Tournament Day History

Tournament day was a fun event for the whole town. Tournament day consisted of preparation, events, and spoils.
The preparation for tournament day was very important. There were two major reasons a nobleman would host the tournament. Either another nobleman would challenge them to or they would do it for a lady. The nobleman who chose to do so would then announce the rules, location, and supply the prize of the tournament. The area where the tournament took place was called the lists. If you were competing in the tournament you were "in the lists." Tournaments were made as a training exercise, but became very popular and known for being extravagant. They were used by knights to show off their skill, and gain suitors. Knights would arrive on the grounds and stay in the pre-arranged lodgings in the days leading up to the tournament. Then they would divide into
two teams for the main event, the melee a pied. The entire campsite was covered in color, whether it be the competitors, their horses, or the tents. Up until the main event knights could compete in one on one jousts to display their skill. A few days before the tournament stands would be built on the grounds for the spectators, but most people had to stand. Tournament preparation was essential to a good tournament Martinez 2
The largest part of the tournament was the events. The main event of tournaments was the melee a pied, which means melee on foot. This event was the last of the tournament in which two teams of knights would fight in an enclosed area. They would start by rushing at each other, but it would quickly turn into many small fights. Whoever's team the last man standing was on won the event. Kings would take note of the best warrior, and the winner would get a prize like a weapon, or sometimes a bear. Early tournaments were dangerous with a mortality rate of about ten percent, but they became safer when an official set of rules was put into practice. A similar event was the melee a cheval, which means melee on horseback. It was essentially the same as the melee a pied except that the knights were on horseback. The event that became the most popular was the joust. There were two types of joust, a joust a plaisance, and a pas d'armes, a pas d'armes consisted of a knight announcing that he would take on challengers at a certain place and time, then knights could choose to accept and fight him or not. A joust a plaisance was a joust that took place over several days. Knights would fight against one another, and the first person to lose three rounds was eliminated from the tournament. The events were the most interesting part of a tournament
The spoils of the tournament were very diverse.
Sometimes it was gold, sometimes it was a golden vulture. The prizes for tournaments depended on the event and the person who was hosting it. Animals and jewels were very common along with weapons and armor. Knights would also commonly dedicate their performance to a woman by acquiring a token of their favor and attaching it to their helmet or arm. Knights were allowed to pursue married women as well, because the rules of chivalry allowed it. In early tournaments, the loser would have to forfeit Martinez 3 their armor and weapons to the winner, but the armor was very expensive so they put up a fight. For this, knights would hire a person to be his kipper. A kipper was armed with a club or similar bludgeoning weapon. They would knock out the resisting knight and take the armor to their employer. Kipper comes from the word kippa which means to snatch or seize in a Scandinavian language. The spoils of a tournament were all different from each other and depended who was hosting the event.
In conclusion, tournament day was an event that the everyone
enjoyed.