FAQ

The Equestrian Tournament

2008-04-24 12:00:00 - by Horsetype

Equestrian tournement demonstration in Bristol.	Zoom

[ HISTORY ] Very popular from the 14^th to the 16^th century, the equestrian tournament is a competition between knights. There are several types of tournament.

At the beginning, the knights clashed against one another and were equipped with three weapons: a lance, a sword and a knife. If one of the two knights fell from his mount, he lost; if both fell from their mount, they continued the combat with sword in hand until there remained only one knight upright. If both remained in saddle, the one with the most broken lance was victorious.

Another type of tournament that appeared later was a battle between several knights at the same time. Although being a good practice for war, this kind of competition caused much more casualties. In this kind of tournament, the winner could sometimes win the armor of his adversaries.

Later, a new kind of tournament where the knights clashed on both sides small wooden fence became popular. In this more civilized tournament, points were gained for each lance broken on the adversary. A point was gained for a lance broken on the chest of the adversary and two points were gained if the lance broke on the helmet of the other knight. Finally, three points were gained if the other knight fell from his horse. In this type of tournament, the combat did not continue when one of the two participants fell from his horse. The winner could sometimes win the horse of the loser.

The horses used for these tournaments were fast horses of average size, or warhorses, very large but slower. The latter had the advantage of weight but they did not have the advantage of speed. All the horses were amblers, which gave more stability to the knights and made it easier to target their lance.
The equestrian tournaments lost their popularity in 1559, when the king of France, Henri II, was killed by a piece of broken lance, when he was taking part in a tournament.

Nowadays, one can see equestrian tournaments during special events, such as fairs.

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