The fourteenth century was eminently a period of transition and
development in arms, armour, jousts, tournaments, and, indeed, in
everything that related to warfare. During its course chain-mail
harness had been gradually replaced by iron plate, bit by bit; a
process hardly completed at the end. It was a century of almost
incessant fighting among the nations, in the East as well as in the
West; and the knightly armour of the period in its advancing stages
lies open as a book before us, in a study of our effigies and brasses.
An epoch-making detonating force had come into operation, which
inaugurated a new era in the art of war. In its early days ordnance was
greatly inferior in destructive power to most of the mechanical engines
of the period, but by the end of the century it had developed to an
extent which produced a revolution in the relative resources at command
for attack and defence; and the old chivalry became at length second in
importance to the infantry arm.
Contemporary information regarding the jousts and tournaments of the
earlier part of the fourteenth century is sparse; they are described
in the _Romances of Richard Cœur de Lion, Sir Ferumbras_, and others,
which teem with improbabilities though still of the greatest value;
and there is a pictorial representation in _Roman du roy Meliadus_ of
“_Une Mêlée de Tornois_”.[56] This romance, probably written about
the middle of the century, contains several pictorial examples of
jousts and tournaments, and a wealth of coloured and gilded drawings
on military subjects generally; while others are figured in the
Froissart plates[57], Hefner’s _Tratchten_ and Carter’s _Painting and
Sculpture_. It is to Froissart that we are immeasurably most indebted
for information regarding these martial games, more especially those
of the second half of the fourteenth century, and his recitals contain
much invaluable detail, which had been industriously collected from
heralds, pursuivants, kings-of-arms and other officials at the tourney.
Froissart was born about the year 1337, and he began to gather the
material for his history when about twenty years of age, viz. eleven
years after the battle of Crecy. _The Chronicles_ commence with the
coronation of Edward III, in 1337, and with the accession of Philip
of Valois to the crown of France, and they close about the end of the
century with the death of Richard II of England. At the beginning of
his career Froissart was closely associated with the English court as
a poet and historian, acting, indeed, as clerk to the closet to Queen
Philippa, after which he entered the Church, becoming later canon
of Chimay. His fine personal gifts soon placed him in excellent and
confidential relations with many prominent and influential personages,
both of France and England, able to give him reliable information for
his history. His industry was remarkable, his style of writing both
original and luminous, and his facts and narrations, though often
marshalled with some confusion, are most reliable, so far at least as
we can judge now. He was no extreme partisan, but tried, as he often
says, whenever possible to hear both sides to a question. The weak
place in his history is his dates and the lack of them. Sainte-Palaye
says of him: “_Froissart, qui a mieux réussi qu’acun de nos historiens
à peindre les mœurs de son siècle_, ...”
Royal jousts were often held in celebration of the coronations and
weddings of princes; and such were usually proclaimed in advance in
other countries of chivalry, so as to afford opportunities for the
attendance of foreign cavaliers anxious to distinguish themselves; and
these were provided with safe-conducts by the crown.
In 1302 “Tournies, iustes, barriers, and other warlike exercises,
which yovng lords and gentlemen had appointed to exercise for their
pastime in diuerse parts of the realme, were forbidden by the
kings proclamations sent downe to be published by the shirifs in
euerie countie abroad in the realme: the teste of the writ was from
Westminster the sixteenth of Julie.”[58]
A tournament was proclaimed by the King of Bohemia and the Earl of
Hainault, to be held at Condé in 1327, just after the coronation of
Edward III; and Sir John de Hainault, who had been present at the
ceremony, left England to attend this tourney, accompanied by fifteen
English knights, who intended taking part.[59]
Holinshed states that in September, 1330, the King (Ed. III) held
jousts in Cheapside, when he with twelve challengers answered all
comers. The meeting continued over three days, and no serious accidents
took place.
A joust of the same year is figured in _Codex Balduini Trevirencis_.
The cavaliers are seen jousting with lances tipped with coronals
and with flat triangular shields, heraldically ensigned: they wear
ample surcoats and the horses are trapped in cloth. The heaumes bear
fan crests, the saddles are without supports; and the object in
contemplation is the splintering of lances and unhorsing.
