King Henry II and King Henry VIII participated in medieval jousting tournaments throughout Europe where knights competed to show their battlefield skills. Jousting provided wealth and fame for successful knights whose lineages can still be traced today. Modern jousting features knights in over 100 pound stainless steel armor following Renaissance tournament requirements. They ride massive warhorses and compete in the list, charging towards each other to score points by landing lance hits on target areas or unhorsing opponents. Squires assist the knights by retrieving equipment and helping with the horses.

1. Lords of Chivalry
Full Contact Jousting Troupe

2. In medieval Europe, from 1000-1500 AD and Renaissance
Europe from 1500-1800 AD, tournament jousting really
was the Sport of Kings.
History

3. King Henry II and King Henry VIII jousted in many tournaments throughout
Europe. Tournaments were, for the most part, where knights came to show
their battlefield skills which were made obsolete by such inventions as
crossbows that fired heavy bolts and firearms. Both could also penetrate the
early armor.
Along the way the fortunes gained by tournament victories made many
Knights extremely wealthy.
To this day, there are families throughout the world that can trace their lineage
and good fortune back to these tournament Knights and their winnings.
History (cont.)

4. Armour is most typically made of stainless steel, with
weights well over 100 pounds, and is patterned from
the jousting armour of the late Renaissance for safety.
It takes many different pieces of armour to make up a
full harness, from the helm (now called Helmets)
down to the sabatons (the footguards). Each piece
from head to toe is made to certain tournament
requirements. They are:
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Real Armour
Helms, min 14 gauge with locking visor
Gorget, min 18 gauge
Breastplate, min. 14 gauge
Back Plate, Min 18 gauge
Elbow and Knee Cops , min 16 gauge
Vambraces, Rearbraces and Cuisses, min 18
gauge
Paldron, left side, min 14 gauge
Gauntlets (French word for glove) left hand
14 gauge, right hand, no minimum gauge.
The Brayette generally consists of a very
heavy leather skirt overlaid by steel chainmail.

5. The horses used in the joust are
referred to as “War Horses” due to
their size. War Horses need to be
larger horses also called draft horse
for their ability to carry large
amounts of weight.
On the right is Hercules the
Magnificent and he is a 2000lb
Percheron War Horse.
War Horses

6. Warhorses often wear a bard made
up of the colors and emblems of the
knight's coat-of-arms.
The most commonly worn pieces
of horse armour are:
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The Chamfron for the horse's
face protection
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The Peytral for chest
protection
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The Crupper for hindquarter
decoration, with additional
decorations on the secondary
reins.
War Horse Armour

7. Squires are the VERY brave souls
that volunteer to aid the knights on
the ground during the joust.
Squires have many jobs on the
ground ranging from standing at
the ends of the list calling out
commands, collecting broken lance
pieces from the field before the
next charge, handing up lances to
knights, and even helping a fallen
knight off the ground after an
unhorsing and even controlling the
horse from the ground if needed.
Squires

8. The Joust

9. Today the Joust takes place in the list. The list, consists of two well defined lanes roped on all sides and spans a
total of 200 feet.
Both Knights enter the list on opposite sides, accept their lances then come about to face each other, salute their
opponents by the raising of the lance, and then charge.
The average speed at contact has been clocked at just over 20 miles an hour per knight.
Scoring can vary from tournament to tournament, but generally points are given as:
1 point for a touch with the tip of the lance on the target area
3 points for breaking the tip on the target area
5 points for breaking the lance on the target area
5 points to each knight in the event their lances meet tip to tip (this is where the knights lower their lances so
perfectly simultaneously that the tip of their lances make contact)
10 points for the unhorsing of the opponent
In days of old, you would have won your opponent's horse for the unhorsing. Today if a horse is HIT in any
fashion by a lance, 10 points are deducted from that knight's score for the first offense. If a second hit is made by
that knight on any other horse, he is disqualified from the tournament. We take extreme measures to insure the
absolute safety of these majestic War Horses.
As with the knights of old, a knight without his horse was just infantry or dead.
The Joust (cont.)