Tournaments were public contests of skill between knights. Anyone could enter a tournament if they had armor, a horse, a sword, and a shield. You could make at tournaments by winning prizes.  Wooden stands were build to seat the nobles who came to the event. Stands were decorated with colorful pennants. There were even some tents put up for more wealthy peasants. Anyone could attend a tournament, including women and children.  Activities at the tournaments included kickboxing and many forms of fighting. Two favorites were consistently the joust and the melees. They were both rough sports. Many knights died. Many horses bolted in panic. Some ran into the audience and killed onlookers. Yet still, the tournaments were a most popular form of entertainment in the Middle Ages. The Joust: The joust was a form of combat between two knights. A low wooden fence separated the knights. The two competing knights started on horseback, holding long sharp lances. A lance was a long pole with a sharpened end. The two knights rode towards each other, with their lances up and ready, each on their own side of the fence. The goal was to knock your opponent off his horse. This was pretty hard to do. Saddles had a back piece that rose up about a foot. This was designed to help a knight keep his seat in battle, and it served the same purpose at the joust.  The Melee: The melee was a team sport. Each team of knights had colored flags on their backs. Each side tried to knock their opponents flags off using clubs and blunt swords.  It is no wonder that many knights died during the tournaments. These were rough sports indeed. The church tried to stop tournaments because they were too violent. They never succeeded. Interest in tournaments began to fade with the widespread introduction of guns.       Joust Joust Contest    Gawain's World   To return to the index,   click on the castle