CHAPTER I.
I.—TOURNAMENT.
Every kind of military combat made in conformity to certain rules, and practised by the knights and their esquires for diversion or gallantry, was anciently called a tournament: yet these amusements frequently differed materially from each other, and have been distinguished accordingly by various denominations in the modern times. They may however, I think, be all of them included under the four following heads; tilting and combating at the quintain, tilting at the ring, tournaments, and justs.
All these, and especially the two last, were favourite pastimes with the nobility of the middle ages. The progress and decline of tournaments in this country has already been mentioned in a general way; [438] I shall in this place be a little more particular with respect to the nature and distinction of these celebrated diversions.
II.—THE QUINTAIN.
Tilting or combating at the quintain is certainly a military exercise of high antiquity, and antecedent, I doubt not, to the justs and tournaments. The quintain, originally, was nothing more than the trunk of a tree or post set up for the practice of the tyros in chivalry. [439] Afterward a staff or spear was fixed in the earth, and a shield being hung upon it, was the mark to strike at: [440] the dexterity of the performer consisted in smiting the shield in such a manner as to break the ligatures and bear it to the ground. In process of time this diversion was improved, and instead of the staff and the shield, the resemblance of a human figure carved in wood was introduced. To render the appearance of this figure more formidable, it was generally made in the likeness of a Turk or a Saracen armed at all points, [441] bearing a shield upon his left arm, and brandishing a club or a sabre with his right. Hence this exercise was called by the Italians, "running at the armed man, or at the Saracen." The quintain thus fashioned was placed upon a pivot, and so contrived as to move round with facility. In running at this figure it was necessary for the horseman to direct his lance with great adroitness, and make his stroke upon the forehead between the eyes or upon the nose; for if he struck wide of those parts, especially upon the shield, the quintain turned about with much velocity, and, in case he was not exceedingly careful, would give him a severe blow upon the back with the wooden sabre held in the right hand, which was considered as highly disgraceful to the performer, while it excited the laughter and ridicule of the spectators. [442] When many were engaged in running at the Saracen, the conqueror was declared from the number of strokes he had made, and the value of them; for instance, if he struck the image upon the top of the nose between the eyes, it was reckoned for three; if below the eyes, upon the nose, for two; if under the nose to the point of the chin, for one; all other strokes were not counted; but whoever struck upon the shield and turned the quintain round, was not permitted to run again upon the same day, but forfeited his courses as a punishment for his unskilfulness. [443]
III.—VARIOUS QUINTAINS.
The quintain in its original state was not confined to the exercise of young warriors on horseback: it was an object of practice for them on foot, in order to acquire strength and skill in assaulting an enemy with their swords, spears, and battle-axes. I met with a manuscript in the Royal Library, [444] written early in the fourteenth century, entitled "Les Etablissmentz des Chevalerie," wherein the author, who appears to have been a man scientifically skilled in the military tactics of his time, strongly recommends a constant and attentive attack of the pel (from the Latin palus), for so he calls the post-quintain. The pel, he tells us, ought to be six feet in height above the ground, and so firmly fixed therein as not to be moved by the strokes that were laid upon it. The practitioner was then to assail the pel, armed with sword and shield in the same manner as he would an adversary, aiming his blows as if at the head, the face, the arms, the legs, the thighs, and the sides; taking care at all times to keep himself so completely covered with his shield, as not to give any advantage supposing he had a real enemy to cope with: so far my author; and prefixed to the treatise is a neat little painting representing the pel, with a young soldier performing his exercise, which is here copied.
Below is the quintain in the form of a Saracen, from Pluvinel.
An English poet who has taken up the subject of chivalry under the title of "Knighthood and Battle," [445] describes the attack of the pel in the following curious manner:
Both the treatises commend the use of arms of double weight upon these occasions, in order to acquire strength, and give the warrior greater facility in wielding the weapons of the ordinary size; to which the poet adds,
The lines just now quoted evidently allude to the quintain in the form of a Turk or Saracen, which, I presume, was sometimes used upon this occasion. The pel was also set up as a mark to cast at with spears, as the same poet informs us:
And likewise for the practice of archery:
IV.—DERIVATION OF QUINTAIN.
