Jousting In The Late Middle Ages

The use of Heralds dates back to the Medieval Era. They were originally messengers hired by kings and nobles to convey messages or proclamations. During battles, for example, the heralds would be sent to relay messages of truce or to decide victory. The battles were sometimes started by people of power sending their heralds to challenge other armies. In the late Middle Ages, they began to be used as overseers of tournaments and the masters of ceremony. As the masters of ceremony, they were required to organize, announce, and referee competitors as well as decided whether a competitor had a valid claim to knighthood and could compete at all. They also became responsible for cataloging the granting or adoption of arms. The heralds would often
Most people believe jousting was simply a form of chivalry and a way to show one's strength with the hope of catching the eye of a special lady. While that was an upside, it was not the main reason why jousting began nor why it was so popular. Jousting began as nothing more than training for knights. At the time, all rich landowners and nobility were required to send knights to fight for the king. With the adoption of and effectiveness of heavy Calvary, a knight's horsemanship played a big role in whether a knight would live and achieve his quest for glory, or die. Jousting was a way to practice horsemanship while honing one's accuracy all the while. It began as a form of mock combat- to hone in on the skills that would later prove important in
As you can imagine, two five-hundred pound horses running full speed straight at each other was quite dangerous and often led to serious and often fatal injuries. Later, instead of charging straight at each other, jousters would ride on opposite sides of a cloth (or wooden) divider called a tilt. They would attempt to hit their opponent's shield, helmet, or knock them off of their horse. Individual jousters would show their skill by galloping full speed and attempting to run their lances through a metal ring. In fact, most European carousels have a metal ring one can attempt to grab to win a free ride. An individual rider could also try the quintain joust. In this type of joust, a knight would aim for the center of a dummy. If he did not hit the dummy directly in the center, the quintain would swing around and knock the jouster off of his horse. Though most of the jousts were simply for practice, there were occasions where the joust was a fight to the death