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Atournament, ortourney (fromOld Frenchtorneiement,tornei), was achivalrous competition ormock fight that was common in theMiddle Ages andRenaissance (12th to 16th centuries). It is a type ofhastilude.
Tournaments includedmêlée,hand-to-hand combat, contests of strength oraccuracy, and sometimesjousts. Some considered the tournaments to be frivolous pursuits of celebrity, and even a potential threat to public order;[1] but the shows were popular and often put on in honor ofcoronations, marriages, births, recent conquests or peace treatises, or to welcomeambassadors, lords, or others considered to be of great importance. Other times tournaments were held for no particular reason or simply for entertainment.
The wordtournament evolved from theMiddle Englishtornement which entered the English lexicon from theOld Frenchtorneiement around the 12th century. That noun and its associated verb,tornoier, ultimately derive from theLatintornare ("to turn") which also gave rise to the Italiantorneo, the modern Frenchtournoi, and modern English'stourney.Tournament and its derivates had been adopted in English (viaAnglo-Norman) by the 14th century.
The Old Frenchtornoier originally meant "tojoust and tilt", but came to refer to the knightly tournament more generally whilejoster, meaning "approach, meet"[2] (also adopted before the 14th century) came to refer to jousting specifically.
By the end of the 12th century,tornement and Latinizedtorneamentum had become the generic term for all kinds of knightlyhastiludes or martial displays.Roger of Hoveden writing in the late 12th century definestorneamentum as "military exercises carried out, not in the knight's spirit of hostility (nullo interveniente odio), but solely for practice and the display of prowess (pro solo exercitio, atque ostentatione virium)."[3]
Medieval equestrian warfare and equestrian practices originate inAncient Rome, just as the notion ofchivalry goes back to the rank ofequites in Roman times.[4] There may be an element of continuity connecting the medieval tournament to thehippika gymnasia of theRoman cavalry, but with thesparsity of written records during the 5th to 8th centuries this is difficult to establish. It is known that such cavalry games were central to military training in theCarolingian Empire, with records ofLouis andCharles' military games atWorms in 843. At this event which was recorded byNithard, the initial chasing and fleeing was followed by a generalmêlée of all combatants.
Documentation of equestrian practice during the 9th to 10th centuries is sparse, but it is clear that the tournament was a development of theHigh Middle Ages. It is recognized by several medieval historical sources: a chronicler ofTours in the late 12th century attributes the "invention" of the knightly tournament toAngevin Baron Geoffroi de Preulli. In16th-century German historiography, the setting down of the first tournament laws is attributed toHenry the Fowler; this tradition is cited byGeorg Rüxner in hisThurnierbuch as well as byPaulus Hector Mair in hisDe Arte Athletica.[5]
The earliest known use of the word "tournament" comes from peace legislation byCount Baldwin III ofHainaut for the town ofValenciennes, dated to 1114. It refers to the keepers of the peace in the town leaving it "for the purpose of frequenting javelin sports, tournaments and such like."[citation needed] A pattern of regular tournament meetings across northern France is evident in sources[who?] for the life ofCharles, Count of Flanders. The sources of the 1160s and 1170s portray the event in the developed form it maintained into the 14th century.[citation needed]
Tournaments centered on the mêlée, a general fight where the knights were divided into two sides and charged at each other, fighting with blunted weapons.Jousting, a single combat of two knights riding at each other, was a component of the tournament but was not its main feature.[6]
The standard form of a tournament is evident in sources as early as the 1160s and 1170s, notablyHistory of William Marshal and theArthurian romances ofChrétien de Troyes.[7] Tournaments might be held at all times of the year except the penitential season ofLent (the 40 days precedingEaster). The general custom was to hold them on Mondays and Tuesdays, though any day but Friday and Sunday might be used. The site of the tournament was customarily announced afortnight before it was to be held. The most famous tournament fields were in northeastern France (including betweenRessons-sur-Matz andGournay-sur-Aronde nearCompiègne, in use between the 1160s and 1240s) which attracted hundreds of foreign knights from all over Europe for the 'lonc sejor' (the tournament season).