This exercise is said to have received the name of quintain from Quinctus or Quintas the inventor, [457] but who he was, or when he lived, is not ascertained. The game itself, I doubt not, is of remote origin, and especially the exercise of the pel, or post quintain, which is spoken of at large by Vegetius; and from him the substance of what the two authors above quoted have said upon the subject is evidently taken. He tells us that this species of mock combat was in common use among the Romans, who caused the young military men to practise at it twice in the day, at morning and at noon; he also adds that, they used clubs and javelins, heavier than common, and fought at the pel as if they were opposing an adversary, &c. [458]
In the code of laws established by the emperor Justinian, the quintain is mentioned as a well known sport; and permitted to be continued, upon condition that it should be performed with pointless spears, contrary to the ancient usage, which it seems required them to have heads or points. [459]
V.—THE WATER QUINTAIN.
To the best of my recollection, Fitzstephen is the first of our writers who speaks of an exercise of this kind, which he tells us was usually practised by the young Londoners upon the water during the Easter holidays. A pole or mast, he says, is fixed in the midst of the Thames, with a shield strongly attached to it; and a boat being previously placed at some distance, is driven swiftly towards it by the force of oars and the violence of the tide, having a young man standing in the prow, who holds a lance in his hand with which he is to strike the shield: and if he be dexterous enough to break the lance against it and retain his place, his most sanguine wishes are satisfied: on the contrary, if the lance be not broken, he is sure to be thrown into the water, and the vessel goes away without him, but at the same time two other boats are stationed near to the shield, and furnished with many young persons who are in readiness to rescue the champion from danger. It appears to have been a very popular pastime; for the bridge, the wharfs, and the houses near the river, were crowded with people on this occasion, who come, says the author, to see the sports and make themselves merry. [460] The water quintain, taken from a manuscript of the fourteenth century, in the Royal Library, [461] where a square piece of board is substituted for the shield, is represented below.
VI.—RUNNING AT THE QUINTAIN PRACTISED BY THE LONDONERS, AND WHY.
Matthew Paris mentions the quintain by name, but he speaks of it in a cursory manner as a well known pastime, and probably would have said nothing about it, had not the following circumstance given him the occasion. In the thirty-eighth year of the reign of Henry III. A.D. 1254, the young Londoners, who, he tells us, were expert horsemen, assembled together to run at the quintain, and set up a peacock as a reward for the best performer. The king then keeping his court at Westminster, some of his domestics came into the city to see the pastime, where they behaved in a very disorderly manner, and treated the Londoners with much insolence, calling them cowardly knaves and rascally clowns, which the Londoners resented by beating them soundly; the king, however, was incensed at the indignity put upon his servants, and not taking into consideration the provocation on their parts, fined the city one thousand marks. [462] Some have thought, these fellows were sent thither purposely to promote a quarrel, it being known that the king was angry with the citizens of London for refusing to join in the crusade. [463]
We may here observe, that the rules of chivalry, at this time, would not admit of any person, under the rank of an esquire, to enter the lists as a combatant at the justs and tournaments; for which reason the burgesses and yeomen had recourse to the exercise of the quintain, which was not prohibited to any class of the people: but, as the performers were generally young men whose finances would not at all times admit of much expense, the quintain was frequently nothing better than a stake fixed into the ground, with a flat piece of board made fast to the upper part of it, as a substitute for the shield that had been used in times remote; and such as could not procure horses, contented themselves with running at this mark on foot. The following representation of a lad mounted on a wooden horse with four wheels, and drawn by two of his comrades tilting at the immoveable quintain, is taken from a MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, dated 1344. [464]
Others, again, made use of a moveable quintain, which was also very simply constructed; consisting only of a cross-bar turning upon a pivot, with a broad part to strike against on one side, and a bag of earth or sand depending from the other: there was a double advantage in these kind of quintains, they were cheap and easily to be procured. Their form, at an early period in the fourteenth century, is represented in the engraving above, and by the following from the same manuscript. Both these quintains are marked, I know not why, with the figure of a horse-shoe.
