In tilting at the ring, three courses were allowed to each candidate; and he who thrust the point of his lance through it the oftenest, or, in case no such thing was done, struck it the most frequently, was the victor: but if it so happened, that none of them did either the one or the other, or that they were equally successful, the courses were to be repeated until the superiority of one put an end to the contest. [475]
XIII.—DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TOURNAMENTS AND JUSTS.
Tournaments and justs, though often confounded with each other, differed materially. The tournament was a conflict with many knights, divided into parties and engaged at the same time. The just was a separate trial of skill, when only one man was opposed to another. The latter was frequently included in the former, but not without many exceptions; for the just, according to the laws of chivalry, might be made exclusive of the tournament. [476]
In the romantic ages, both these diversions were held in the highest esteem, being sanctioned by the countenance and example of the nobility, and prohibited to all below the rank of an esquire; but at the same time the justs were considered as less honourable than the tournaments; for the knight who had paid his fees and been admitted to the latter, had a right to engage in the former without any further demand, but he who had paid the fees for justing only, was by no means exempted from the fees belonging to the tournament, as will be found in the laws relative to the lance, sword, and helmet, a little further on.
XIV. ORIGIN OF THE TOURNAMENT.
It is an opinion generally received, that the tournament originated from a childish pastime practised by the Roman youths called Ludus Troiæ (the Troy game), said to have been so named because it was derived from the Trojans, and first brought into Italy by Ascanius the son of Æneas. Virgil has given a description of this pastime, according to the manner, I presume, in which it was practised at Rome. If he be accurate, it seems to have been nothing more than a variety of evolutions performed on horseback. The poet tells us, that the youth were each of them armed with two little cornal spears, headed with iron.
Cornea bina ferunt præfixa hastilia ferro.—Æneid. lib. v. l. 556.
Having passed in review before their parents, upon a signal given, they divided themselves into three distinct companies; and each company consisted of twelve champions exclusive of its appropriate leader, when, according to Trapp's translation, which if not so poetical is more literal than Dryden's, the tutor of Ascanius, and overseer of the sports,
———Epityden, from far
Loud with a shout, and with his sounding lash