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Hello everyone. This week's Links list is about Medieval Tournaments. How to hold them, how to Herald them, how to research them, historic instructions for tournaments, historic descriptions of tournaments, Medieval and Modern Treatise on tournaments, Medieval Fiction including tournaments, and tournament companies in this general area (Aethelmearc and East Kingdom in the SCA). I hope you find this week's list enjoyable and useful. Please feel free to share this list wherever it will find a friendly audience, and please use it to update your own links pages if you so desire.
Though I could not include the link to a great article (nearly all the site's brief articles are linked through the main page address, and thus it would greatly confuse you to continue listing the same address for several articles), there is a great article at Chronique.com regarding a book about women at tournaments, and it is this former librarian's suggestion for reading :). See also the mailing list Damosels of Astolat, which covers the roles of Women at Tournaments.
>b>The Tournament Company of the White Swan
http://home.stny.rr.com/rosensoldat/White_Swan/
(Site Excerpt) Let all know well that we, the Companions of the
Company of the White Swan, do fervently believe in the ideas of the
tournaments, the noble deeds of arms, and all that is chivalrous.
Thusly, we ever and foremost strive to bring honor to the one that
inspires us. We shall arm and clothe ourselves, as would our ancient
ancestors of the 13th - 15th century. And we shall increase the renown
of our Noble Company; it's members, and ourselves, through
chivalry,
courtesy, and pageantry, both on and off the fields of honor. Our
companions are Nobles, Peers, Lords, and Ladies from the Kingdom
of Athelmearc of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
The Company of Saint Michael
http://home.stny.rr.com/rosensoldat/St_Michael/index.htm
(Site Excerpt) The Company of Saint Michael is a group devoted to
recreating medieval tournaments. Within the limits of reason and
safety, we try to come as close as we can to recreating the experience
of an actual medieval tournament, not as a choreographed display,
but as a contest of skill. We have been doing so within the context
of the Society for Creative Anachronism, although we wouldn't rule out
other settings as well. With a few safety driven exceptions, we equip
ourselves to a "ten-foot rule", that is, we require our armor and
clothing to appear authentic from ten feet away. At our tournaments we
wear clothing and armor appropriate to the period from 1300 to
1500. Most of us concentrate on the years between 1340 and 1420.
We
have members from northern New York state to the Washington, DC
area,
and from near Boston to western Pennsylvania.
Company Coeur de Flamme
http://www.math.harvard.edu/~schuldy/coeurduflamme.html
(Site Excerpt) The Company introduced itself at Carolingia's Falling
Leaves event in Fall of 2000....There are several documents we
prepared for this tournament, that might interest other people who
would re-create it's very special pageantry. We called it "The Behourd
Of The Shepherdess". Credits For The Creators; Participants;
Handout
; Rules Of The List ; General Outline for Company ; Herald's Speech
Cheat Sheet ; Our General Outline of King Rene.
Compagnie du Soleil
http://www.geocities.com/stepe.geo/
This company operates in Illinois, as far as my sources can tell
(thanks Tibor).
Tournaments at the Dawn of the Age of Chivalry (A modern Essay for
SCA Tournaments)
http://pages.ripco.net/~clevin/tourneys.html
(Site Excerpt) This website will discuss the development of the
tournament of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the era stretching
from William the Bastard to Richard the Lion-Hearted. It will also
provide a few suggestions for recreating a tournament from that time
in the context of a large mediaeval recreation group like the Society
for Creative Anachronism.
Responses to Challengers in the Pas du Roncesvalles (Coeur de
Flamme
Pages)
http://www.math.harvard.edu/~schuldy/challengeanswers.html
(Site Excerpt) I, Tibor of Rock Valley, herald for the Vert Horn
company, make myself known to you with thanks and humble
greetings.
Gracious is the god that brings word of our tournament to men so far
traveled as yourselves. I am confident that we can make a showing to
you that is worthy of your vast travels, and we look forward to
uniting in Chivalry with our bretheren of far Caid.