VII.—MANNER OF EXERCISING WITH THE QUINTAIN.
But to return: Stow, in his Survey of London, having related the above-mentioned disturbance from Matthew Paris, goes on as follows: "This exercise of running at the quintain, was practised in London, as well in the summer as in the winter, but especially at the feast of Christmas. I have seen," continues my author, "a quintain set upon Cornhill by Leadenhall, where the attendants of the lords of merry disports have run and made great pastime; for he that hit not the board end of the quintain was laughed to scorn, and he that hit it full, if he rode not the faster, had a sound blow upon his neck with a bag full of sand hanged on the other end." [465] But the form of the modern quintain is more fully described by Dr. Plott, in his History of Oxfordshire: [466] "They first set a post perpendicularly into the ground, and then place a slender piece of timber on the top of it on a spindle, with a board nailed to it on one end, and a bag of sand hanging at the other; against this board they anciently rode with spears. Now I saw it at Deddington in this county, only with strong staves, which violently bringing about the bag of sand, if they make not good speed away, it strikes them in the neck or shoulders, and sometimes knocks them off their horses; the great design of this sport being to try the agility both of horse and man, and to break the board. It is now," he adds, "only in request at marriages, and set up in the way for young men to ride at as they carry home the bride; he that breaks the board being counted the best man."
VIII.—THE QUINTAIN, A PASTIME BEFORE QUEEN ELIZABETH.
Among other sports exhibited for the amusement of queen Elizabeth, during her residence at Kenilworth Castle, in Warwickshire, then the seat of the earl of Leicester, who entertained her majesty there for several days, A.D. 1575, there was, says Laneham, "a solemn country bridal; when in the castle was set up a comely quintane for feats at armes, where, in a great company of young men and lasses, the bridegroom had the first course at the quintane, and broke his spear 'tres hardiment' (very boldly, or with much courage). But his mare in his manage did a little stumble, that much adoe had his manhood to sit in his saddle. But after the bridegroom had made his course, ran the rest of the band, awhile in some order, but soon after tag and rag, cut and long tail; where the speciality of the sport was to see how some for his slackness had a good bob with the bag, and some for his haste to topple downright, and come tumbling to the post: some striving so much at the first setting out, that it seemed a question between man and beast, whether the race should be performed on horseback or on foot; and some put forth with spurs, would run his race byas, among the thickest of the throng, that down they came together hand over head. Another while he directed his course to the quintane, his judgment would carry him to a mare among the people; another would run and miss the quintane with his staff, and hit the board with his head." [467] This whimsical description may possibly be somewhat exaggerated, but no doubt the inexpertness of the riders subjected them to many laughable accidents.
IX.—TILTING AT A WATER BUTT.
Below is a representation from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, dated 1343, of three boys tilting jointly, at a tub full of water, which is to be struck in such a manner as not to throw it over them. I presume they are learners only, and that therefore they are depicted without their clothes; they undressed themselves, I apprehend, in order to save their garments from being wetted in case the attempt should prove unsuccessful.
This farcical pastime, according to Menestrier, was practised occasionally in Italy, where, he says, a large bucket filled with water is set up, against which they tilt their lances; and if the stroke be not made with great dexterity, the bucket is overset and the lanceman thoroughly drenched with the contents. [468]
X.—THE HUMAN QUINTAIN.
I shall here say a few words concerning the human quintain, which has escaped the notice of most of the writers upon this subject; it is, however, very certain that the military men in the middle ages would sometimes practise with their lances at a man completely armed; whose business it was to act upon the defensive, and parry their blows with his shield. A representation of this exercise is in the engraving below, taken from a Bodleian manuscript, dated 1344.
