The tournament ground area was large field and hills with a barrier that surrounded it. It would roughly take two or three weeks prior to the tournament for the nobles to send messengers to the surrounding area to announce the event (1). Knights with their squires would arrive a day before the event taking residents in local inns or have the hospitality from fellow knights.
The tournaments were not intended to be violent but to display skill, talent, and courage. The competitor knights fought with blunted swords or lances. To ensure the safely of the competitors a physician was always present. Felinah Duches mentions in the article 13th CENTURY ENGLISH TOURNAMENT “Throughout the middle ages, tourneying was perhaps the most popular of all aristocratic sports. It ranked with hunting and hawking as one of the pastimes in which excellence was sought…As a game, it epitomized all that chivalry stood for – it celebrated the skills and virtues of the knightly classes; the handling of weapons and horses (as well as) courage and perseverance in the face of personal discomfort and danger (The tourneyer could) win reputation and renown through personal attributes alone”. (1). Women would also attend the tournaments but, would not join. Ladies most of the time would be found near smaller tournament in villages and towns that were more centered for spectators.
STAY TUNE FOR THE NEXT PART OF THE SERIES. I WILL GO IN MORE DETAIL ON TOURNAMENT JOUSTING.
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WORK CITES
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Tournament.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 28 Sept. 2012, www.britannica.com/sports/tournament-medieval-military-games
Duches, Felinah . “Http://Sirguillaume.com/Wp-Content/Uploads/2012/01/English-
Tournaments.pdf.” 13th CENTURY ENGLISH TOURNAMENT , 2004, pp. 1–8., sirguillaume.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/English-Tournaments.pdf
Medieval Tournaments, www.ancientfortresses.org/medieval-tournaments.htm
Roberts , Mike . “Medievalchronicles.com.” Medieval Tournaments, www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-knights/medieval-tournaments/