The joust grew from the chaotic melee of the tournament. As restrictions were put on this dangerous form of combat practice, an event designed to test the horsemanship and weapons skill of the individual knight evolved, and eventually became the focus of the merry spectacle of the tourney.
In the joust the knight used the lance, a weapon specifically designed for mounted combat. At first jousters would simply spur their horses towards one another, weapons ready, each attempting to push the other off his horse. Once on the ground, his battle was as good as lost, for the mounted warrior could run him down, trample him, or spear him with his lance--all while out of reach of the land-bound fighter.
When the joust came to represent the horsemanship of the fighter, safeguards evolved. The lance was fitted with a three-pronged tip, a coronal, which was designed to keep the weapon from penetrating a knight's helm and to redistribute the force of the impact.
Armor developed specifically for the joust. Some armor had heavier protection on the side toward the opponent and lighter or no protection on the other side. There was a style of armor with a built-in shield at one side of the waist, just at the point where the lance should strike.
There was even armor designed to break apart on impact, leaving the rider in the saddle. None of this armor was ever used in real battle, for the point of the joust was to test skill, often against comrades, and survive.
The tilt barrier came into use by the middle of the fifteenth century. First, a rope hung with fabric was stretched along the jousting ground about three or four feet high; each rider was, theoretically, supposed to stay on his side of this barrier. This tentative barrier was replaced with a wooden one up to six feet high, for it was too easy for horse or rider to push through the fabric. Using a tilt barrier meant that the jousters had to point their lances at an angle, making them more likely to break and less likely to harm the opponent. Open jousting (without a tilt barrier) continued as a separate event.
There were other events besides the joust at a tournament, usually involving ways a knight would practice his skill. One such event was the ring, wherein a knight would ride past a dangling hoop only a few inches in diameter and attempt to spear it with his lance. Knights would also run the quintain, which involved riding at a dummy that had a target in one hand and a counterweight in the other. The rider had to be quick as well as accurate, for as soon as the target was hit, the counterweight would spin around, knocking a slow horseman in the head. As you might imagine, such events provided great entertainment for spectators.
But the joust remained the main event at what was increasingly a grander and more fabulous spectacle.
Want to know How to Joust?
Sources and Recommended Reading
The
Mediaeval Tournament
by R. Coltman Clephan
Tournaments
: Jousts, Chivalry and Pageants in the Middle Ages
by Richard Barber and Juliet Barker
Jousts
and Tournaments: Charny and the Rules for Chivalric Sport in
Fourteenth-Century France
by Steven Muhlberger; based on work by Geoffroi De Charny translated
by Steven Muhlberger
