Medieval Castle Tournaments

Dueling is one of these occasions. Dueling is a sort of fight with typically two men with a weapon: typically a sword or gun. Such a fight is a high fashion in Europe and America and is considered a gentleman’s sport. A South Carolina general gave his take on his experience with dueling: “I never did clearly understand what it [duel] was about, but you know it was a time when all gentlemen fought” (qtd in Drake). The wording the general uses is important, especially the word “all.” This clearly shows society’s mood towards dueling: if a man does not duel, he is not a gentleman. In fact, if a man declines an invitation to duel, his honor is stripped from his name. If this man wishes to keep his honor, dueling and showing blood is the only way to do so (Drake). In fact, men loved to keep their honor so much they would die for it; out of 172 recorded duels in England, 69 of them resulted in casualties, which is roughly 40% of the fights (Drake). However, for the Count’s goal of revenge and retribution, dueling simply is not enough (Dumas 139). While dueling over insults is alright, dueling over 14 lost years of young adulthood is simply not enough (Dumas 139). Not only is there not enough suffering for the enemy party, dueling is too quick. However, those are not the only drawbacks. If the Count were not as skilled in swordsmanship or in gunmanship, he could lose, and his progress would be lost. His honor

The Medieval period was a time of noblemen who fought for love, honor, and country under a code of chivalry. "Chivalry comes from the French word cheval, chivalry means someone who fights from horseback. The term also meant "knighthood".(Matthews, Platt, Thomas p.234-235)." In this period the nobility used war as a way to show their power and hold their status by being professional soldiers. There were also lots of soldiers from the lower classes who were led into battle under nobles. These soldiers fought for the nobleman to maintain their safety and land. The soldiers rode into battle on their horses in full armor with weapons drawn ready to defeat their enemies one by one. They laid siege castles for weeks and months at a time until the

At first knights and soldiers in the armies were of little social status. “Many knights in fact possessed little more than peasants” (Spielvogel 244). War was looked as kind of a barbaric act in the beginning and many knights could be found fighting each other. While some of this was tolerated, as they were seen as “defenders of society”, the Catholic Church decided that there should be some ground rules. At the start of the eleventh century, the church urged knights to take an oath to protect churches, and to not harm noncombatants. These rules allowed for battles to follow a civil path and to be carried out in a noble way.

One of the largest changes from the medieval times was the reason for jousting. At one time knights used jousting, sword fighting and other weapon use to protect the church, but it also became a part of a judicial tool. Jousting was used in judicial Duel and trial by combat. In the Knighthood, Chivalry & Tournament Glossary of Terms website they explained,"Judicial Duel was generally fought between combatants of knightly rank between the appellant and the defendant. A charge of dishonorable conduct underlies the combat, fought to the death before judges. Not a tournament, it is a form of trial by combat. Many of the surviving fechtbuchs (rules of sword fighting) seem to describe techniques used in the judicial duel that would have been forbidden in the tournament, such as piercing an opponent's foot with the butt-spike of a poleaxe" (Knighthood).

By the 15th century, Knights were protecting themselves with full suits of plate armor. This armor was very deflecting which reduced the impact on blows with a weapon. Unfortunately, this was very big and heavy and sometimes the Knights had to trudge around all the way to battle and they got a heat stroke before they even go to the battle. Armor was made to imitate civilian fashion so the armor always had carved patterns in every area on the plate. Armor wasn't the only thing that Knights brought to battle, the sword was the most valuable weapon to a knight which is a symbols to knighthood itself. Before the 14th century the double edged longsword was used for battle. As plate armor became commonly used, Knights then preferred more pointed swords so they could jab through the armor. Another weapon of choice is a mace which is like a big mallet and can concuss the opponent. These wars were clearly devastating, gruesome and bloody and even today these weapons are still very

Two knights charged and tried to knock their opponent off their horse. The winners were declared heroes and earn prize money. Jousting was not an actual fight like the battlefield, instead, it was a friendly fight, like boxing or wrestling. King Henry VIII was a jouster, that nearly made him died twice. Jousting can be deadly because their only thing that keeps them safe is the armour and the shield, provided by their squires. Henry’s friend, Charles Brandon was jousting and Brandon’s lance landed close to Henry’s head, that would have killed him. The second is when he was middle-aged. His horse trampled over him, causing Henry to be injured. It was thought that it may have damaged his health and made him grumpy. Even when lances were used in a friendly combat they are dangerous, because they are really sharp, which could cause severe injuries, or even death. Jousting may be fun but it is better to be safe than

And so, it formed into a specially designed sport during the Late Middle Ages, and stayed popular with the nobility both in England and Germany during the course of the whole of the 16th century. In this early period, a joust was still a "meeting". Combatants would begin riding toward one another with the lance, but might continue with shorter range weapons after the distance was closed or after one or both parties had been unhorsed. Tournaments in the High Medieval period were much rougher and less "gentlemanly" undertaking. The rival parties would fight in groups, with the aim of incapacitating their adversaries for the sake of gaining their horses, arms and ransoms. From the 15th century on, jousting became more of a sport without direct significance to passage of arms.