Knights arrived individually or in companies to stay at one or other of the two settlements designated as their lodgings. The tournament began on a field outside the principal settlement, where stands were erected for spectators. On the day of the tournament one side was formed of those within the principal settlement, and another of those outside.
Parties hosted by the principal magnates present were held in both settlements, and preliminary jousts (called thevespers orpremières commençailles) offered knights an individual showcase for their talents. On the day of the event, the tournament was opened by a review (regars) in which both sides paraded and called out their war cries. There was then a further opportunity for individual jousting carried out between therencs, the two lines of knights. The opportunity for jousting at this point was customarily offered to the new, young knights who were present.
At some time in mid-morning the knights would line up for the charge (estor). At the signal which was usually abugle orherald's cry, the two knights would ride at each other and meet with levelledlances. Those remaining on horseback would turn quickly (the action which gave the tournament its name) and single out knights to attack. There is evidence thatsquires were present at the lists (the staked and embanked line in front of the stands) to offer their masters up to three replacement lances. The mêlée would tend to degenerate into running battles between parties of knights seeking to take ransoms and would spread over several square miles between the two settlements which defined the tournament area. Most tournaments continued until both sides were exhausted or until the light faded. A few ended earlier, if one side broke in the charge, panicked and ran for its home base looking to get behind its lists and the shelter of the armed infantry which protected them. Following the tournament the patron of the day would offer lavish banquets and entertainment. Prizes were offered to the best knight on either side and awarded during the meals.[8][page needed]
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Melee (/ˈmeɪleɪ/ or /ˈmeleɪ/, French:mêlée[mɛle]; in English frequently spelled asmêlée,melée, or simplymelee) is a term for a type of mock combat in medieval tournaments.[11][12][13] The "mêlée" was the "mass tournament" where two teams, either on foot or horse, clashed in formation. The aim was to smash into the enemy in massed formation, with the aim of throwing them back or breaking their ranks. Following a successful maneuver of this kind, the rank would attempt to turn around without breaking formation (widerkere ortornei); this action was so central that it would become eponymous of the entire tradition of thetourney ortournament by the mid-12th century.[citation needed] Weapons were often blunted before fights in order to prevent serious injury.
TheMiddle High German term for this type of contest wasbuhurt (adopted in French asbouhourt); some sources may also make a distinction betweenmêlée or mass tournament andbuhurt, as the latter could refer to a wider class of equestrian games not necessarily confined to the formal tournament reserved to nobility.[clarification needed]
The Old Frenchmeslee "brawl, confused fight; mixture, blend" (12th century)[14] is the feminine past participle of the verbmesler "to mix" (ultimately fromVulgar Latinmisculāta "mixed", from Latinmiscēre "to mix"; comparemélange;meddle, medley). The modern French formmêlée was borrowed into English in the 17th century and is not the historical term used for tournament mock battles.[clarification needed]The termbuhurt may be related tohurter "to push, collide with" (cognate with Englishto hurt) or alternatively from aFrankishbihurdan "to fence; encompass with a fence or paling").
Tournaments often contained a mêlée consisting of knights fighting one another on foot or mounted, either divided into two sides or fighting as a free-for-all. The object was to capture opposing knights so that they could be ransomed, and this could be a very profitable business for such skilled knights asWilliam Marshal.
The mêlée orbuhurt was the main form of the tournament in its early phase during the 12th and 13th centuries. Thejoust, while in existence since at least the 12th century as part of tournaments, did not play the central role it would acquire later by the late 15th century.
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Jousting formed part of the tournament event from as early a time as it can be observed. It was an evening prelude to the big day and was also a preliminary to the melee. In the 12th century, jousting was occasionally banned in tournaments. The reasons given are that it distracted knights from the main event and allowed a form of cheating. CountPhilip of Flanders made a practice in the 1160s of turning up armed with his retinue to the preliminary jousts and then declining to join the mêlée until the knights were exhausted and ransoms could be swept up.