This representation is justified by the concurrent testimony of an ancient author, cited by Ducange, who introduces one knight saying to another, "I do not by any means esteem you sufficiently valiant (si bons chevalier) for me to take a lance and just with you; therefore I desire you to retire some distance from me, and then run at me with all your force, and I will be your quintain." [469] The satirist Hall, who wrote in the time of Elizabeth, evidently alludes to a custom of this kind, in a satire [470] first printed in 1599, when he was twenty-five years of age. He says:
XI.—EXERCISES PROBABLY DERIVED FROM THE QUINTAIN.
The living quintain, according to the representation just given, is seated upon a stool with three legs without any support behind; and the business, I presume, of the tilter, was to overthrow him; while, on his part, he was to turn the stroke of the pole or lance on one side with his shield, and by doing so with adroitness occasion the fall of his adversary.
Something of a similar kind of exercise, though practised in a different way, appears in the following engraving, where a man seated, holds up one of his feet, opposed to the foot of another man, who standing upon one leg endeavours to thrust him backwards.
And again where his opponent is seated in a swing and drawn back by a third person, so that the rope being left at liberty in the swing, the man of course descended with great force, and striking the foot of his antagonist with much violence, no doubt very frequently overthrew him.
The two last sports were probably never exhibited by military men, but by rustics and others in imitation of the human quintain. The contest between the two figures below, seems to depend upon the breaking of the stick which both of them hold, or is a struggle to overthrow each other.
The following engraving from a manuscript book of prayers of the fourteenth century, in the possession of Mr. Douce, represents two men with a pole or headless spear, who grasp it at either end, and are contending which shall dispossess the other of his hold.
This feat the single figure, represented below from the Oxford MS. of 1344, seems to have achieved, and is bearing away the pole in triumph. [471]
XII.—RUNNING AT THE RING.
Tilting or, as it is most commonly called, running at the ring, was also a fashionable pastime in former days; the ring is evidently derived from the quintain, and indeed the sport itself is frequently called running or tilting at the quintain. With the Italians, says Du Cange, quintano sometimes signifies a ring, hence the Florentines say, "correr alla quintana," which with us is called running at the ring: the learned author produces several quotations to the same purpose. [472] Commenius also, in his vocabulary, [473] says, "At this day tilting at the quintain is used where a hoop or ring is struck with a lance." Hence it is clear, that the ring was put in the place of the quintain. The excellency of the pastime was to ride at full speed, and thrust the point of the lance through the ring, which was supported in a case or sheath, by the means of two springs, but might be readily drawn out by the force of the stroke, and remain upon the top of the lance.
Above is the form of the ring, with the sheath, and the manner in which it was attached to the upright supporter, from Pluvinel. The letter A indicates the ring detached from the sheath; B represents the sheath with the ring inserted and attached to the upright post, in which there are several holes to raise or lower the ring to suit the conveniency of the performer. The following engraving, also from Pluvinel, represents the method of performing the exercise.
At the commencement of the seventeenth century, the pastime of running at the ring was reduced to a science. Pluvinel, who treats this subject at large, says, the length of the course was measured, and marked out according to the properties of the horses that were to run: for one of the swiftest kind, one hundred paces from the starting place to the ring, and thirty paces beyond it, to stop him, were deemed necessary; but for such horses as had been trained to the exercise, and were more regular in their movements, eighty paces to the ring, and twenty beyond it, were thought to be sufficient. The ring, says the same author, ought to be placed with much precision, somewhat higher than the left eyebrow of the practitioner, when sitting upon his horse; because it was necessary for him to stoop a little in running towards it. [474]
In tilting at the ring, three courses were allowed to each candidate; and he who thrust the point of his lance through it the oftenest, or, in case no such thing was done, struck it the most frequently, was the victor: but if it so happened, that none of them did either the one or the other, or that they were equally successful, the courses were to be repeated until the superiority of one put an end to the contest. [475]
XIII.—DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TOURNAMENTS AND JUSTS.
