The Medieval Tournament as Spectacle

Tourneys, Jousts and <I>Pas d'Armes</I>, 1100-1600

Contributions by Alan V. Murray, Cathy Blunk, Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriadis, James Beswick, James Titterton, Karen Watts, Marina V. Viallon, Martyn Lawrence, Natalie Anderson, Ralph Moffat, Prof Rosalind Brown-Grant Edited by Alan V. Murray, Karen Watts

Ebook (VitalSource) - £19.99

Publication date:

21 August 2020

Length of book:

263 pages

Publisher

Boydell Press

ISBN-13: 9781787449237

Fresh insights into the development of the tournament as an opportunity for social display.

The period from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century witnessed a rapid development of the tournament. Alongside the original tourney - a mass battle fought between opposing armies of knights with minimal and rudimentary regulation - new forms of chivalric military contests emerged, in which entertainment featured alongside the necessity of practice for war. The joust featured individual combats, with increasingly elaborate rules and variations in form and accompanying pageantry, while the passage of arms placed tournaments within theatrical and allegorical formats.
This volume brings together the latest research on the late medieval tournament, demonstrating how such events, particularly at the courts of France, Burgundy, England and the German principalities, were increasingly integrated in wider festivities, ceremonies and diplomatic negotiations. Published in association with the Royal Armouries, it will appeal to all those interested in chivalric culture and medieval warfare.

Contributors: Natalie Anderson, Cathy Blunk, Rosalind Brown-Grant, Ralph Moffat, Alan V. Murray, James Titterton, Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriades, Marina V. Viallon, Karen Watts.