Hey Blog! In June I detailed a knights’ tournament at Bolsover castle, but that was (cough cough) only with men in armour and weapons. Last Sunday was far better than that. There were horses and lances as well. Guessed yet? What, Mediaeval jousting? Oh YES!
I’ve already told you the history of Bolsover, so I won’t go into more detail on that subject than there was originally a mediaeval castle, but the ruins standing are 17th century. It’s the mediaeval bit that I’m concentrating on, as jousting died out in the Tudor period. You may have seen jousting in films, books, or even been to a display like I did, but just in case you haven’t, here are the rules and instructions:
Ye olde booke ofe instructionse for knightse to jouste
- Make sure you’re a knight.
- Put your armour on.
- Get a horse and ride it.
- Take a long blunt spear, hold it under your right arm.
- Take a wooden shield, hold it in your left hand.
- Put your spurs into the horse’s side (you have won your spurs, haven’t you? If not go back to stage one and start again).
- Hold your lance pointed at your opponent across the tilt rail.
- Options for points: A) Knock him off his horse (extremely dangerous); B) hit him on the helm (four points); C) hit him on the shield (three points); D) hit him on the arm (two points); E) hit him on the body (one point); F) miss him (zero points); and G) barricade (when lances tangle, making a hit difficult or impossible – rerun the course).
- Get to the end, exchange your (hopefully broken) lance for another, and try again.
- You charge twice in the tournament style that we went to. However, some jousting tournaments go for three or four courses.
There, that should do it.
The knights at Bolsover were each taking the role of their favourite legend from history, so we saw the Wildman, a kind of hermit/recluse/mad clubman from the woods; the Wyvern, a fire-breathing beast exactly like a dragon except that a dragon has four legs, and a wyvern has two legs; Sir Lancelot de Lac, King Arthur’s finest knight in everything apart from love (adultery with Queen Guinevere, why he lost the quest for the Holy Grail); and the final knight was Jason of the Argo, from Greek legend, captain of the ship Argo which carried the Argonauts in the quest for the Golden Fleece. There were to be two sets of jousting, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
You can’t decide how well you win or lose in jousting. It totally relies on the speed of the horse and the skill of the rider. It’s nothing like what I imagined it at first, as the horses went faster than I expected! You may think the aim is to keep your lance whole and knock the opponent off – the second part is true, but lances are designed to be broken! But the origins of jousting are different. When it first started, you would charge with a sharpened spear held at your opponent. Needless to say, this caused many deaths, and as the king wanted every knight he could get for defending the country’s borders, jousting had to change. So blunted, easily splintered lances were created.
The lances splinter when they get a nice, hard hit. The wood flies really high into the air, and spins around, sometimes going ahead of the horses. The best places to hit are the helm and the shield, as both will get your opponent reeling in the saddle! It probably hurts a lot – would you like a long pole coming hard and smacking you in the head? I am definitely the sitting on the side and watching kind! In the first round all ran against the other, and when the points were scored, in 4th the Wildman, 3rd the Wyvern, and joint 1st Lancelot and Argo. The final, therefore, was between these two. It went down to the last run, and even that was equal! The deciding score was on the lances’ breaks, and it was decided Argo won the round. A short demonstration of archery followed, and then the second round of jousting. It was a complete repeat! The final two again (Lancelot and Argo) both ran their two courses, but this time lance break was not needed, as Argo came in a margin ahead.
If jousting sounds cool, and you like watching movies, I recommend “A knight’s tale” – it’s super!