Tournaments and justs, though often confounded with each other, differed materially. The tournament was a conflict with many knights, divided into parties and engaged at the same time. The just was a separate trial of skill, when only one man was opposed to another. The latter was frequently included in the former, but not without many exceptions; for the just, according to the laws of chivalry, might be made exclusive of the tournament. [476]
In the romantic ages, both these diversions were held in the highest esteem, being sanctioned by the countenance and example of the nobility, and prohibited to all below the rank of an esquire; but at the same time the justs were considered as less honourable than the tournaments; for the knight who had paid his fees and been admitted to the latter, had a right to engage in the former without any further demand, but he who had paid the fees for justing only, was by no means exempted from the fees belonging to the tournament, as will be found in the laws relative to the lance, sword, and helmet, a little further on.
XIV. ORIGIN OF THE TOURNAMENT.
It is an opinion generally received, that the tournament originated from a childish pastime practised by the Roman youths called Ludus Troiæ (the Troy game), said to have been so named because it was derived from the Trojans, and first brought into Italy by Ascanius the son of Æneas. Virgil has given a description of this pastime, according to the manner, I presume, in which it was practised at Rome. If he be accurate, it seems to have been nothing more than a variety of evolutions performed on horseback. The poet tells us, that the youth were each of them armed with two little cornal spears, headed with iron.
Having passed in review before their parents, upon a signal given, they divided themselves into three distinct companies; and each company consisted of twelve champions exclusive of its appropriate leader, when, according to Trapp's translation, which if not so poetical is more literal than Dryden's, the tutor of Ascanius, and overseer of the sports,
Under the denomination of the first emperors, these games were publicly practised by the young nobility in the circus at Rome. [477]
The same kind of sports, or others bearing close resemblance to them, were established in this kingdom in the twelfth century, and probably at a much earlier period. Fitzstephen, an author then living, informs us, "that every Sunday in Lent, immediately after dinner, it was customary for great crowds of young Londoners mounted on war horses, well trained, to perform the necessary turnings and evolutions, to ride into the fields in distinct bands, armed hastilibus ferro dempto, with shields and headless lances; where they exhibited the representation of battles, and went through a variety of warlike exercises: at the same time many of the young noblemen who had not received the honour of knighthood, came from the king's court, and from the houses of the great barons, to make trial of their skill in arms; the hope of victory animating their minds. The youth being divided into opposite companies, encountered one another: in one place they fled, and others pursued, without being able to overtake them; in another place one of the bands overtook and overturned the other." According to Virgil, the Roman youth presented their lances towards their opponents in a menacing position, but without striking with them:
The young Londoners in all probability went further, and actually tilted one against the other. At any rate, the frequent practice of this exercise must have taught them, insensibly as it were, to become excellent horsemen.
XV.—THE TROY GAME.
I am clearly of opinion, that the justs and tournaments arose by slow degrees from the exercises appointed for the instruction of the military tyros in using their arms, but which of the two had the preeminence in point of antiquity cannot easily be determined; we know that both of them were in existence at the time the Troy game was practised by the citizens of London, and also that they were not permitted to be exercised in this kingdom.
