CHAPTER II

Jousts of Peace, _Hastiludia pacifica_, were those of sport, military exercises and courtesy; while Jousts of War, _Joûtes à Outrance_, or as Froissart calls them “_Justes Mortelles et à Champ_,” were combats to the death, though subjected to the intervention of the umpire at any stage, by the casting of his bâton, by which a serious wounding or death was often prevented. The term “_à outrance_,” however, was used not infrequently in _Chapitres d’Armes_ or articles of combat where no fatal ending was in contemplation; they were encounters of courtesy in fact, though contests in which battle-axes, sharp swords and pointed lances were employed.

The chroniclers of the joust and tournament of the earlier centuries exhibit a lack of technical knowledge, and the terms they employ are often mixed and conflicting; and, indeed, this confusion continues throughout later centuries also, to an extent making any exact definition of terms extremely difficult.

Whatever information we possess regarding tournaments of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries is greatly derived from the Mediæval Latin chronicles of the Anglo-Norman monks; but the material they furnish requires to be used with discretion, owing to the frequent unhappy blending of fact and legend, a lack of professional knowledge, and a way of reporting things of half a century or more ago in harmony with the environment of the time of writing. Among the chroniclers of the tournament of the period we are immediately dealing with, are William of Malmesbury, whose _History of the Kings of England_ finishes at the year 1142; Wace, who wrote the _Roman de Rou_, on Rollo and the succeeding Dukes of Normandy, in 1160; William of Newbury, 1197; Roger of Hoveden, 1201.[21] William Fitzstephen was an eye-witness of the events he relates; the prolific and illuminating Matthew Paris, 1259; Robert of Gloucester, who died in 1290; and Matthew of Westminster, 1307.

Much information concerning the body-armour of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries has been derived from seals, and particularly from those of the kings of England; also from illuminations in chronicles, representations on tapestry and carvings in ivory. Military effigies and brasses have also proved of immense value, for they enable us to fill in many of the gaps left in the recitals of chroniclers, and afford precise information as to the knightly equipment for battle, as far as least as the presence of the surcoat will permit. We have, indeed, been favoured among the nations in the preservation of so many of these monuments. There are but few brasses of the thirteenth century existing, though effigies are very numerous. Sad it is that so many of these priceless memorials have been lost or thoughtlessly mutilated; but their very important bearing upon history was but faintly recognised much before the nineteenth century began. Many of them had been thrown on the rubbish heap to make way for some trivial and often mischievous alteration, or lost when some of our finest churches were spoilt by what is so often miscalled restoration; and many even of the effigies left to us have been exposed to a process of tinkering by thoughtless hands. Not a detail is missing on many of those monuments that remain, and even colours are indicated.

William of Newbury states that tournaments first appear in England in the troubled reign of King Stephen, 1135-1154; and that they were introduced from France by the Norman nobles is clear from the expressions employed by Matthew Paris concerning them, viz.: “Conflictus Gallicus” and “batailles francaises.” Lombarde[22] states that “the kings of this realm before King Stephen, would not suffer it to be frequented within their land; so that, such as for exercise in that feate in armes, were driven to passe over the seas, and to performe in some different place in a foreigne countrie: but afterwards King Stephen in his time allowed it.”[23] It was the Norman knights who introduced the employment and couching of the lance in England. Of that age we have the remarkable description of the martial sports of London by William Fitzstephen. He tells us ‘that every Sunday in Lent, immediately after dinner it was customary for great crowds of Londoners, mounted on war-horses, well trained to perform the necessary turnings and evolutions, to ride into the fields in distinct bands, armed “_hastilibus ferro dempto_,” with shields and headless lances; where they exhibited representations of battle, and went through a variety of warlike exercises: at the same time many of the young noblemen who had not received the honour of knighthood, came from the King’s court, and from the houses of the great barons, to make a trial of their skill in arms; the hope of victory animating their minds. The youth being divided into opposite companies, encountered one another; in one place they fled, and others pursued, without being able to overtake them; in another place one of the bands overtook and over-turned the other.’

