Informative Essay: The Medieval Jooust Competition

566 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: A conclusion on jousting

The Medieval Joust

This morning I witnessed a tournament held in town. As I was watching I realized that I wasn’t exactly certain about all the rules. This is why I decided to write this article about the history, rules, and guidelines of this riveting sport. The words "tournament" and "joust" are frequently used interchangeably. Strictly speaking "joust" describes single combat between two horsemen. "Tournament" refers to mounted combat between parties of knights, but also is used to refer to the whole proceeding. The first written tournament guidelines are credited to a Frenchman named Geoffroi de Purelli in 1066. I would have interviewed this man but he was unfortunately killed, ironically in one of these very tournaments for which he made rules. Jousting is a way of gaining respect. It is what is done when there is no war to fight. Jousting is essentially a way of “playingâ€? war. …show more content…

From these bloody conflicts there developed the tournament conducted according to an intricate code of rules. In a tournament a knight could enjoy all the excitement, danger and glory of war, with none of the dirt, flies, disease or discomfort. After the fight he could soak his bruised, bloody limbs in a warm bath, eat a good dinner and retire, appropriately accompanied, to a soft bed. In war he might win fame and fortune, in tournaments he could win these and much more. One of the basic fundamentals of these tournaments is chivalry. A knight chose a lady, fought in her name and was rewarded

Show More
Related

  • Arthur's Unrealism: Monty Python, Gawain and the Green Knight, and the Destruction of

    4237 Words  | 9 Pages

    One of the most enduring myths in the Western world is that of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Regardless of the origins of the tales, the fact is that by the time they had been filtered through a French sensibility and re-exported to England, they were representations of not one but several ideals. Courtly love and chivalry and the various components thereof, such as martial prowess, chastity, bravery, courtesy, and so on, were presented as the chief virtues to aspire to, and the knights as role models. Arthur's eventual fall is precisely because of having failed at some level to fulfill these ideals in his life.

    Read More

  • Medieval Siege Weapons

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    Experienced knights would participate in tournaments held by the king. The winner would usually just get bragging rights and sometimes a sum of money. The most common event was jousting. Jousting is a sport where to fully armored knights ride at each other on horses while aiming a long wooden lance at the each other. With speeds reaching 60 miles per hour sometimes there could be fatal accidents. If the person was knocked off the other was victorious.

    Read More

  • The Early History of Golf in the U.S.

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    The game of golf is one of the oldest of today’s modern sports. Its exact beginnings are not known; however, some historians trace golf back to the Stone Age while others claim it originated from the “idle antics of shepherd boys knocking small stones into holes in the ground with a crook while their flocks grazed nearby” (Peper 1). Researched back to the time of the Roman Empire, it is also believed the sports-oriented Romans played a forerunner of the game of golf called paganica. This sport involved the use of a bent stick and a ball stuffed with wool played in the open countryside.

    Read More

  • The Feudal System In Lanval By Mari De France

    1719 Words  | 4 Pages

    The evolution of human society consists mainly of ineffective ruling regimes and oppressed peasants. Medieval Europe falls into this same pervasive cycle. Social and political hierarchies intertwine which creates a grossly inefficient system. Hereditary lineage determines nobility. Commoners possess no hope of social mobility. Every aspect of life is virtually preordained. These circumstances revolve around the figure Lanval by Mari de France. Mari de France introduces Lanval as a courteous and distinguished knight of King Arthur’s court. Lanval possesses the most moral nature of all of King Arthur’s knights, yet even so, the other knights of King Arthur’s round table despise him. The many knights neglect acknowledgment of his nature as does

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Sir Gawain And The Green Knight And Lanval

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    The tales of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Lanval offer their readers insight into a common knightly quandary. Gawain and Lanval are both faced with challenges that threaten their ability to protect, uphold, and affirm their very knightliness. The two knights repeatedly see several knightly traits--- each invaluable to the essence of a knight--- brought into conflict. While the knights are glorified in their respective texts, they are faced with impossible dilemmas; in each story, both reader and knight are confronted with the reality that knightly perfection is unattainable: concessions must be made--- bits and pieces of their honor must be sacrificed.