“Great iustes was kept by King Edward at the toune of Dunstable in
1341, with other counterfeited feats of warre, at the request of
diuerse yovng lords and gentlemen, whereat both the king and queene
were present, with the more part of the lords and ladies of the
land.”[60]
King Edward held a tournament in London in the middle of August, 1342;
and had sent heralds into Flanders, Brabant and France to proclaim
it. Froissart states that the eldest son of Viscount Beaumont[61] was
killed at this tournament. Other chroniclers date this passage of arms
in 1343.
To cry a tourney—“Cy sensuyt la façon des criz de Tournois et des
Joustes. _Cy peut on à prendre à crier et à publier pour ceulx qui
en seront dignes_,” etc. Ashmolean MS., No. 764, 31, 43.[62] On
the reverse of the last leaf is a picture of a Joust, wherein two
combatants on horseback, bearing their crests, are fighting with lances
within the lists.
The Round Table held at Windsor on St. George’s Day in 1344 has been
referred to in the section devoted to the _Tabula Rotunda_. These
hastiludes and jousts are mentioned by Froissart, who tells us that
they were characterized by great splendour. The Queen was attended on
the occasion by three hundred ladies, richly attired; while the King
had a great array of earls and barons in his train. The “feast” was
noble, with all good cheer and jousting, and lasted over fifteen days.
Holinshed’s account, under the year 1344, is as follows:—“Moreouer,
about the beginning of the eighteenth yeare (?) of his reigne, King
Edward held a solemne feast at his castell of Windsore, where betwixt
Candlemasse and Lent, was atchiued manie martiall feasts, and iusts,
and tornaments, and diuerse other the like warlike pastimes, at which
were present manie strangers of other lands, and in the end thereof,
he deuised the order of the garter, and after established it, as it
is to this daie. There are six and twentie companions or confrers of
this felowship of that order, being called knights of the blew garter,
and as one dieth or is depriued, an other is admitted into his place.
The K. of England is euer chiefe of this order. They weare a blew robe
or mantell, and a garter about their left leg, richlie wrought with
gold and pretious stones, hauing this inscription in French vpon it,
Honi soit qui mal y pense, Shame come to him who euill thinketh. This
order is dedicated to S. George, as chéefe patrone of men of warre, and
therefor euerie yeare doo the knights of the order kéepe solmne his
feast, with manie noble ceremonies at the castell of Windsore, where
King Edward founded a colledge of canons.”[63]
Shortly after this round table the King issued letters patent for
hastiludes and jousts to be held annually at Lincoln, over which the
Earl of Derby was nominated as Captain by the King, the office to be
retained by the earl during life-time, but after his death to become
elective.
The “Feast of the Round Table” was again held at Windsor in 1345, and
within a few years of it jousts took place at Northampton, Dunstable,
Canterbury, Bury, Reading and Eltham, the exact years of which do not
appear in the wardrobe accounts which have been preserved. In July,
1346, King Edward invaded France, and did not return to London until
October, 1347, his home-coming being celebrated by jousts, tournaments,
masques and other festivities.
A manuscript covering the expenses of the great wardrobe of Edward
III from December, 1345, to January, 1349, now in the Public Record
Office, is printed in _Archæologia_ for the year 1846.[64] Some of
the items scheduled cover robes for the person, which were delivered
to certain of the knights taking part in a “round-table” held by the
King at Lichfield in 1348 or 1349, more probably the former year; viz.
for the King’s person and eleven knights of his chamber, these being
Sir Walter Manny, John de L’Isle, Hugo Courtenay, John Gray, Robert de
Ferrers, Richard de la Vache, Philip de Spencer, Roger de Beauchamp,
Miles de Stapleton, Ralph de Ferrers and Robert de Mauley. To each of
these knights two yards of blue cloth for coats and “three quarters
and half a yard” of white cloth for hoods[65] was delivered. Similar
cloth was also issued to some of the other knights. The challengers,
or _tenans_, of the round table consisted of the king and seventeen of
his knights; their opponents, the _venans_, comprised fourteen knights,
with the Earl of Lancaster at their head. An entry in the wardrobe
accounts shows that King Edward wore a harness bearing the arms of Sir
Thomas Bradeston on the occasion. Any further particulars of this round
table, beyond the details of the robes for the banquet, are lacking.
This tournament was celebrated with great pomp and magnificence.
