The Joust

From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki

Title: The Joust

Author: Dark Rose

Chapter 1 - Origins Of Jousting

Jousting is a combative compatition between two mounted and armored individuals carrying lances.

At some time it was popular not only for them to carry lances, but swords and rondels as well while on horse back. The joust was usually set on a best out of three basis.

Considerable honor and fame could be gained from the joust.

When it originated though, it was basically only for knight's training purposes.

It soon evolved into a very popular spectator sport. Everybody wanted to see the gore and the gold. Back when they were just beginning the sport of jousting though, the reward was the armor of the other knight, that was anything but inexpensive.

There are two types of jousting. Jousting Au Plaisance, means that you are jousting for the entertainment of the audience, yourself, and your competetor.

Jousting Au Outrance is jousting mostly during wartime on battlefields and such. Au Outrance means to the death. Whoever loses won't get a rematch.

In another general area, there was one basic type of joust. The one we are all mainly familiar with. It has not a name, but it does have a very different technique then both of the jousts previously mentioned. This English joust had different rules and techniques completely.

Chapter 2 - Rules of the English Joust

In this version, points were rewarded for the breaking of lances. There was a minimum length you could break off the lance to get points.In this style, the jousters would be separated only by a low wooden fence.

Points were rewarded if a rider was knocked off of his horse by the opponent. The joust was not continued on the ground after falling off, though.

The lance had to break at a strike at the opponent. However certain breaks, like breaking at the saddle or otherwise scored no points. There were many that could earn you points as well though. One point was rewarded for a strike at the torso, or upper body, two points were added to the score if one knight was able to make a break at the other knight's helmet. The highest score, three points, was given to a person if they made a break and managed to knock the opponent off of his horse. At this occurence the knight who did so, usually received the horse as well.

Chapter 3 - Traning for the Joust

It is said that there are very many techniques used for training for the joust.

One popular method was the wooden horse. A few strong men would pull a wooden hors as fast as they could, as the man practicing on horse back would use his lance just as if the whole thing was real. He would try to hit a rectangular board lined with a thick rope to prevent the slippage of the lance. When they trained with a real horse, they had a target that revolved when it was used. This target was called the quintain. It had a square board, that was on a revolving pole.

Through the ages, no matter where they were from, what armor they were wearing, whether they were fighting for entertainment or brutal combat, jousting was a very popular option for all, when it came down to it.