“In the ninth year of King Edward’s reign, the feast of the round table was kept at Warwike with great and sumptuous triumph.”[38]
The Round Table assembled at Kenilworth by Sir Roger Mortimer has been already referred to in the section devoted to the Tabula Rotunda, and Hardyng in his Chronicle[39] thus pictures it:
“And in the yere a thousand was full then Two hundred also sixty and nynetene,[40] When Sir Roger Mortimer so began At Kelyngworth, the round table as was sene, Of a thousand Knygts for dicipline, Of young menne, after he could devise Of Turnementes, and justes to exercise.
“A Thousand Ladies, excellyng in beautee He had also there, in tentes high above The justes, that thei might well and clerely see Who justed beste, there for their Lady Love For whole beautie, it should the Knightes move In armes so eche other to revie To get a fame in play of Chivalry.”
Hardyng died about the year 1465, nearly two centuries after the events he narrates.
The lance, or glaive as it is often called, of the eleventh and twelfth centuries[41] was quite straight and smooth; a vamplate was added in the fourteenth, small at first but larger later, for the protection of the right arm. The lance for jousting was made of soft wood, so as to splinter easily.
A manuscript in the Record Office, transferred from the Tower about 1855, entitled Emptiones facte per manum Adinetti Cissoris et visu Albini ＆ Roberti de Dorset contra Torniamentum de Parco de Windsore, nono die Julii anno Sexto (a Roll of Purchases made for the tournament held at Windsor Park in the year 1278), is copied in Archæologia of the year 1814.[42] This document is of rare value in giving particulars of the equipment of the cavaliers engaged in tournaments of the last quarter of the thirteenth century, besides mentioning other matters of interest. Thirty-eight cavaliers took part in the tournament at Windsor Park, twelve of the highest rank being styled digniores. Among these were the Earls of Cornwall, Gloucester, Warren, Lincoln, Pembroke and Richmond;[43] and there were several foreign knights present. Many of the cavaliers whose names appear on the roll had been with King Edward in the Holy Land. Both arms and armour[44] were provided for the occasion for all the cavaliers taking part. Thirty-seven of the outfits ranged in cost from 7s. to 25s. each; that for the Earl of Lincoln, however, was much higher than any of the others, being 33s. 4d. The equipments must thus have differed widely in quality and embellishment. The armours were of leather gilt, each suit consisting of a coat-of-fence (being a “quiretta”[45] of leather), brassards of buckram, a surcoat (the material for the majority of these garments being carda,[46] but those for the four earls were of cindon silk), a pair of ailettes, of leather and carda,[47] two crests (one for the man, the other for the horse), a shield of wood heraldically ensigned, a helm of leather, and a sword of whalebone and parchment, silvered over. The shields of wood cost 5d. each, without emblazonment; the swords 7d. each, and 25s. was paid for silvering the blades, and 3s. 6d. for gilding the hilts. The helmets for the “digniores” were gilded at an expense of 12s., the others silvered. Each helmet cost 2s., and the ailettes 8d. the pair. Eight hundred little bells (grelots) were provided, to be used in necklets for the horses; sixteen skins for making bridles; twelve dozen silken cords for tying on the ailettes;[48] and seventy-six calf-skins for making crests. The cuirasses and helmets were made by Milo, the currier; and the cost of carriage for the whole of the sets from London was 3s. The sum total for all these outfits provided in England was £80 11s. 8d.; but some other purchases were made in France, and in the list are items for saddles and horse furniture. There is no mention of lances, and many of the items scheduled are only open to conjecture. Sir Roger de Trumpington, whose effigy lies in Trumpington Church, Cambridgeshire, was among those taking part in the tournament. If one can imagine this passage of arms, its participants armed with swords of whalebone and parchment, with their arm-defences of buckram, it does not seem a very dangerous affair, though a rough enough sport.
There is another document of about the same period of the highest importance, viz. the Statuta de Armis, or Statutum Armorum in Torniamentis. This was drawn out at the request of the earls and barons of England and by the king’s command, and affords much information as to the equipment for the tourney late in the thirteenth century, the usages to be observed, and the regulations as to the heralds, esquires, and varlets. There are several copies extant, one of which, and that perhaps the most reliable, may be seen in the Bodleian Library. Part of the text is reproduced by Hewitt in his invaluable work on ancient armour,[49] and the document is referred to in Archæologia of the year 1814.[50] These statutes provide that:—
No “conte,” baron or other chevalier shall henceforth be attended by more than three armed esquires, who shall all bear the cognizance of their master.
No knight or esquire taking part in any tournament shall bear a pointed sword or dagger, a staff or baston, but only a broadsword for tourneying. All should be armed with “mustilers;”[51] “quisers;”[52] “espaulers;”[53] and “bacyn,”[54] and no more.