Tournament (medieval)

This article is about the tournaments of the Middle Ages. For the general article on tournaments, see tournament. See also jousting.

Equipment

Blunted or "rebated" lance-points came early into use, and by the 14th century the coronall or cronell head was often fitted in place of the point. After 1400 the armourers began to devise harness with defences specially wrought for service in the lists. But the joust lost its chief perils with the invention of the tilt, which, as its name imports, was at first a cloth stretched along the length of the lists. The cloth became a stout barrier of timber, and in the early 16th century the knight ran his course at little risk. Locked up in steel harness, reinforced with the grand-guard and the other jousting pieces, he charged along one side of this barrier, seeing little more through the pierced sight-holes of the helm than the head and shoulders of his adversary. His bridle arm was on the tilt-side, and thus the blunted lance struck at an angle upon the polished plates. Mishaps might befall Henry II of France died from the stroke of Gabriel de Montgomeri, who failed to cast up in time the truncheon of his splintered lance. But the 16th-century tournament was, in the main, a bloodless meeting.

Related Topics:
14th century - 1400 - Tilt - 16th century - Henry II of France

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