Jousting had its own devoted constituency by the early 13th century, and in the 1220s it began to have its own exclusive events outside the tournament. The biographer of William Marshal observed c.1224 that in his day noblemen were more interested in jousting than tourneying. In 1223, we have the first mention of an exclusively jousting event, the Round Table held inCyprus byJohn d'Ibelin, lord of Beirut. Round Tables were a 13th-century enthusiasm and can be reconstructed to have been an elimination jousting event. They were held for knights and squires alike. Other forms of jousting also arose during the century, and by the 14th century the joust was poised to take over the vacancy in aristocratic amusement caused by the decline of the tournament.
The first English mention of tourneying is in a charter ofOsbert of Arden, Lord of Kingsbury of Warwickshire, which reveals that he travelled to bothNorthampton and London and crossed theEnglish Channel to join in events in France. The charter dates to the late 1120s.[15] The great tournaments of northern France attracted many hundreds of knights from Germany, England, Scotland,Occitania, andIberia. There is evidence that 3,000 knights attended the tournament atLagny-sur-Marne in November 1179 promoted byLouis VII in honour of his son's coronation. The state tournaments at Senlis and Compiègne held byPhilip III in 1279 can be calculated to have been even larger events.[citation needed]
Aristocratic enthusiasm for the tournament meant that it had travelled outside its northern French heartland before the 1120s. The first evidence for it in England and the Rhineland is found in the 1120s. References in the Marshal biography indicate that in the 1160s tournaments were being held in central France and Great Britain. The contemporary works ofBertran de Born talk of a tourneying world that also embraced northern Iberia, Scotland and the Empire. The chronicle ofLauterberg indicates that by 1175 the enthusiasm had reached the borders of Poland.
Despite this huge interest and wide distribution, royal and ecclesiastical authority was deployed to prohibit the event. In 1130,Pope Innocent II at a church council at Clermont denounced the tournament and forbade Christian burial for those killed in them. The usual ecclesiastical justification for prohibiting them was that it distracted the aristocracy from more acceptable warfare in the defense of Christianity elsewhere. However, the reason for the ban imposed on them in England byHenry II was most likely because of its persistent threat to public order.[16] Knights going to tournaments were accused of theft and violence against the unarmed. Henry was keen to re-establish public order in England after the disruption during the reign of KingStephen. He did not prohibit tournaments in his continental domains, and indeed three of his sons were avid pursuers of the sport.
Tournaments were allowed in England once again after 1192, whenRichard I identified six sites where they would be permitted and gave a scale of fees by which patrons could pay for a license. But bothKing John and his sonHenry III introduced fitful and capricious prohibitions which much annoyed the aristocracy and eroded the popularity of the events. In France,Louis IX prohibited tourneying within his domains in 1260[citation needed], and his successors for the most part maintained the ban.
It is a debated issue as to what extent specialized arms and armor were used in mêlée tournaments, and to what extent the military equipment of knights and their horses in the 12th and 13th centuries was devised to meet the perils and demands of tournaments, rather than warfare. It is, however, clear from the sources that the weapons used in tournaments were initially the same as those used in war. It is not certain that swords were blunted for most of the history of the tournament. This must have changed by the mid 13th century, at least in jousting encounters. There is a passing reference to a special spear for use in jousting in theProse Lancelot (c. 1220).[citation needed] In the 1252 jousting at Walden, the lances used hadsokets, curved ring-like punches instead of points.Edward I of England'sStatute of Arms of 1292 says that blunted knives and swords should be used in tournaments.[17]
The tournament had a resurgence of popularity in England in the reign of the martial and crusading King Edward I and under his grandsonEdward III, yet the tournament died out in the latter's reign. Edward III encouraged the move towards pageantry and a predominance of jousting in his sponsored events. In one of the last true tournaments held in England (in 1342 atDunstable), the mêlée was postponed so long by jousting that the sun was setting by the time the lines charged.
A tournament took place inNorwich in 1350 which was attended by Edward III's son, commonly known asthe Black Prince. The tournament, held at the expense of the citizens of Norwich, cost £37.4s.6d.;[18] approximately 5 years' wages for a skilled craftsman. The tournament survived little longer in France orBurgundy. The last known tournament atBruges took place in 1379. That same year the citizens ofGhent rioted when thecount of Flanders announced a tournament to be held at their city. The cause of their discontent was the associated expense to them.