Some Phrases from Le Morte D'Arthur (Coeur de Flamme Pages)
http://www.math.harvard.edu/~schuldy/coeurphrases.html
(Site Excerpt) REQUESTS I pray you of your courtesy . . . I pray you
fair knight . . .By your good will . . . I beseech thee, for thy
lady's love, . . . Receive of me this gift. Give this gift to thy
lady.
Medieval Tournament Prizes
http://mqh.cit.cornell.edu/~mqh/st-mikes/prizes.html
(Site Excerpt) The following is a list of prizes that were awarded at
tournaments from the twelfth through the sixteenth century, as
mentioned in the first two sources in the bibliography. The majority
of the references are to fifteenth-century tournaments (Ed note:
please see footnote #1, wherein a story about a gag tourney prize
connects directly to William Marshall).
King Rene's Tournament Book
http://www.princeton.edu/~ezb/rene/renehome.html
(Site Excerpt) This web site presents a modern English translation of
a medieval French book on how to hold a tournament. The text, known
as
the traicti? de la forme et devis d'ung tournoy, was written circa
1460 by Ren?of Anjou, King of Jerusalem and Sicily.
How A Man Shall Prepare Himself For A Tourney (a modern essay in
period language)
http://mqh.cit.cornell.edu/~mqh/st-mikes/tourney.html
(Site Excerpt) To please the ladies who behold the tournament and
find
favor in their eyes you must be skillful, valiant, hold yourself well
and be properly arrayed. Skill at arms is gained by long practice and
great study, and valiancy is in your heart and high resolve in service
of a noble lady. I shall therefore speak of how you should array
yourself, and how to follow well the customs of the lists.
What Is a Pas D'Armes? (An SCA Essay by Sir Talbot Mac Taggart,
OL,
KSCA, The Grand Company of the Peacock )
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/8552/what_is_a_pas_d.html
(Site
Excerpt) The pas d'armes was a form of tournament that is normally
associated with France and Burgundy in the 15th century. The reason
that we normally associate the pas d'armes with France is that,
although it was popular elsewhere, the greatest amount of writing
about these tournaments survives from this area.
Chaucer: The Tournament of Tottenham (in Northern Middle English,
slightly modernised)
http://icg.harvard.edu/~chaucer/canttales/sirthop/totten.html
The Deeds of Jacques de LaLaing (a modern essay on an historic
figure)
http://www.thehaca.com/essays/Lalaing.htm
(Site Excerpt) Jacques de
Lalaing, a Walloon knight of the 15th century, was one of the best
known tournament fighters of his time. In time, Jacques became so
famous that contemporary authors wrote two separate accounts of his
life. This article is primarily based on Georges Chastellain's work,
Le Livre Des Faits De Jacques Lalaing (The Book of the Deeds of
Jacques de Lalaing). A member of a prominent family in the county of
Hainault, today split between southern Belgium and northern France,
Jacques' ancestral home was in Douai, just inside the French border.
The Tournament in the Romances of Chr?tien de Troyes & L'Histoire
de
Guillaume Le Marchal
http://icg.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/lifemann/tournmt/ben-tour.htm
(Site Excerpt) The great medieval tournament, with its knights in
shining plate, its colorful lists and pavilions, and its throngs of
heralds, minstrels, and brightly clad ladies, provides the popular
imagination with its most vivid image of knighthood in its flower --
in the grand days of the First Crusade or the times of Richard the
Lion-Hearted. Yet there is little evidence that tournaments were
common in the eleventh century and, Sir Walter Scott's "noble and
joyous Passage of Arms at Ashby de la Zouche" and its Hollywood
adaptations notwithstanding, tournaments in the days of Richard the
Lion-Hearted had little of the elegance and spectacle that later
became associated with the sport.
Chronique: Questions on Chivalry (A survey by the Editors of the
journal. Earn free issues if your answers are chosen)
http://www.chronique.com/Chronique/question.htm
(Site Excerpt) Each set of Chronique questions is proposed by the
editors of Chronique to stimulate chivalric discussion. They are often
broad in their context, in an attempt to have them pertain to the
majority of our members. Answers can be made in any context that
makes
sense; the editors will choose a variety of responses to include in
the upcoming issue of Chronique. Those whose responses are chosen
will
receive a complimentary issue of our Journal, so please fill in the
information below before continuing on to the questions. We hope you
enjoy them!
