed with sword and shield; and these, moving on a pivot as before, inflicted a smart blow on the lagging assailant. In another variety, a large tub of water was fixed on a post, which discharged its contents on the person of any clumsy jouster. Other kinds are described and figured in Strutt's Sports. And in the little village of Offham, in Kent, may still be seen an example of the quintain, which is fixed "opposite to the dwelling-house of the estate, which is bound to keep it up[263]." It now consists of a post, having a cross-piece moving on a pivot, terminating at one end with a broad perforated board, and at the other with a pendent log of wood. The log, however, seems to have been substituted for a "bag of sand," which is mentioned in old accounts of this relic.
"Besides the practice of feats of arms," says John of Salisbury, writing in the reign of Henry II., "the young knight should qualify himself for the duties of his station by a variety of toil and exemplary abstinence. From the beginning he must learn to labour, run, carry heavy weights, and bear the sun and dust: he must use sparing and rustic food: he must accustom himself to live in tents, or in the open air." Then, turning upon the luxurious and effeminate knights of his day, he upbraids them in a diatribe which gives us a singular picture of the manners of this age. "Some," he says, "think that military glory consists in the display of elegant dress, in wearing their clothes tight to the body, so binding on their linen or silken garments that they seem a skin coloured like their flesh. Sitting softly on their ambling horses, they think themselves so many Apollos. If you make an army of them, you will have the camp of Thaïs, not of Hannibal. Each is boldest in the banqueting-hall, but in the battle every one desires to be the last: they would rather assail the enemy with arrows than come to close fighting. Returning home without a scar, they sing triumphantly of their battles, and boast of the thousand deaths that wandered near their temples. If diligent idleness can procure any spears, which, being brittle as hemp, should chance to be broken in the field; if a piece of gold, minium, or any colour of the rainbow, by any chance or blow should fall out of their shields; their garrulous tongues would make it an everlasting memorial. They have the first places at supper. They feast every day splendidly, if they can afford it, but shun labour and exercise like a dog or a snake. Whatever is surrounded with difficulty, they leave to those who serve them. In the meantime, they so gild their shields, and so adorn their tents, that you would think each one, not a learner, but a chieftain of war[264]."
PORCHESTER CASTLE, HAMPSHIRE.
Built about 1150.