A spirited verse from Chaucer’s “Knight’s Tale” follows:—[66]
“The heraudes lefte hir prikyng up and doun;
Now ryngen trompès loude and clarioun;
Ther is namoore to seyn, but west and est
In goon the speres ful sadly in arrest;
In gooth the sharpè spore into the syde.
Ther seen men who kan juste and who kan ryde;
Ther shyveren shaftès upon sheeldès thikke;
He feeleth thurgh the hertè-spoon the prikke.
Up spryngen sperès twenty foot on highte;
Out gooth the swerdes as the silver brighte;
The helmès they to-hewen and to-shrede,
Out brest the blood with stiernè stremès rede;
With myghty maces the bonès they to-breste.
He, thurgh the thikkeste of the throng gan threste,
Ther, stomblen steedès stronge, and doun gooth al;
He, rolleth under foot as dooth a bal.”
We see in the _Romance of Perceforest_ how the ladies at a tournament
tore off pieces of their apparel to be used as tokens or favours by
their devoted knights, to an extent leaving them in a condition of
dishabille. A knight often wore “a kerchief of pleasance” on his
helmet, a token from his lady-love.
In 1358 “Roiall iustes were holden in Smithfield, at which were present
the Kings of England, France and Scotland ... of which the more part of
the strangers were as their prisoners.”[67]
“Moreouer, this year (1359) in the Rogation wéeke was solemne iusts
enterprised at London, for the maior and his foure and twentie brethern
as challengers did appoint to ansuer all commers, in whose name and
stéed the King with his foure sonnes, Edward, Lionell, John and Edmund,
and ninetéene other great lords; in secret manner came and held the
field with honor, to the great pleasure of the citizens that beheld the
same.”[68]
“Moreouer this yeare (1362) the fiue first daies of Maie, were kept
roiall iusts in Smithfield by London, the king and queene being
present, with a great multitude of ladies and gentlemen of both the
realms of England and France.”[69]
Much detailed information concerning the jousting of the fourteenth
century has fortunately been preserved in the records of the wars in
France, some examples of which follow.
At the time when the siege of Tournay was raised by means of a truce, a
tournament was held at Mons, at which Sir Gerard de Verchin, Seneschal
of Hainault, was mortally wounded.[70]
Froissart states[71] that a combat took place before the walls of the
town of Rennes in 1357, then being besieged by the English forces,
between _a young knight-bachelor_,[72] Bertrand du Guesclin, and
an English cavalier, Sir Nicholas Dagworth. The articles of combat
provided for three courses with the lance, three strokes with the
battle-axe and three thrusts with the dagger. These were all duly
delivered, the knights bearing themselves right gallantly, without hurt
to either of them. The fight was viewed with extreme interest by both
armies.
So far Froissart. But there is some doubt whether it was Sir Nicholas
Dagworth who was one of the principals in this duel; for in the
_Histoire de Bretagne_ it is stated that it was William de Blanchbourg,
brother of the Governor of Fougerai, who was Sir Bertrand’s opponent
on the occasion, and that he was wounded and unhorsed. It is more
probable, however, that both duels were fought, though the last-named
combat was not likely to have taken place under the walls of Rennes,
for both cavaliers were Frenchmen.
There is a singularly beautiful brass in the pavement of the south
chapel of Blickling Church, Norfolk, in memory of Sir Nicholas
Dagworth, who was a man of importance in the reigns of kings Edward III
and Richard II. He lived until the year 1401,[73] and his will appears
in _Testamenta Vetusta_. The brass is given in the Boutell Collection.
It affords an excellent example of the armour prevailing at the end
of the fourteenth century, when the evolution from chain-mail to full
plate-armour had been almost completed. The helmet is the pointed
bascinet, with the camail, the latter with an ornamental bordering
coming over the top of the jupon. The cyclas, which has an enriched
fringing, hides the body-armour from view, and the knightly belt is
elaborately decorated; the pouldrons are articulated. The gauntlets,
with short cuffs, have gads over the fingers for use in the _mêlée_,
and they show an imitation of finger-nails, and the solerets are freely
articulated. The knight’s head rests on his great helm, which has a
mantling; and a wreath, surmounted by the crest, a griffin. The armour
is enriched with chasing. The Arms—Erm, on a fesse, gu., three bezants:
impaling Rosale, Cu., a fesse between six martlet’s or.
