Why knights joust

In , Pope Innocent II proclaimed jousting was sinful and against the teachings of the church. He banned tournaments and prohibited a proper Christian burial to those who lost their lives in the sport. The ban was lifted in by King Richard I. Chivalry and courage were two words synonymous knights in the medieval era. Ladies would give knights an item of personal importance — a piece of jewellery, a trinket or a token of some sort — on the promise that he will give it back to her when he returns from the joust alive.

Whilst the lance is the first weapon that comes to mind for many, there were actually three acceptable choices on the jousting ground, including an axe and a sword. English Heritage is leading the way in petitioning to make jousting an Olympic sport and has launched a campaign to have the sport recognised ahead of the games in Tokyo.

When the jousting day arrived, the field of the tournament was bedecked with bunting and flags. Before the tournament started, there was a colourful parade of Knights and Maids. The jousting day was an opportunity for knights and maids to wear their best medieval attire. The person who addressed the knights and maids assembled was the honorary guest.

Before the joust started, there was a fanfare of trumpets and a Grand Marshall read out the rules of the jousting match loudly. Two knights clash in a Jousting contest, they are fully decked in their family colours.

The name of the game was to knock the opposing knight from his horse to score maximum points, there would be up to four charges made during a jousting match. In early jousting tournaments, the goal of the Knight was to knock his opponent of their horse and take them prisoner, taking away all his armour and in later tournaments, the knight would break his lance as well.

Because so many lances were broken in later medieval jousting competitions, there had to be plenty of jousting sticks available for the knights. In some jousting competitions, you could earn points for the quality of your attack as well. In some instances, they would hire a jouster who was not committed to any other master or liege and was available to fight for the highest bidder.

It was quite common for successful jousters to become immensely popular. In many ways, these knights were the star athletes of their day. The most successful jousters could receive gifts of money, land and titles from a grateful liege.

By the 14th century, many members of the nobility, including kings had taken up jousting to showcase their own courage, skill and talents, and the sport proved just as dangerous for a king as a knight. One of the most important developments during medieval-era jousting was the creation of the list, the roped off enclosure that serves as the playing field. The list brought order to chaos. Prior to its introduction, early jousters and their horses would charge at each other head-on, with no divider, leading to dangerous and deadly collisions.

What was initially just cloth stretching along the center of the field eventually became a wooden barrier known as the tilt. The development of firearms and muskets in the 16th century greatly diminished both the role of the military knight and the importance of jousting as a form of combat training. Competitive jousting soon fell out of favor and the sport evolved into more of a court spectacle, with choreographed routines that provided more entertainment than visceral thrills.

As the role of these Renaissance-era jousts changed, so to did the protection worn by its competitors. Initially, jousters wore little more than chainmail or even boiled leather to protect them.