Before they could wield swords and fight battles they must start their training early in boyhood. First starting to care for horses and play the harp. Next they became a Paige. They learn archery skills and improve on other skills. Then a Squire who finally practice sword play and improve on horse riding. Last after being dubbed a knight by their king or queen they become a knight. They can now lead armies into battle and joust for the king, queen, lords, ladies, and rich nobles. They had many weapons including a battle ax, a lance, a crossbow, a longbow, a shield a sword and many more interesting weapons. There were also many pieces that made up their armor, but the biggest thing was chain mail. It was a brilliant invention that stopped warriors from getting stabbed but they could still feel the momentum of the blow. A few knights belonged to the king, but mostly the knights and armies belonged to the lords and ladies. Once they find out the king is out numbered by thousands they decide to rebuttal throwing the whole feudal system

A knight’s role and the impact heavy cavalry had on warfare have greatly varied throughout the period of the Middle Ages. Although knight’s dominated the battlefield and had a huge cultural value in society you cannot ignore the impact that technology has had on their role. These technological advances such as the longbow, the introduction of light cavalry and developments such as gunpowder and artillery, the tactical developments such as sieges and the general organisation surrounding warfare resulted in knights declining in social value, status and affectability as well as a more dramatic yet gradual metamorphosis into the heavily armoured tank divisions in today’s modern armies. It has always been a greatly contested debate as to when the Middle

With the jousting stick becoming a form of combat, many knights in the Middle Ages met their demise. Throughout the years, many knights had begun to use the jousting stick as their main form of combat. This method of combat, render foot soldiers completely useless, as the knights rode on horses. Soon after, foot soldiers would probably decrease in numbers, while some might decide to become archers, where it is safer. Suggesting that knights would have to fight each other, perhaps decreasing the number of knights

The Medieval period was dominated by the feudal system and the role of the Medieval knights and their servants. Articles about their life, living conditions, clothing, weapons, training, armor, tournaments and jousts of the Medieval Knights can be found in this section. When we think of the Medieval times the first thought often takes us to the Medieval knights and their ladies. It was the duty of a Medieval Knight to learn how to fight and so serve their liege Lord according to the Code of Chivalry. But this was an extremely violent era in European and English history. Weapon practise included enhancing skills in the two-handed sword, battle axe, mace, dagger and lance. A Knight would be expected to guard a Castle and support his liege lord in Medieval warfare. Details of the life of Medieval knights in a castle, together with castle warfare, are covered in the section about Medieval Castles.

The medieval castle had many occupations and with many jobs came many people to fill those jobs; they ranged from acrobats to watchmen. Acrobats and Actors were very vital in the medieval era. The travelling circus was originally before the Middle Ages and was amazing sources for entertainment and revenue for towns. As many people did not read and were not fortunate enough for a formal schooling. The actors’ job was very important because they had to show people what had happened in the past. There was not very much training available for an actor, those who had that position were not highly thought of in the people.

The life of a lord and a lady in old times was nowhere comparable to a common marriage in modern days. The lord and the lady would live somewhere to protect them from any surprise attacks, usually being a castle. The castle would be made by stone so it could not be burnt down by enemies. The castle would have bedrooms, a kitchen, an office, and a “party” room among many other essential parts. The castles had many servants that did the work for everybody in the castle such as cooking and cleaning. There were also knights that helped defend everyone in the castle.

“If you are going to build something in the air it is always better to build castles than houses of cards.”(Lichtenberg). Castles are meant to hold up in defensive times to protect the people and country. “Why should we strive, with cynic frown, to knock their fairy castles down?” (Cook). At first, castles were built for military and government means. As centuries went on, hostilities subsided, and wealth started to flow during Renaissance, nobility and royalty started to create vanity castles that were used to be summer houses, hunting houses and royal houses. Castles are used mostly for defense, they protect the nobility from danger, and they were used as a fortress to protect the country. The castles were large enough to be seen over many

Castles were a very important part of the Medieval times. They had many different rooms and places in the the castles. There is the great hall, dungeons, Lord cambers, the garden towers walls and alot more. This will be about all of the castles rooms and places.  The great hall and Dungeons were very differnt from each other