The armour of the Black Prince in the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, at
Canterbury Cathedral, affords an excellent illustration of the degree
of progress reached in the last quarter of the fourteenth century. The
process of evolution from chain-mail to plate is here almost completed,
there being only small pieces of the former at the skirt, arms and
insteps of the solerets. The Prince died in 1376, and the date of his
effigy is somewhat later.
During a skirmish at Toury, in France, shortly before the death of
King Charles V, in 1380, an esquire of Beauce, named Gauvain Micaille,
enquired through an herald if any English gentleman would be willing
to try a feat of arms with him—a joust of three courses, and the
exchange of three blows with the battle-axe and of three thrusts with
the dagger. The challenge was accepted by an English esquire, named
Joachim Cator. The Frenchman received a severe wound in the thigh in
the jousting, which was in contravention of the rules of the tourney;
but the Englishman pleaded that it was an accident solely due to the
restiveness of his horse; and this explanation was accepted by the
umpire.[74]
An interesting tournament took place at Cambray in 1385 on the marriage
of the Count d’Ostrevant to the daughter of Duke Philip of Burgundy.
The ceremony was followed by a banquet at which the King of France
was present as well as the Duke. The tournament was held in the
market-place of the town, and forty knights took part, the King tilting
with a knight of Hainault. The prize was a clasp of precious stones,
taken from off the bosom of the Duchess of Burgundy; it was won by a
knight of Hainault, Sir John Destrenne, and was formally presented by
the Admiral of France and Sir Guy de la Trimouille.[75]
The number of courses run in jousting and the blows and strokes
exchanged with battle-axes, swords and daggers at a meeting like that
just described was usually three each; but they tended to increase as
the century advanced, and five got to be a common number, and later as
many as ten or even twelve. In the duel between Sir Thomas Harpenden
and Messire Jean des Barres, at Montereau sur Yonne in 1387, they
numbered “_cinq lances à cheval, cinq coups d’épée, cinq coups de dague
et cinq coups de hache_.” The first four courses of the jousts were run
with equal fortune, but in the fifth Sir Thomas was unhorsed and lay
senseless on the ground; he revived, however, after a time, and all the
strokes and blows were duly exchanged without further hurt to either
knight. The King of France was present on the occasion.[76]
About this time, when the war between France and England was in full
progress, there was much jousting with pointed lances between the
knights and esquires of the two nations; safe-conducts being issued by
the commanders on either side.
A meeting was arranged to take place near Nantes, under the auspices of
the Constable of France and the Earl of Buckingham. The first encounter
was a combat on foot, with sharp spears, in which one of the cavaliers
was slightly wounded; the pair then ran three courses with the lance
without further mishap. Next Sir John Ambreticourt of Hainault and Sir
Tristram de la Jaille of Poitou advanced from the ranks and jousted
three courses, without hurt. A duel followed between Edward Beauchamp,
son of Sir Robert Beauchamp, and the bastard Clarius de Savoye. Clarius
was much the stronger man of the two, and Beauchamp was unhorsed. The
bastard then offered to fight another English champion, and an esquire
named Jannequin Finchly came forward in answer to the call; the combat
with swords and lances was very violent, but neither of the parties
was hurt. Another encounter took place between John de Châtelmorant
and Jannequin Clinton, in which the Englishman was unhorsed. Finally
Châtelmorant fought with Sir William Farrington, the former receiving
a dangerous wound in the thigh, for which the Englishman was greatly
blamed, as being an infraction of the rules of the tourney; but an
accident was pleaded as in the case of the duel between Gauvain
Micaille and Joachim Cator. At this meeting the honours lay with the
Frenchmen.[77]
Somewhat later a combat _à outrance_[78] took place at Chateau
Josselin, near Vannes, between John Boucmel, a Frenchman, and Nicholas
Clifford, in which Boucmel was struck on the upper part of the
breastplate by his opponent’s lance, which, glancing off, entered
his neck through the camail and severed the jugular vein, killing
him instantly.[79] A plate of Froissart’s represents this duel as a
combat on foot with long lances, taking place in a small quadrangular
enclosure.
