A report on Knight and Jousting

A 14th century depiction of the 13th century German knight Hartmann von Aue, from the Codex Manesse.
Renaissance-era depiction of a joust in traditional or "high" armour, based on then-historical late medieval armour (Paulus Hector Mair, de arte athletica, 1540s)
A Norman knight slaying Harold Godwinson (Bayeux tapestry, c. 1070). The rank of knight developed in the 12th century from the mounted warriors of the 10th and 11th centuries.
Depiction of a late 13th-century joust in the Codex Manesse. Joust by Walther von Klingen.
The battle between the Turks and Christian knights during the Ottoman wars in Europe
Depiction of a standing joust in an Alsatian manuscript of ca. 1420 (CPG 359); protection for the legs of the riders is integrated into the horse armour.
David I of Scotland knighting a squire
The Stechzeug of John the Constant (c. 1500). The shield strapped to his left shoulder is called an ecranche.
The miles Christianus allegory (mid-13th century), showing a knight armed with virtues and facing the vices in mortal combat. The parts of his armour are identified with Christian virtues, thus correlating essential military equipment with the religious values of chivalry: The helmet is spes futuri gaudii (hope of future bliss), the shield (here the shield of the Trinity) is fides (faith), the armour is caritas (charity), the lance is perseverantia (perseverance), the sword is verbum Dei (the word of God), the banner is regni celestis desiderium (desire for the kingdom of heaven), the horse is bona voluntas (good will), the saddle is Christiana religio (Christian religion), the saddlecloth is humilitas (humility), the reins are discretio (discretion), the spurs are disciplina (discipline), the stirrups are propositum boni operis (proposition of good work), and the horse's four hooves are delectatio, consensus, bonum opus, consuetudo (delight, consent, good work, and exercise).
Jousting at Middelaldercentret
Tournament from the Codex Manesse, depicting the mêlée
Armor of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, 1549
Elements of a harness of the late style of Gothic plate armour that was a popular style in the mid 15th to early 16th century (depiction made in the 18th century)
Parade Armour of Henry II of France, c. 1553-55
Page from King René's Tournament Book (BnF Ms Fr 2695)
Armour for King Henry VIII by Matthew Bisanz, 1544
The Battle of Pavia in 1525. Landsknecht mercenaries with arquebus.
Armour worn by King Henry VIII
Fortified house – a family seat of a knight (Schloss Hart by the Harter Graben near Kindberg, Austria)
The Battle of Grunwald between Poland-Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights in 1410
Pippo Spano, the member of the Order of the Dragon
The English fighting the French knights at the Battle of Crécy in 1346
Miniature from Jean Froissart Chronicles depicting the Battle of Montiel (Castilian Civil War, in the Hundred Years' War)
A modern artistic rendition of a chevalière of the Late Middle Ages.
A battle of the Reconquista from the Cantigas de Santa Maria
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The Battle of Pavia in 1525. Landsknecht mercenaries with arquebus.

Knighthood in the Middle Ages was closely linked with horsemanship (and especially the joust) from its origins in the 12th century until its final flowering as a fashion among the high nobility in the Duchy of Burgundy in the 15th century.

- Knight

From 10 July to 9 August 1434, the Leonese Knight Suero de Quiñones and ten of his companions encamped in a field beside a bridge and challenged each knight who wished to cross it to a joust.

- Jousting
A 14th century depiction of the 13th century German knight Hartmann von Aue, from the Codex Manesse.

4 related topics with Alpha

Overall
Norman cavalry attacks the Anglo-Saxon shield wall at the Battle of Hastings as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry. The lances are held with a one-handed over-the-head grip.

Lance

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Spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier .

Spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier .

Norman cavalry attacks the Anglo-Saxon shield wall at the Battle of Hastings as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry. The lances are held with a one-handed over-the-head grip.
Lance head, Warring States period
Warring States lance head (pi)
A lance head from the reenactment of the Eglinton Tournament (1839)
Drawing from The War Illustrated representing a Russian Don Cossack lancing a German infantryman.
Russian lance "cavalry pike", type of 1910.

Though best known as a military and sporting weapon carried by European knights and men-at-arms, the use of lances was widespread throughout Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa wherever suitable mounts were available.

The term from the 17th century came to refer specifically to spears not thrown, used for thrusting by heavy cavalry, and especially in jousting.

Konrad von Limpurg as a knight being armed by his lady in the Codex Manesse (early 14th century)

Chivalry

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Informal and varying code of conduct developed between 1170 and 1220.

Informal and varying code of conduct developed between 1170 and 1220.

Konrad von Limpurg as a knight being armed by his lady in the Codex Manesse (early 14th century)
God Speed by English artist Edmund Leighton, 1900: depicting an armoured knight departing for war and leaving his beloved
Reconstruction of a Roman cavalryman (eques)
Knights of Christ by Jan van Eyck
Depiction of chivalric ideals in Romanticism (Stitching the Standard by Edmund Blair Leighton: the lady prepares for a knight to go to war)

It was associated with the medieval Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours were governed by chivalrous social codes.

The joust remained the primary example of knightly display of martial skill throughout the Renaissance (the last Elizabethan Accession Day tilt was held in 1602).