Robert of Gloucester, in his _Chronicle_ in verse, which ends shortly before the accession of King Edward I, writes concerning William Rufus:—

“Stalwarde he was ＆ hardy ＆ god knyght, thorn al thyng In batayle ＆ in ‘tornemnes’ er than he were Kyng.”[24]

but this of course has not the value of contemporary history.

The knight-errant of the twelfth century and even later often spent the evening of his days as an anchorite, undergoing many self-imposed penances, fastings and flagellations in expiation of many acts of violence and even oppression of his active career.

The tournaments of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were characterized by all the romantic fire of knight-errantry, though they were often rough and disorderly, and not infrequently degenerated into real battles or free fights, in which many of the combatants were seriously injured or killed. At the meeting held at Neuss, near Cologne, in 1240, sixty of the combatants are stated to have been killed. In England an Earl of Salisbury died from his hurts; his grandson, Sir William Montague, was killed when jousting with his own father; and many prominent knights and nobles were so injured in the tourney that they never regained their health. Tournaments generally tended to become milder as rules, regulations and limitations were enacted for their government; but it was not before the reign of King Edward I that they were brought under any regular disciplined system of control.

After the reign of King Stephen these martial exercises often came under the ban of both church and state, the former even going to the length of excommunication and the refusal of Christian burial to the fallen. Pope Gregory issued a bull against them in 1228, and there were other bulls.[25] King Henry II discouraged them and issued edicts against them; and we are told by William of Newbury that many young cavaliers travelled from England to enjoy their favourite pastime in other lands, especially France. Tournaments were revived in England, says Jocelin of Brakelond,[26] after the return of the heroic Richard from the Holy Land, who granted licences for holding them; and from this time forward unlicensed tourneying was treated as an offence against the crown. Roger de Hoveden writes in _Annals_, under the year 1194 (in translation):—“King Richard ordered tournaments to be held in England, which he confirmed by charter; but that all wishing to tourney should pay for the privilege according to rank—viz., an earl, 20 marks of silver; a baron, 10 marks; a knight, holding land, 4 marks; and any who were landless, 2 marks; and no knight was permitted to enter any lists without first having paid his fee.” The charter of this grant was delivered into the custody of William, Earl of Salisbury; and Hubert Fitz-Walter, the king’s chief-justice, appointed his brother, Theobald Fitz-Walter, to be collector.

Hoc ett Breve, Dni Regis Ricardi I. missum Dno Cantuariensi, de concessione Torneamentorum in Anglia.

Heac est forma Pacis fervandae a Torneatoribus (Harl. MS. 237).[27]

Tournaments became controlled by royal ordinances, and any infraction of the rules laid down was punishable with the forfeiture of horse and armour, imprisonment and other penalties; though at times the regulations would seem to have been very loosely interpreted or entirely disregarded. This assumption of control by the state had been brought about by various causes quite apart from the frequently disorderly nature of the meetings, and the large number of casualties involved; though these were the ostensible reasons often given for the interdiction of all unauthorized gatherings of the kind. Much, however, depended on the character and temperament of the reigning monarch, and the condition of order or otherwise prevailing in the country at the time. At tournaments, whether held by royal licence or not, the combatants were divided into two camps or parties; and they gathered together large concourses of spectators, who were too apt to become strong and eager partisans, as we see at the football games of to-day; the unpopular side being sometimes assailed with volleys of stones, some discharged from slings. These meetings were thus frequently looked upon with disfavour by the powers that be, and were either entirely prohibited, or licences were refused in troublous times; for the assemblage of so many influential knights and powerful barons with their feudatories, coming from all parts of the kingdom, constituted a danger to the state in affording opportunities for cabals, sedition and other disorders, and, indeed, tumults frequently occurred. Tournaments were very popular in France during the reign of Philip Augustus; and Père Daniel relates an incident of that reign affording a striking example of the large gatherings that assembled. An unexpected attack having been made on the town of Alençon, the king was enabled to enrol a sufficient force at a tournament being held in the neighbourhood at the time to repel it. Jousting was not much practised in France at that time or during the thirteenth century, the cavaliers of that country preferring the _mêlée_.