Juvenal des Ursins states[80] that at the marriage of Charles VI, of
France, with Isabel (Isabeau) of Bavaria, 1385, jousts and grand fêtes
took place in its honour. Sir Peter Courtenay came to France at the
time with the object of accomplishing a feat of arms with the Seigneur
de la Tremouille. The King’s consent to the duel had been obtained,
and the day and place were fixed for its accomplishment. The knights
appeared in the lists on the day appointed in order to fulfil their
engagement in presence of the King, who, however, at the last moment,
owing to some remonstrances, forbade the combat: but a duel did take
place at the time between an English knight and the Seigneur de Clery,
in which the Englishman was wounded and unhorsed. This joust had been
brought to the notice of the Duke of Burgundy, who said that the
offence committed by a Frenchman in jousting with an enemy without the
consent of his sovereign was worthy of death; his Majesty, however, at
length pardoned the offender.
Froissart describes a realistic tournament, held at Paris during the
wedding festivities, as between the Saracens under Saladin, and the
Crusaders, led by Richard Cœur de Lion.
The feat of arms between Sir John Holland and Sir Reginald de Roye, a
French chevalier of distinction, held at the town of Entença, before
the King and Queen of Portugal and the Duke and Duchess of Lancaster,
presents features of its own. The French knight sent an invitation to
the Englishman entreating him to joust with him three courses with the
lance, and to exchange the same number of strokes with the battle-axe,
sword and dagger, for the love of his lady. The challenge was promptly
accepted, and an answer returned by the herald, together with a
safe-conduct for the Frenchman and his company. Sir Reginald arrived in
due time at Entença, handsomely accompanied by six score knights and
esquires. The meeting was held in a spacious close in the town, the
ground well strewn with sand; and galleries had been erected for the
accommodation of the royal and ducal parties, with other spectators.
The jousting was to be with sharp lances, to be followed by a contest
with sharp and well-tempered battle-axes, swords and daggers. The
champions were well mounted and rode into the lists in full armour,
taking up positions for their careers at either end of the lists, with
the distance of a bow-shot between them. The signal for the onset
having been sounded, the knights charged each other at the gallop, and
Sir Reginald struck the bars of his opponent’s visor so stoutly that
his lance splintered on impact. Sir John Holland also struck the visor
of his adversary well and fairly, but the helmet of the Frenchman,
instead of having been securely laced to his body-armour as was usual,
was only held by a single thong, and of course slipped off, leaving the
knight bare-headed and Sir John’s lance unbroken. The jousters then
returned to their stations, and charged each other as before, and again
the same thing happened, owing to the same cause. The English who were
present regarded the unusual loose fastening of the helmet as a trick,
but the umpire, the Duke of Lancaster, ruled that it was admissible
for Sir John Holland to have employed the same artifice had he chosen
to do so, and that therefore he could not decide against the French
knight.[81] After the stipulated three courses with the lance had been
run, the knights fought three rounds each with battle-axes swords and
daggers, without either receiving a scratch. The French chevalier was
adjudged to have had the advantage, though both had done well.[82]
In 1389 a deed of arms was performed at Bordeaux before the Duke of
Lancaster, between five Englishmen and five Frenchmen: three courses
with the lance, three courses with swords, and the same number with
battle-axes. None was wounded, but one of the English knights killed
the horse of a Frenchman with his lance, which greatly angered the
Duke, who replaced the loss with one of his own chargers.[83]
The most prominent and accomplished jouster of his day was the
Chevalier Jean Le Maingre, called De Boucicaut, Mareschal of France
1368-1421, and his _Mémoires_,[84] by an unknown author, contain
descriptions of some of his exploits in the tiltyard. One of these
recitals[85] follows:—During the three years’ truce between France
and England, when King Charles VI was at Montpellier,[86] the French
Seigneurs De Boucicaut, de Sampi and de Roye challenged all comers,
being foreign knights and esquires, to joust five courses with
lances, pointed or blunted, at their pleasure, at St. Ingelbert,[87]
a place near Calais; the _pas d’armes_ (or the “_table-ronde_,” as
it is called in the _Chapitres d’Armes_, or articles of combat) to
continue for thirty days. A great elm stood before the pavilions
of the challengers, and hanging from its branches were two shields
of wood, one of them plated with iron, “_l’un de paix, l’autre de
guerre_,” so that each venant on arriving at the rendezvous could
signify his pleasure as to whether he elected to fight with pointed
or rebated lances by striking with a wand the shield for peace or
that for war. The arms and devices of the three tenans were painted
above the two shields, so that each venant might be able to select
his adversary among them, and a note blown on a horn proclaimed his
choice. Each venant was to furnish the king of arms with his name and
titles, and to bring another cavalier with him as his sponsor. The
lists were richly decorated, the challengers handsomely apparelled;
and lavish hospitality was dispensed in a pavilion specially pitched
for the purpose. Any arms, armour, or other requisites of which the
venans might stand in need, were freely provided, the motto everywhere
displayed being “Ce que vouldrez.” The chronicle goes on to state that
on the first day of the jousting, Jean de Holland, Earl of Huntingdon,
half-brother to King Richard, signified his intention of jousting with
Boucicaut. Both lances were fairly splintered in the first encounter,
the second and third being fought with equal fortune; but in the fourth
the horse of the English knight fell with its rider, who was severely
injured, his antagonist only retaining his seat by the prompt support
of his varlets. Boucicaut then retired to his pavilion, but was not
allowed to remain resting for long, for other English cavaliers desired
to joust with him, and he disposed of two other knights the same day.
