Volume I Part 14 (1/2)

[Sidenote: Ceremonies of the tournament.]

[Sidenote: Arrival of the knights.]

[Sidenote: Publication of their names.]

[Sidenote: Reasons for it.]

The knights were wont to arrive, at the respective hostels or tents a.s.signed them by the kings-at-arms and the heralds somewhile before the day of tournament; and they affixed their armorial ensigns over the entrances, and raised their banners and pennons in front of their parades.

The tourneying knights were known by their heraldry, and this publication of their names was made for a very n.o.ble purpose. If any one of them had been guilty of unchivalric deportment, the matter might be proved before the ladies or other judges of the tournament, and they would strike down his banner. None could tourney who had blasphemed G.o.d, or offended the ladies: he who had been false to grat.i.tude and honour; he who had violated his word, or deserted his brother in arms in battle, was unworthy of appearing at the splendid show; and the high courtesy of chivalry was maintained by the law, that no one could tourney who had without warning a.s.sailed his enemy, or by indirect means had despoiled his territory.[286]

[Sidenote: Disguised knights.]

These rules, however, were not always observed; for cavaliers were often permitted to partake of chivalric sports, though they declined to name themselves to the heralds. If they were novices in arms, and not very confident in their prowess, they would conceal their names till they had won renown; and if the chance of the game were against them, the spectators knew not who had failed to acquire honour. The baron who held the tournament might be the enemy of a gallant knight, who, from prudence, would not wish to make himself known, unless he could appear with the bold front of a conqueror. Sometimes the persons of the knights were not concealed by common armour, but by the guise which fancy had thrown over the fabled knights of yore. A troop of cavaliers calling themselves King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table often dashed into the lists; and their trumpet's defiance was answered by that of another band meeting them at speed from the other end, and calling themselves Charlemagne and his Paladins. This was a beautiful mode of realising the romances of chivalry.

Other disguises were not equally praiseworthy; and I can only state as an historical fact, without attempting to apologise for its madness and impiety, that at a tournament held at Valladolid in the year 1428, the King of Castille was accompanied by twelve knights, who personated the twelve Apostles.[287]

[Sidenote: The lists.]

The place of combat was the lists, a large s.p.a.ce surrounded by ropes or railing in single or double rows. Sometimes there was a wooden division in the lists or area to prevent the horses of the adverse knights from careening against each other.[288] The lists were decorated with the splendid richness of feudal power. Besides the gorgeous array of heraldic insignia near the champions' tents, the galleries, which were made to contain the proud and joyous spectators, were covered with tapestry, representing chivalry both in its warlike and amorous guise: on one side the knight with his bright faulchion smiting away hosts of foes, and on the other kneeling at the feet of beauty.

[Sidenote: Ladies were the judges of tournaments.]

The ladies were the supreme judges of tournaments; and if any complaint was raised against a knight, they adjudged the cause without appeal.[289]

Generally, however, they deputed their power to a knight, who, on account of this distinction, was called the _Knight of Honour_. He bore at the end of his lance a ribbon or some other sign of woman's favour; and with this badge of power he waved the fiercest knights into order and obedience.

The heralds read to the knights the regulations of the sport, and announced the nature of the prize they were to contend for. The dames and maidens sometimes proposed jewels of price, a diamond, a ruby, and a sapphire, as rewards of valour. But the meed of renown was often more military; and the reader of Italian history remembers that at a tournament celebrated at Florence in the year 1468, Lorenzo de' Medici bore away the prize of a helmet of silver with a figure of Mars as the crest. It was the general wont of tournaments for a vanquished knight to forfeit his armour and horse to his victor.

[Sidenote: Delicate courtesy at tournaments.]

Nothing was more beautiful than the courtesy of chivalric times. At a martial game held in Smithfield, during the reign of Richard II., the Queen proposed a crown of gold as the reward of the best jouster, were he a stranger; but if an English knight had the praise, then a rich bracelet was to be his reward. The same polite preference of strangers influenced the chivalry of England, and they promised to give to the lord of best desert, if he were a foreign knight, a fair horse, with his trappings; but if he were one of their own land, then only a falcon should reward him.

[Sidenote: Morning of the sports.]

On the morning of the tournament,

”When the day 'gan spring, Of horse and harneis, noise and clattering, Ther was in the hostelries all about.”[290]

[Sidenote: Knights led by ladies,]

The knights then trooped to the listed plain, with lords, ladies, and damsels, the chivalry and beauty of the country, mounted on gaily-caparisoned steeds and palfreys, whose housings swept the ground.

Sometimes a lady fair led the horse of her chosen knight, and in the song of the minstrel the bridle became a golden chain of love. At the day appointed for a merry tournament, in the reign of Richard II., there issued out of the Tower of London, first, three-score coursers, apparelled for the lists, and on every one a squire of honour riding a soft pace.

Then appeared three-score ladies of honour, mounted on fair palfreys, each lady leading by a chain of silver a knight sheathed in jousting harness.

The fair and gallant troop, with the sound of clarions, trumpets, and other minstrelsy, rode along the streets of London[291], the fronts of the houses s.h.i.+ning with martial glory in the rich banners and tapestries which hung from the windows. They reached Smithfield[292], where the Queen of England and many matrons and damsels were already seated in richly adorned galleries. The ladies that led the knights joined them; the squires of honour alighted from their coursers, and the knights in good order vaulted upon them.

[Sidenote: who imitated the dress of knights.]

This mode of conducting knights to the tournament was not the only pleasing prelude of the sports. As it was in perfect harmony with the general tone of chivalric feeling for knights to array themselves in weeds, which woman's taste had chosen or approved of, so dames and maidens, with equal courtesy, imitated in their attire the semblance of knights. They often rode to the tournament with their girdles ornamented with gold and silver, to resemble military belts, and, sportively, wielding short and light swords, embossed with emblems of love and war.

[Sidenote: Nature of tourneying weapons.]

When the knights reached the lists, their arms were examined by the constable; and such as were of a frame and fabric contrary to good chivalry were rejected. The lances were hurtless, the points being either removed altogether, or covered with broad pieces of wood, called _rockets_. The gallant manners of the age gave such lances the t.i.tle of _Glaives Courtois_. The swords were blunted and rebated. Instances are on record of knights encountering with swords made of whalebone, covered with parchment, the helmet and hauberk being made of leather.