Scotland Forever! [crop] depicting the cavalry charge of the Royal Scots Greys at the Battle of Waterloo.

Horses in warfare

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The first evidence of horses in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons.

The first evidence of horses in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons.

Scotland Forever! [crop] depicting the cavalry charge of the Royal Scots Greys at the Battle of Waterloo.
A soldier in World War I with his mule.
Chariots and archers were weapons of war in Ancient Egypt.
Haniwa horse statuette, complete with saddle and stirrups, 6th century, Kofun period
The "War Panel" of the Standard of Ur
A Qin dynasty sculpture of a chariot with horses and rider from the Terracotta Army unearthed near the tomb of China's first emperor Qin Shihuangdi, Xi'an, China, 3rd century BC
Depiction of a Sasanian Persian Cataphract from Taq-e Bostan
Life-size model depicting c. 1850 horse artillery team with a light artillery piece
A horserider of probable Xiongnu origin: the rider wears a hairbun characteristic of the oriental steppes, and his horse has characteristically Xiongnu horse trappings. 2nd–1st century BC. Excavated in Saksanokhur (near Farkhor), Tajikistan. National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan.
Manuscript illustration of the Mahabharata War, depicting warriors fighting on horse chariots
Yabusame archers, Edo period
Spanish and Moorish light cavalry (jinetes) skirmish at the 1431 Battle of La Higueruela
A re-imagination of Louis III and Carloman's 879 victory over the Vikings; Jean Fouquet, Grandes Chroniques de France
Jousting is a sport that evolved out of heavy cavalry practice.
Chasseurs of the Guard (light cavalry) to the left and cuirassier (Heavy cavalry) to the right, at the battle of Friedland.
"Napoleon I with his Generals" by Ludwig Elsholtz. This painting shows light cavalry horses which come into use as officer's mounts in 18th- and 19th-century Europe.
Kanem-Bu warriors armed with spears. The Earth and Its Inhabitants, 1892.
Native Americans quickly adopted the horse and were highly effective light cavalry. Comanche-Osage fight. George Catlin, 1834
Confederate general Robert E. Lee and Traveller. Cavalry played a significant role in the American Civil War.
Australian Imperial Force light horsemen, 1914
Polish Cavalry during a Polish Army manoeuvre in late 1930s.
A memorial to the horses that served in the Second Boer War.
U.S. Special Operations Forces, members of Task Force Dagger, and Afghanistan Commander Abdul Rashid Dostum on horseback in the Dari-a-Souf Valley, Afghanistan, in October 2001.
US Air Force Special Operations Command Combat Controller Bart Decker rides a horse in Afghanistan in the early stages of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Mounted police in Poznań, Poland
Horse Cavalry Detachment of the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division demonstrating a mock cavalry charge at Fort Bliss, Texas

Muslim warriors relied upon light cavalry in their campaigns throughout Northern Africa, Asia, and Europe beginning in the 7th and 8th centuries AD. Europeans used several types of war horses in the Middle Ages, and the best-known heavy cavalry warrior of the period was the armoured knight.

The war horse was also seen in hastiludes – martial war games such as the joust, which began in the 11th century both as sport and to provide training for battle.

This 15th-century depiction of Charlemagne and Pope Adrian I shows a well-bred medieval horse with arched neck, refined head and elegant gait.

Horses in the Middle Ages

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Horses in the Middle Ages differed in size, build and breed from the modern horse, and were, on average, smaller.

Horses in the Middle Ages differed in size, build and breed from the modern horse, and were, on average, smaller.

This 15th-century depiction of Charlemagne and Pope Adrian I shows a well-bred medieval horse with arched neck, refined head and elegant gait.
This 15th-century battle scene shows the powerfully-built horses used in warfare. From The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello.
A Mughal nobleman (Sowar) on horseback.
Medieval people engaging in falconry from horseback. The horses appear to have the body type of palfreys or jennets. from the Codex Manesse.
Carolingian warrior on a war horse with lance, round shield, chainmail and spangenhelm, 8th century
A later print of a 15th-century joust
This 13th-century manuscript shows an approximate height of the medieval horse at the time, note the knights' legs extending well below the horses' barrels.
Wooden horse figurine, Tang dynasty
Ornate 16th-century armour for horse and knight, and typical high saddle. Royal Armoury, Stockholm
A bird on a man on a horse, Tang dynasty
A horse litter
A 13th-century depiction of a riding horse.
This horse is fitted with a horse collar to bear the weight of the harrow. October, Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry
Detail from 15th-century painting by Gentile da Fabriano, showing curb bits, with ornamental bosses at the sides of the mouthpiece
In this depiction of a medieval horse team, the lead pair have breast collars, while the trace pair wear horse collars. Note that one horse is saddled.
This medieval painting shows a beautiful woman in a dress mounted on a war horse, riding astride, not sidesaddle.
Depiction of a lady riding in an early sidesaddle of a design credited to Anne of Bohemia (1366-1394) – Gerard Horenbout, 16th century.

The destrier was highly prized by knights and men-at-arms, but was actually not very common, and appears to have been most suited to the joust.

While light cavalry had been used in warfare for many centuries, the medieval era saw the rise of heavy cavalry, particularly the European knight.