By using costumes, drama, and symbolism tournaments became a form of art, which raised the expenses for these events considerably. They had political purposes: to impress the populace and guests with their opulence, as well as with the courage of the participants. Loyalty to a lord or lady was expressed through clothes and increasingly elaborate enactments. Tournaments also served cultural purposes. As the ideals ofcourtly love became more influential, women played a more important role in the events. Events often took place in honor of a lady, and ladies participated in the playacting and symbolism.
Edward III regularly held tournaments, during which people often dressed up, sometimes as theKnights of the Round Table.[19] In 1331, the participants of one tournament wore green cloaks decorated with golden arrows. In the same year at a tournament atCheapside, the king and other participants dressed asTartars and led the ladies, who were in the colors ofSaint George, in a procession at the start of the event.[20] Edward III's grandson,Richard II, first distributed hislivery badges with theWhite Hart at a tournament atSmithfield.[21]
Mythology and storytelling were popular aspects of tournaments. In 1468 DukeCharles the Bold of Burgundy organised a tournament to celebrate his marriage withMargaret of York. The tournament was supposedly at the bidding of the 'Lady of the Hidden Ile'. A golden tree had been erected with all the coats of arms of the participating knights. They were dressed like famous figures from legend and history, while their squires were dressed as harlequins. A notable example of an elaborate costume was that ofAnthony of Luxembourg: chained in a black castle he entered the lists; he could only be freed with a golden key and approval of the attending ladies.[22]
InFlorence, the military aspect of the tournaments was secondary to the display of wealth. For a tournament honoring his marriage toClarice Orsini in 1469,Lorenzo de' Medici had his standard designed byLeonardo da Vinci andAndrea del Verrocchio. He also wore a large amount of jewelry, including the Medici diamond 'Il Libro'.[23]
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Royalty also held tournaments to stress the importance of certain events and their nobility's loyalty. KingHenry VII of England and QueenElizabeth of York presided over a series of tournaments when their infant sonHenry VIII becameduke of York in 1494. These tournaments were noted for their display of wealth. On the first day, the participants showed their loyalty by wearing the king's colors on their bodies and the queen's colors on their helmets. They further honored the royal family by wearing the colors of the king's mother,Margaret Beaufort, on the next day.[24]
In 1511, at the court of King Henry VIII, a tournament was held in honor of the king's wifeCatherine of Aragon.Charles Brandon came out of a tower which was moved onto the battlefield, dressed like a pilgrim. He only took off his pilgrim's clothes after the queen had given him permission to participate.[25] In 1559, KingHenry II of France died during a tournament when a sliver from the shattered lance ofGabriel Montgomery, captain of the Scottish Guard at the French Court, pierced his eye and entered his brain. The death caused his 15-year-old sonFrancis II to take the throne, beginning a period of political instability that ultimately led to theFrench Wars of Religion.
Spanish knights in the 16th century practised a team fight known as the "cane game".[26] InSpanish Italy, tournaments could include an equivalentgioco de canne.[27] The decline of the true tournament, as opposed to the joust, was not a straightforward process, although the word continued to be used for jousts until the 16th century - forced by the prominent place that tourneying occupied in popularArthurian romance literature.
It comes from the French mêlée, which in turn comes from the Old French meslee, meaning "mixture." Meslee comes from the Old French verb mesler, or medler, which means "to mix." This verb is also the source of medley ("a mixture or hodgepodge") and meddle ("to mix oneself in others' affairs" or "to interfere").
About 1292 a Statutum Armorum ("Statute of Arms") enacted that swords with points were not to be used (nor were pointed daggers, clubs, or maces).
In Spain, knights practiced [...] another type of mounted combat, thejuego de canas or 'cane game.' The cane game was run in Moorish costume with high stirrups and heart-shaped leather shields known asadargas [...]. At the signal to begin, opposing teams dashed at breakneck speed across the arena, casting blunted spears at each other and then wheeling around to return, protecting their backs with their shields as they retreated. The movements were repeated until men and horses were completely exhausted.
In Spanish Italy, this game was called agioco de canne.
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