While he was engaged in combat day after day, his fellow tenans were
not idle, and the thirty days stipulated in the _Chapitres d’Armes_ ran
their course. Among other cavaliers from England taking part were Earl
Marschal, the knights de Beaumont, Thomas de Perci, de Clifford and
Courtenay, besides Sir John d’Ambreticourt and many Spanish and German
cavaliers. Boucicaut is said to have gone through the whole thirty days
of jousting without a scratch.
The rôle of the tenans at a _pas d’armes_ was no sinecure, and for
three knights to have held the _pas_ for thirty days against all
comers, as in this case, must have been an arduous undertaking; and
very dangerous also, more especially as much of the jousting was with
pointed lances. No. XI of Froissart’s plates professes to depict one
of the jousts of this _pas d’armes_; but it pictures one at the tilt,
so that the drawing is obviously of a later date than that of the
Inglevert meeting, and was, in fact, executed in the reign of Edward
IV, when the tilt was in common use. Froissart[88] gives a long and
circumstantial account of this meeting, and states that it was very
richly appointed. King Charles of France was present incognito, and had
subscribed very handsomely towards the heavy expenses incurred.
Monkish chronicles, written in times not contemporaneous with the
events they describe, are usually unreliable in being coloured with
the circumstances of a later age; and any illuminations or wood-cuts
accompanying them are apt to reflect the times in which they were
executed, rather than those they are represented to portray, for the
artist fills in his picture with the details of the scenes before him.
However, with the accumulated knowledge we now possess, we are enabled
to correct some of the mistakes, from a chronological point of view.
A royal tournament was held in London by King Richard II, immediately
after the Michaelmas of the year 1390, in honour of Queen Isabella;
and heralds were sent to proclaim it throughout England, Scotland,
Hainault, Germany, Flanders and France. Sixty knights were to joust
with rebated lances, as tenans, for two successive days, the Sunday and
Monday, against all comers; and the Tuesday following was set apart for
the esquires. The jousting was to be followed by banquets, dances and
sumptuous fêtes and entertainments of various kinds. The prizes for
the Sunday were as follows:—A rich crown of gold for the best lance
among the venans; and, for the most successful among the tenans, a
very rich golden clasp. Those for the Monday are not stated; but for
the Tuesday, the esquires’ day, they were a handsome charger, fully
accoutred, and a falcon, for the best lances of the venans and tenans,
respectively. The ladies were to act as judges and to present them. The
Sunday’s jousting was called the feast of the challengers. At three
p.m. the procession started from the Tower of London. Sixty barded
chargers, an esquire mounted on each, advanced at a foot’s pace; then
sixty ladies of rank richly apparelled and mounted on palfreys, rode in
single file, each leading a knight, in full armour, by a silver chain.
The procession thus formed proceeded along the streets of London, down
Cheapside to Smithfield, attended by minstrels and trumpeters. The King
and Queen, with their suites, accompanied by some of the great barons,
had gone earlier to Smithfield, and there awaited the arrival of the
procession and the knights from abroad. Their Majesties were lodged in
the Bishop’s palace, and there the banquets and dances were to be held.
Many foreign knights and esquires attended, and among them Sir William
of Hainault (Count d’Ostrevant)[89] and the Count de St. Pol.