Speeches for the Melee (From the St. Michael Tournament company
files)
http://home.stny.rr.com/rosensoldat/St_Michael/speeches.htm
(Site Excerpt) First, the Comers are summoned together, and the rules
are explained to them. They are divided into two teams, under captains
A and B. They process to the two gates of the lists. A leads off first
so as to arrive slightly before B. Herald for A: My honored and
redoubted lords, the very high and powerful (rank of A) and my
redoubted lord ........................my master, who is present as
appellant, presents himself to you with all the noble baronage that
you see, whom you have placed under his banner, very eager and
ready
to begin the tourney assigned today with my very redoubted
lord............................ and the noble baronage equally ready
to fight under him; asking that it please you to prepare for him a
place, so that the ladies who are present can see the entertainment.
Early Combat Manuals (From the St. Michael Tournament company
files)
http://home.stny.rr.com/rosensoldat/St_Michael/manuals.htm
(Site
Excerpt) This listing is not exhaustive. It does not deal with manuals
published after1600, or 16th.c. manuals that deal solely with the
developing rapier style. Nor does it attempt to list all the works
that exist only in manuscript. It does attempt to list the works that
will be most accessible to the interested reader. Many of these are
available from Patri Pugliese in photocopy form, and these are noted
below.
Select Bibliography on Medieval Tournaments
http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/muhlberger/tourbib.htm
The
bibliography comes in two parts. First is a list of modern scholarly
works devoted to tournaments, jousts and other medieval deeds of
arms.
I make no claim that it is complete. Second is a list of original
sources from the Middle Ages. Most of these sources are not available
in modern translations, and even the editions in Old French and Latin
can be hard to find. Therefore, after listing the edition -- the best
modern text of the source for those who have the linguistic skills --
I have listed a number of modern works, scholarly discussions and
translations where available, that you may find helpful.
Chivalry Bibliography
http://blake.montclair.edu/~vincentiw/reviews/chivalry/
Books about Medieval Knighthood and Chivalry
Chronique: To Cry a Joust
http://www.chronique.com/Library/Tourneys/cryajoust.htm
(Site Excerpt) Here we have a very interesting 15th century account of
a joust ? plaisance, held for the pleasure both of the knights
themselves and of the gathered ladies in the gallery. The text is less
fluid than some of the other elements included in the source, Sir John
Astley's Great Book of Chivalry copied from an earlier manuscript in
the 15th century. The same book was copied for the famous Sir John
Paston at the same time.
How the squire of Savoy did his arms on foot to meet the knight
guarding the pas, with the sword.(From the St Michael's Tournament
Company webpages)
http://home.stny.rr.com/rosensoldat/St_Michael/SquireSavoy.htm
(Site
Excerpt)The twelfth day of the following month the squire of Savoy did
his arms with a sword, to meet the knight of the pas. They both came
at the hour of eleven within the lists where they made their
presentations before the judge, as before, and so entered each one
into his pavilion to arm. After the swords were inspected and the
cries and ordinances done, the knight of the pas issued out of his
pavilion ,his bassinet on his head, so well armed that it was a fine
thing to see.
Tales from Froissart
http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/muhlberger/froissart/tales
.htm
(Site Excerpt) Jean Froissart was born in the 1330s and died after
1404. Although he was formally a clergyman and held various
eccesiastical posts, he devoted himself to literature. His works
include romance, poetry, and history, and could easily have been
written by a layman -- there is nothing particularly "clerical" in
his point of view or method of expression. Indeed, Froissart's most
famous and significant work, his Chronicles, was aimed at a knightly
and aristocratic audience, and was devoted to "the honorable
enterprises, noble adventures, and deeds of arms, performed in the
wars between England and France...to the end that brave men taking
example from them may be encouraged in their well-doing."