    Read More

  • Chivalry, by Maurice Keen: Book Review

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Maurice Keen set out to write a book on the components and development of chivalry, he did not know it would be “the last word on a seductive subject,” as stated by one Washington Post reviewer. Instead, Keen was merely satisfying a curiosity that derived from a childhood fascination of stories filled with “knights in shining armour.” This juvenile captivation was then transformed into a serious scholarly interest by Keen’s teachers, the product of which is a work based upon literary, artifactual, and academic evidence. Keen’s Chivalry strives to prove that chivalry existed not as a fantastical distraction, as erroneously portrayed by romances, but instead as an integral and functional feature of medieval politics, religion, and society. The thirteen chapters use an exposition format to quietly champion Keen’s opinion of chivalry as being an element of an essentially secular code of “honour” derived from military practices.

    Read More

  • Solitude in Marie de France's Lanval

    1378 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lanval’s initial introduction to the reader is one that focuses solely on his emotional and physical isolation from the rest of the Arthurian world as “he was far from his heritage” (27-28) and forgotten by King Arthur upon the king’s lavish distribution of “wives and lands” (17) to his “members of the Round Table” (15). The king’s knights are depicted as a “company with no equal in all the world” (16), a description which excludes Lanval. Consequently, the use of the word “company” in this account of his contemporaries is particularly significant as its multiple definitions a...

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: The Medieval Times Knight

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    Once you see the Medieval Times Knight battle you will have a whole new appreciation for knights; a castle garden. It all started with the stairs. When it was time for the show to begin my family and I went to the grand staircase. Once we got there two trumpet players dressed in baggy pants and shirts started playing. Their trumpets were unusually long with banners on them. One banner had a lion's head on it and the other had a shield. The trumpet players played the most crisp and majestic sound I have ever heard. The sound rang through the castle and all of the crowds fell silent.

    Read More

  • Sports In The Gilded Age Essay

    1053 Words  | 3 Pages

    Specifically during the Gilded Age, African Americans, women and the lower-class were all discriminated against in sporting arenas just as they have been in every aspect of American society. Unfortunately early on in the Gilded Age, sports clearly showed the "significant under-representation among key equality and diversity groups in society"(http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=9). However, as sports became more popular, Americans came to the realization that there were barriers that needed to be broken between minorities, women and different social-classes. Changing the face of America, the history of sports started off from being games played primarily for entertainment and leisure, to creating equality amongst everyone. The history of sports has been marked by division and discrimination but also has affected modern popular culture and changing social attitudes and standards towards gender equality, social-class and race.

    Read More

  • Morte d Arthur

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Medieval Period, knights dedicated their lives to following the code of chivalry. In Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, a number of characters performed chivalrous acts to achieve the status of an ideal knight. Their characteristics of respect for women and courtesy for all, helpfulness to the weak, honor, and skill in battle made the characters King Arthur, King Pellinore, and Sir Gryfflette examples of a what knights strove to be like in Medieval society. Because of the examples ofchivalry, Le Morte d’Arthur showed what a knight desired to be, so he could improve theworld in which he lived.

    Read More

  • Revenge is Futile: Le’ Morte d’ Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    Malory, Thomas, and Keith Baines.Malory's Le morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the legends of the Round Table. 1962. Reprint, New York: New American Library, 2010.

    Read More

  • Causes and Effects of the Protestant Reformation

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    Howe, Helen, and Robert T. Howe. A World History: Ancient and Medieval Worlds. Volume 1. White Plains, NY: Longman, 1992. 533.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Social Class Exposed in The Canterbury Tales

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    Roger Babusci et al. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1994. 115-136. Print. “The Medieval Period: 1066-1485.”

    Read More

  • Comparing Plato's Republic and Thomas More's Utopia

    2965 Words  | 6 Pages

    Rice, Eugene E. and Anthony Grafton. The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559. 2nd. ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1994.

    Read More

  • Essay On Sports In Sports

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    “JUST DO IT” is a famous saying for student athletes everywhere, but what if this saying was applied to academics as well? Students love sports,but sometimes sports can affect a student 's academic career. When students have practice after school it takes up valuable time for homework or studying. Grades can diminish greatly during a student 's athletic season. Although people argue that a failing student should be able to participate in sports because it’s good exercise, they should not because grades are important and sports are a distraction.

    Read More

More about Informative Essay: The Medieval Jooust Competition

Open Document