On the arrival of the procession at Smithfield the knights mounted
their horses and prepared for jousting, which began soon after. The
prize for the best lance of the venans on the Sunday, the first day
of jousting, was awarded by the ladies to the Count de St. Pol; and
that for the most skilful knight among the tenans, to the Earl of
Huntingdon.[90] The King led the tenans on the Monday; and the prize
for the best lance of the venans was awarded to the Count d’Ostrevant;
that for the most successful of their opponents to Sir Hugh Spencer.
The esquires jousted on the Tuesday, after which there was a banquet,
and dancing was continued until daybreak. There was jousting on the
Wednesday for knights and esquires indiscriminately; and on Thursday
and Friday fêtes, masques and banquets, after which the royal party
left for Windsor.[91]
Caxton refers to these royal jousts in the following terms:—
“All of the King’s hous were of one sute, theyr cotys, theyr armys,
theyr sheldes and theyr trappours were embrowdred all with whyte
hertis, with crownes of gold about their necks, and cheynes of gold
hangyng thereon; whiche hertys were the King’s leverey, that he gaf to
lordes, ladyes, knyghtes, ＆ squyers, to know his houshold peple from
other; then four and twenty ladyes comynge to the justys, ladde[92]
four and twenty lordes with chynes of gold, and alle in the same sute
of hertes as is afore sayd, from the Tour on horsback thrurgh the
cyte of London into Smythfeld.” The narrative of this tournament by
Holinshed[93] is far from being so picturesque as that of Froissart,
and it differs in some particulars from it. He says there were
twenty-four ladies, not sixty, mounted on palfreys; and that the prizes
for the first day were awarded to the Comte de St. Pol and the Earl of
Huntingdon; and on the Monday to the Earl of Ostravant and Sir Hugh
Spencer.
King Richard proclaimed another grand tournament to be held at Windsor
in one of the closing years of his reign; the tenans or challengers
to be forty knights and forty esquires, clothed in green. The Queen
was present, but very few of the barons attended, owing to the great
unpopularity and arbitrary actions of the King,[94] whose reign had
begun under the happiest auspices, but the manifest defects in his
character brought his career to a sorrowful ending.
There was a kind of tourney called the _Espinette_ held at Lille, in
honour of a relic preserved there, which, though obscure, would seem to
have been but an ordinary joust with which certain annual ceremonies
were connected. Hewitt[95] quotes the _Chronicle of Flanders_
concerning a celebration in the year 1339:—“Jehan Bernier went to joust
at the _Espinette_, taking with him four damsels, namely, the wife
of Seigneur Jehan Biensemé, the wife of Symon du Gardin, the wife of
Monseigneur Amoury de la Vingne, and mademoiselle his own wife. And
the said Jehan Bernier was led into the lists by two of the aforesaid
damsels by two golden cords, the other two carrying each a lance. And
the King of the _Espinette_ this year was Pierre de Courtray, who bore
Sable, three golden Eagles with two heads and red beaks and feet.” M.
Leber gives some account of the _fête de l’épinette_ in the _Collection
des traités_.
The vamplate, _avant-plate_, placed on the shaft of the lance, for the
protection of the right hand and arm, first appears in the fourteenth
century; and so does the lance-rest on the breastplate. An ordinance
of the thirteenth century orders the lance to be blunted for the
tourney; but in the fourteenth it was ordered to be tipped with a
coronal, the short points of which were just sufficient to catch on
to the armour without being capable of piercing it. The helmet of the
fourteenth century was the pointed bascinet, with the camail or hood
of mail worn over the top of the cyclas. The great heaume used early
in the fourteenth century differs little from that of the end of the
thirteenth; later it assumed the form of a cylinder, surmounted by a
truncated cone. It was usually of iron, though sometimes of leather,
either ordinary or of _cuir-bouilli_. The fan crest, doubtless adopted
from a classic prototype, came into vogue in the last quarter of the
thirteenth century, though it is represented on the seal of King
Richard I.
Crests were made of various materials. Those for the cavaliers taking
part in the tournament at Windsor Park, in 1278, were of calf-skin,
one for the man and another for the horse, as shown in the Roll of
Purchases; that of the Black Prince, at Canterbury,[96] was of cloth.