In the middle ages, when the tournaments were in their splendour, the Troy game was still continued, though in a state of improvement, and distinguished by a different denomination it was then called in Latin, behordicum, and in French, bohourt or behourt, and was a kind of lance game, in which the young nobility exercised themselves, to acquire address in handling of their arms, and to prove their strength. Some authors, and with great appearance of truth, derive this word from burdis or bordis, to jest, joke, or make game, and therefore it will properly signify a playful pastime, or combat, such as youth might engage in. [478] The word behordicum will, however, admit of a more enlarged signification; from a quotation which is given by Du Cange, we find it was occasionally used for running at the quintain:
Which will run thus in English: They raised a quintain in the midst of a meadow, and the youth tilted at it with their lances. [479] In fact, I apprehend, it might be applied to any of the military exercises performed by the young men, either for pastime or improvement. Menestrier says, they formerly used hollow canes instead of lances, and for that reason it was also called the cane game. I find no authority to place the cane game at an earlier period than the twelfth century, when probably it originated from the following circumstance related by Hoveden. [480] He tells us, that Richard I. of England, being at Messina, the capital of Sicily, on his way to the Holy Land, went with his cavalcade one Sunday afternoon to see the popular sports exhibited without the walls of the city, and upon their return they met in the street a rustic driving an ass loaded with hollow canes, "arundinas quas cannas vocant." The king and his attendants took each of them a cane, and began, by way of frolic, to tilt with them one against another: it so happened, that the king's opponent was William de Barres, a knight of high rank in the household of the French king, "quidam miles optimus de familia regis Franciæ." In the encounter they broke both their canes, and the monarch's hood was torn by the stroke he received, "fracta est cappa regis," which made him angry; when riding with great force against the knight, he caused his horse to stumble with him, and while he was attempting to cast him to the ground, his own saddle turned round and he himself was overthrown. The king was soon provided with another horse, stronger than the former, which he mounted, and again assaulted de Barres, endeavouring by violence to throw him from his horse, but he could not, because the knight clung fast to the horse's neck. Robert de Bretuil, newly created earl of Leicester, laid hold upon de Barres to assist the king, but Richard forbad him to interfere, desiring that they might be left to themselves. When they had contended a long time, adding threats to their actions, "et dictis et factis," the king was much provoked, and commanded him to leave the place and appear no more before him, declaring at the same time, that he would ever afterwards consider him as an enemy; but through the mediation of the king of France, a reconciliation was effected, and the knight was again restored to the favour of the monarch.
XVI.—TOURNAMENTS.
Our word tournament, or tournoyement, which signifies to turn or wheel about in a circular manner, [481] comes from the French word tournoy, which, according to the generality of authors, is derived from the Latin troja. This does not appear consistent with any reasonable analogy. I am rather led to adopt the opinion of Fauchet, [482] who thinks it came from the practice of the knights running par tour, that is, by turns, at the quintain, and wheeling about successively in a circle to repeat their course; but, says he, in process of time they improved upon this pastime, and to make it more respectable ran one at another, which certainly bore a much greater similitude to a real engagement, especially when they were divided into large parties, and meeting together combatted with clubs or maces, beating each other soundly, without any favour or paying the least respect to rank or dignity. In one of these encounters, Robert earl of Cleremont, son of Saint Louis, and head of the house of Bourbon, was so severely bruised by the blows he received from his antagonist, that he was never well afterwards. This, says Fauchet, was possibly the cause of the ordinance, that the kings and princes should not afterwards enter the lists as combatants at these tournaments; which law indeed, continues he, has been ill observed by the succeeding kings, and in our time by Henry II., who, unfortunately for France, was killed at the justs he made in honour of his daughter's marriage. It was, in fact, very common for some of the combatants to be beat or thrown from their horses, trampled upon and killed upon the spot, or hurt most grievously. Indeed, a tournament at this period was rarely finished without some disastrous accident; and it was an established law, that if any one of the combatants killed or wounded another, he should be indemnified; which made them less careful respecting the consequences, especially when any advantage gave them an opportunity of securing the conquest. Tournaments were consequently interdicted by the ecclesiastical decrees.
The following quotation from an ancient manuscript romance, in the Harleian collection, entitled Ipomydon, [483] plainly indicates the performance of the tournament in an open field; and also, that great numbers of the combatants were engaged at one time, promiscuously encountering with each other: we learn moreover, that the champion who remained unhorsed at the conclusion of the sports, besides the honour he attained, sometimes received a pecuniary reward.