Chronique: Knighthood, Chivalry, and Tournaments Library
http://www.chronique.com/
Find here all sorts of resources including the tourney company
list-serve.
A List of some tournament companies
http://www.chronique.com/Companies/company.htm
Call to Arms
http://www.calltoarms.com/
International Directory of Historical Re-enactment and Living History
British Orders of Chivalry
http://www.kwtelecom.com/chivalry/
International Museum of the Horse
http://www.imh.org/imh/imhmain.html
The Medieval Centre Experimental Museum
http://www.middelaldercentret.dk/english/us_home.htm
Chronique: The Behourdian Tradition
http://www.chronique.com/Library/Tourneys/behourds.htm
(Site Excerpt) In the middle ages, martial sports evolved out of the
training exercises that knights and squires practiced to hone their
skills. These mock combats, or hastiludium (games with spears) [1],
took many different forms throughout the middle ages; the more
famous
ones were the spectacular tournaments, involving teams of
combatants
in melees, and the joust, in which champions engaged in single
combat.
Chronique: Improved Rules for an SCA Twelfth Century Tournament
http://www.chronique.com/Library/Tourneys/marshal1.html
(Site Excerpt) Many combatants in the SCA have fought in some kind
of
"William Marshal" tournament. These are inspired by the accounts of
the Histoire Guillaume le Mareschal which tell of the tournaments of
William Marshal's youth in the late 12th century, when tourneys were
m?l?e combats over large areas. Ransoms of captured opponents
were the
prize, and there was little to distinguish the tournaments from
actual battles except the provision of a safe area, and an increased
unwillingness to injure one's rivals.
The Medieval Tourney
http://www.nationaljousting.com/history/medieval.htm
(Site Excerpt) Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, Lancelot, and Joan of Arc -- the
very names ring with chivalry. The question then is "What is
Chivalry?" The word comes from chevalerie which derives from
cheval,
French for horse. And the horse is what set the knight apart.
Remember
Richard III's cry in Shakespeare, "My kingdom for a horse." The
Europeans bred the draft-type horse up in size and strength to carry
the ever increasing weight of an armor-bearing knight.
Medieval Knights and Warfare
http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Knights_and_Fights.htm
(Site Excerpt) Knights. After the lord on the social ladder came the
knight. The path to knighthood began at the age of seven, when a
vassal sent his son to the lord's house to become a page. For seven
years a page was cared for by the women of the house, who instructed
him in comportment, courtesy, cleanliness, and religion.At 14 the page
became a squire, a personal attendant to a knight. From the knight he
learned riding and all the skills of war, as well as hunting,
hawking, and other sports.
Medieval Weaponry
http://www.castles-of-britain.com/castle36.htm
(Site Excerpt) Every culture's arsenal is based on the technology and
raw materials available at the time. Prehistoric peoples, often
called the Stone Age cultures, made wide use of stone, shaping axes
and grinding tools, and creating spears and arrows in order to eke out
their survival. As technological skills evolved, so did the type of
implements.
Medieval Jousting Exhibitors, Associations, and Training
http://www.gymkhanarider.com/About/history/jousting.html
Almanac de la Cour
http://www.chivalricorders.org/index3.htm
(Site Excerpt) The essays on this site are principally by Guy Stair
Sainty, with some contributions by other scholars and specialists.
They cover subjects related to European Royal Houses, great
European
Orders of Chivalry, and the European Nobility.
Medieval Tourney Company Mailing List (St. George etc.)
http://www.topica.com/lists/TourneyCompanies/
Southeastern Tourney Companies Mailing List
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/southeasterntourneycompanies/
Damosels of Astolat mailing list (Women at Tourney Company Events)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/damosels/
(Site Excerpt) The
Damosels of
Astolat are a group of ladies within the Society for Creative
Anachronism (SCA) that research and recreate ladies galleries,
tournament society, and the related aspects of chivalry and courtly
love.
Hastidudes (Horse Jousting in the SCA mailing List)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hastidudes/
Copmany of the Flaming Phoenix Mailing List
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/companyoftheflamingphoenix/
(Tournament companies in the SCA)