They were attached to the helm by means of a thin iron bar. Crests
were usually affixed to the great helm, which was worn over the
bascinet; though there are instances of their being used alone on the
smaller head-piece.
The heraldic crest does not appear before towards the close of the
thirteenth century; a notable instance may be cited in the case of
the remarkable effigy of Sir John de Botiler, in St. Bride’s Church,
Glamorganshire, which dates about the year 1300. The helmet of this
monument is the cervellière, which is a visor-less, saucer or shallow
basin-shaped head-piece, going over the hood of mail; and the crest
is embossed on its front. Crests were not generally worn before about
the end of the first quarter of the fourteenth century, after which
period they develop from comparative simplicity into fantastic and even
ridiculous conceptions.
A strange fancy was the cap-of-maintenance, the placing of a cap of
velvet or other material on the helm, surmounted by the family crest;
and in the second half of the century or a little later the orle or
wreath and mantling or lambrequin are added.
The shield of the century was of the triangular kite or heater-shaped
form.
In 1390 “John de Hastings earle of Pembroke, as he was practising to
learne to ioust, thrugh mishap was striken about the priuie parts, by a
knight called Sir John S. John, that ran against him, so as his inner
parts being perished, death presentlie followed.”[97]
In 1398 the Earl of Crawford, of Scotland, jousted _à outrance_, i.e.
with sharp lances, with Lord Wells of England at London Bridge, the
23rd April, being the feast day of St. George. An attaint was made in
the first course, and both champions kept their seats. The Earl sat
so steadfast in his saddle under the shock that the by-standers cried
out that he was locked to his seat, on hearing which he jumped off his
horse and then vaulted back into his saddle again with such agility as
greatly to astonish the people. In the second course they met again
as before without either being hurt; but in the third Lord Wells “was
borne out of the saddle and sore hurt with a grieuous fall.”
Not long after a duel on horseback took place in Scotland between
Sir Robert Morley, an Englishman, and Sir Archibald Edmounston, and
afterwards with another Scot Hugh Wallace, and the first-named was the
victor in both cases; but he was at length overcome by one Hugh Traill,
at Berwick, and died shortly after from chagrin.[98]
FOOTNOTES:
[56] British Museum. MS. Addl. 12, 2228, fol. 181.
[57] The illustrated Froissart in the British Museum, Harl. MS. 4379,
was produced late in the fifteenth century.
[58] Holinshed, II, 536.
[59] Froissart (Johnes’), I, Chap. XLV.
[60] Holinshed, II, 623.
[61] There were no viscounts in England then.
[62] Appendix A.
[63] Holinshed, II, 628.
[64] Vol. XXXI, 26, in connection with “Observations on the Institution
of the Order of the Garter,” a paper by Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas,
G.C.M.G.
[65] The use of white hoods had its origin in an ancient custom of the
town of Ghent (Froissart, V, XX).
[66] A text by Alfred W. Pollard. 1898.
[67] Holinshed, II, 669.
[68] _Ibid._ II, 671.
[69] Holinshed, II, 677.
[70] Froissart, I, 249.
[71] II, 374.
[72] The italics are ours.
[73] A Sir Thomas Dagworth was slain in France in 1350 (Holinshed, II,
651).
[74] Froissart, V, Chap. XXXVIII.
[75] Froissart (Johnes’) VI, 378.
[76] Froissart, II, 756.
[77] _Ibid._ (Johnes’) V, Chap. XLVII.
[78] Meaning here with pointed lances.
[79] Froissart, V, XLVIII.
[80] _Histoire de Charles VI_, p. 368.
[81] This loose fastening of the helmet was a custom prevailing in
Spain and Portugal.
[82] Froissart, VIII, Chap. XXXI.
[83] _Ibid._ IX, 336.
[84] _Le Livre des Faicts du Mareschal De Boucicaut._
[85] Chap. XVII.
[86] About 1389.
[87] St. Inglevert.
[88] X, Chap. XI.
[89] He was great-nephew of Queen Philippa of Hainault.
[90] Sir John Holland, afterwards Duke of Exeter.
[91] Froissart, X, XXI.
[92] Led.
[93] Chronicles, II, 810.
[94] Froissart, XII, 104.
[95] _Ancient Armour and Weapons_, II, 340.
[96] Died 1376.
[97] Holinshed, II, 800.
[98] _Ibid._ V, 443.