History of Sports: Jousting
The Middle Ages were very dark and a bloody period of history. A lot of wars and battles were fought and people faced battle in their everyday lives. It was during this period that a sport emerged that is still popular today; jousting. Jousting is now a fun sport or recreational activity that has its origins in warfare and the knights of medieval times. There is a skill and an art to jousting and it was a pretty dangerous sport. The origins of jousting along with the sport itself are both very interesting.
In medieval times, knights were one of three types of soldiers in an army. They along with foot soldiers and archers led armies into battle. Knights were the ancient equivalent of tanks; they were covered in armour from head to toe and were notoriously difficult to defeat. It seems knights were also the wealthiest of all of the soldiers in an army because it was very expensive to become a knight. A horse alone was one of the most expensive items of the time. Even though the Middle Ages had a lot of wars that kept knights busy, there were also a fair share of times of peace. Similar to many other sports that emerged from war tactics, knights needed a way to stay in shape and practise their fighting skills when they were not at battle.
This necessity to stay in shape led to the creation of a tournament that would keep a knight active and limber for battle. Jousting originated as a mock battle in which knights would test their skills in fake battles against other knights. The evil black knights would do battle against the good red knights all watched by cheering crowds. The earliest recorded tournament took place in 1086 AD but may have even been around a century before that. The sport and tournaments grew in popularity in the 1400s and have continued ever since. Jousting was basically when two riders mounted horses in full armour and then charged at one another with long lances or sticks that they tried to hit into each other and knock each other off their horses. The first person to knock the other knight off his horse was declared the winner. Sometimes winning teams would hold the losing team hostage and make them give up their horses and armour.
There were two types of jousting events that took place in the Middle Ages. The first was called Joust a Plaisance which was a tournament which featured a series of elimination battles between knights to determine the winner. The other type of event was called a Pas d'armes or Passage of Arms Jousting event and this was when one particular knight decided to issue a challenge to all other knights that he would defeat them all. These were very romantic times, and it was common for some knights to enter tournaments only looking for fame and glory. Still some knights entered for the lucrative prize money that was usually up for grabs.
Today we have come a long way from these types of tournaments although the spirit still resides in the sport of modern day. Today’s jousting tournaments take place in many places around the world from America to Europe. They are very tame compared to the ancient version of the sport. Today’s tournaments have the objective that a rider has to spear their lance through a number of different sized rings that are hung from various structures. Points are awarded on the number of different rings that can be picked up. Today, jousting is open to all ages and men, women and even children all riding different types of horses. It is still very much a spectator sport today but without the violence and drama of old.
It is interesting to see that many ancient sports are still being played today. One would except that these types of sports would have died out with the passage of time but people have kept them going and they are a spectacle to behold these days. We should try and revive other ancient sports as well because that is one way to keep a nation’s culture and traditions alive.
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