Several combats on foot of the fifteenth century, perhaps the most dangerous items of the articles of a pas d’armes of that period, have been fully described in Chapters III, IV and V, in the narrations by contemporary chroniclers of actual encounters. The character of these contests underwent a great change in the sixteenth century, through the introduction of barriers over which the combatants fought. These bars or barriers reached up to the breasts of the fighters, and prevented their grappling with each other or getting out of bounds. They made their appearance probably in the last decade of the fifteenth century. As the tilt had been conceived with a view towards mitigating the danger of the joust, so barriers were adopted towards minimizing the risk of serious injuries in fighting on foot, and, indeed, the new style was hardly more dangerous than the game of football as played to-day. This latest phase is well described by Viscount Dillon in “Barriers and Foot Combats,” a paper published in the Archæological Journal of 1904.[188] The special features of the armour for combats of this kind are its massive character, the presence of an apron (Kampfschurtz, a sort of continuation of the taces), and the large, thick, globose bascinet. A fine armour for foot-fighting in the lists may be seen in the Tower of London. It is a grand piece of work, weighing about 93 lbs., sent by Maximilian of Austria to our Henry VIII. The Vienna Collection possesses seven complete armours for fighting on foot, which vary considerably, both in form and weight. The weapons employed in these contests in Germany and Austria, as given in Freydal, are the sword in different forms, including the “bastard” (a hand and a half sword), the dussack, the Kurisschwert or armying-sword, and even the two-handed sword (Zweihänder or Schlachtschwert), the dagger, battle-axe (including the bec de faucon), mace, halbard, ranseur, guisarme, Aalspiesse (a short-shafted spear with rondel-guard), Langspiess (a short lance), Würfspiess (a javelin), Stange (a quarter-staff), and Drischel (the military flail).
The Fussturnier, which originated in the sixteenth century, was a fighting in groups on foot over a barrier, and in it and some other courses the challengers were termed “Maintenators” and their opponents “Aventuriers.” Each combatant had to deliver three thrusts with the lance and four strokes with the sword. Dr. Cornelius Curlitt gives the following extract from Acten des Dresdener Oberhofmarshallamtes of the year 1614:—“The one who shivers the greatest number of lances in the most adroit manner shall have the lance prize; and he who in five strokes strikes the bravest and strongest with the sword shall have the second prize.” The locking gauntlet was forbidden, and the lower limbs were without armour. A harness for this kind of fighting, by Anton Peffenhaüser, worn by the Kurfürst Johan George of Saxony in 1613, is now in the Dresden Museum. The head-piece is a burgonet.
An important later form of joust is the Freiturnier, or Free Course, which grew out of the old German Gestech, and, like it, was run “at the large,” that is without a tilt. There is a harness for this course at Dresden, reproduced on [Plate X (2)]. The passguard is much larger than that worn in jousting at the tilt, reaching nearly to the left shoulder. Leg-armour was worn. The harness illustrated in Boeheim’s Waffenkunde (Fig. 655) as being for the Welsch Gestech, or joust at the tilt, is really for Freiturnier, a form of joust which does not appear before the second half of the sixteenth century.
As already stated, the suit in the Wallace Collection, numbered 484 in the catalogue of that institution, is for Realgestech or Plankengestech, a variety of joust at the tilt. It first appeared about 1540, and did not differ materially from the main course; nor did the armour employed differ except for the cross-ribbing on the shield. This course, like the others, fell into disuse in the seventeenth century, though it was the last to survive except the one called Scharmützel, often a sort of general siege or skirmish, with a view to practice for actual warfare. A Scharmützel was held at Dresden in 1553, when four bands of horsemen attacked a mock fortress, defended by a garrison armed with Aalspiesse and military forks, and supplied with four hundred earthenware pots for missiles, to be thrown empty. Cannon were employed on both sides, presumably fired in blank, though this is not stated.
PLATE VII
GESCHIFTTARTSCHERENNEN
The foregoing comprise the most distinctive forms of the tourney.
There were permanent lists in Germany, as also at Calais; and in England, at Westminster, Hampton Court, and Greenwich.
The quintain and running at the ring have been described in [Chapter I], and there only remains the Karoussel, or Carrousel, to be mentioned. The name is derived from carosello, a ball of clay, which was hollow. The game was a favourite one at the court of Louis XIV, where it gave rise to handsome dresses and costly display. The players, arranged in opposing bands or sides, were mounted and threw these missiles at one another, catching them on their shields. There were several varieties of the game.