Concept

Tournament (medieval)

A tournament, or tourney (from Old French torneiement, tornei), was a chivalrous competition or mock fight in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (12th to 16th centuries) and is one type of hastilude. Tournaments included mêlée, hand-to-hand combat, contests of strength or accuracy, and sometimes jousts. Some thought that the tournaments were a threat to public order. The shows were often held to celebrate coronations, marriages of notable figures, births, recent conquests, peace treatises, etc. They were held to welcome worthies, such as ambassadors and lords. Finally, some tournaments were held simply for pure entertainment. Certain tournaments are depicted throughout the Codex Manesse. The Old French word, tournament, was in use in the 12th century, from a verb tornoier, ultimately Latin tornare "to turn". The same word also gave rise to the Italian torneo (modern English tourney, modern French tournoi). The French terms were adopted in English (via Anglo-Norman) by 1300. The Old French verb in origin meant "to joust and tilt", but it came to refer to the knightly tournament more generally, while joster "approach, meet" became the technical term for jousting specifically (also adopted in English before 1300). By the end of the 12th century, tornement and Latinized torneamentum had become the generic term for all kinds of knightly hastiludes or martial displays. Roger of Hoveden writing in the late 12th century defined torneamentum as "military exercises carried out, not in the knight's spirit of hostility (nullo interveniente odio), but solely for practice and the display of prowess (pro solo exercitio, atque ostentatione virium)." Medieval equestrian warfare and equestrian practices hark back to Roman antiquity, just as the notion of chivalry goes back to the rank of equites in Roman times. There may be an element of continuity connecting the medieval tournament to the hippika gymnasia of the Roman cavalry, but due to the sparsity of written records during the 5th to 8th centuries this is difficult to establish.

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Related concepts (9)
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Barding (also spelled bard or barb) is body armour for war horses. The practice of armoring horses was first extensively developed in antiquity in the eastern kingdoms of Parthia and Pahlava. After the conquests of Alexander the Great it likely made its way into European military practices via the Seleucid Empire and later Byzantine Empire. Though its historical roots lie in antiquity in the regions of what was once the Persian Empire, barded horses have become a symbol of the late European Middle Ages chivalry and the era of knights.
High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages, or high medieval period, was the period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1350. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around AD 1500 (by historiographical convention). Key historical trends of the High Middle Ages include the rapidly increasing population of Europe, which brought about great social and political change from the preceding era, and the Renaissance of the 12th century, including the first developments of rural exodus and urbanization.
Jousting
Jousting is a medieval and renaissance martial game or hastilude between two combatants either on horse or on foot. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The term is derived from Old French joster, ultimately from Latin iuxtare "to approach, to meet". The word was loaned into Middle English around 1300, when jousting was a very popular sport among the Anglo-Norman knighthood. The synonym tilt (as in tilting at windmills) dates 1510.
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