In the year 1196 King Philip Augustus “sent vnto King Richard, requiring him to appoint fiue champions, and he would appoint other fiue for his part, which might fight in listes, for triall of all matters in controusee betwixt them, so to avoid the shedding of more guiltlesse bloud. King Richard accepted the offer, with the proviso that either King might be of the number, that is the French King one of the fiue vpon the French part; and King Richard one of the fiue vpon the English part. But this condition would not be granted.”[28]

In the year 1250 “was a great tornie and iusts holden at Brackley, when the earle of Gloucester (contrarie to his accustomed manner) fauoured the part of the strangers, whereby they prevailed. In so much that William de Valance handled one Sir William de Odingesselles verie roughlie, the same Sir William being a right worthy knight.”[29]

In 1251 King Henry III forbad the holding of a round table[30] and many examples of such prohibitions are given in _Foedera_. Yet, meetings of the kind were often held in England in spite of them, for the young cavaliers, imbued with the chivalrous spirit of the age, declined being balked of their favourite pastime and were willing to run some risks for its gratification. In the reign of Henry III the king admonishes his subjects “to offend not by tourneying,” and, “by the advice of parliament enacted, that all who (without leave) should keep a tournament, should forfeit their estates, and their children to be disinherited.”[31] As late as the reign of King Edward II an edict was issued against the practice, the ordinance running “_Turneare_, _burdeare_, _justas facere_, _aventuras quaerere_.”[32] Prohibitions against tournaments were issued in the years 1220, 1234, 1255 and 1299. In normal times, however, they were often encouraged by the crown, and were presided over, and even taken part in, by kings and princes. Matthew of Westminster states that it was customary for newly made knights to pass over to the Continent to show their mettle by feats of arms; and that King Henry III knighted eighty gentlemen on one occasion, who all went abroad, accompanied by Prince Edward, to take part in tournaments.

In the early days of tournaments there were only five authorized lists (_champs clos_) in England, and they were all south of the Trent. At a later period these enclosures were usually placed in the neighbourhood of a large town where there was a hall spacious enough for the banquet and the dance; the size of the lists being regulated by the number of cavaliers expected to take part. Those of the twelfth century were open at the sides, a barrier standing at each end; later they were made quadrangular in shape, longer than broad by one-fourth. They were enclosed by a double row of palisading, high enough to make it impossible for a horse to leap over; the space between the rows affording a place of refuge for the varlets (ephebi) and attendants. The _rôle_ of the varlets was to rush in and steady their masters in the saddle, when swaying after their careers; and, when unhorsed, to extricate and drag them, as opportunity offered, out of the press or from among the horse’s hoofs in the _mêlée_; for they were unable to help themselves in their heavy armour. This duty was both difficult and dangerous, but they had to manage as best they could. Openings were left at either end of the lists for entrance and exit, and movable barriers were provided for closing them when required. A thick covering of sand was strewn on the ground, or it was well mulched with tanning refuse so as to provide a soft bed for breaking the force of the fall of a cavalier when unseated. The lists were gaily decorated with tapestry, bunting and heraldic devices; a tribune for the umpire or judge, and benches for the spectators, were provided; as well as special galleries for the ladies, which were often adorned with gold and silver embroideries. Two pavilions were pitched for the use of the leaders, which were removed before the commencement of the tourney. The scene presented by a tournament must have been brilliant in the extreme; and the element of danger involved would add greatly to the interest and excitement of the spectators. Permanent lists were often surrounded by a ditch or moat. The marshals of the lists, kings of arms, heralds and pursuivants-at-arms were stationed within the enclosure to note the various incidents taking place among the combatants; and it was the duty of the first-named to see that the rules of chivalry and general regulations were strictly observed. Trumpets announced the entry of each competitor, who was followed into the lists by his esquires; and flourishes of music were heard at intervals to animate the combatants, and to mark special feats of gallantry. Each knight usually bore on his person some token of his lady-love, which was disposed on his helmet, lance or shield. The armour and horses of the vanquished fell as spoil to the victors, unless ransomed by payment in money; this, however, was the case only in contests of courtesy. The jousting at a tournament usually ended with “_le coup ou la lance des Dames_,” a homage to the fair sex joyfully rendered.

We have seen that blunted lances were in use in 1252, but we have not found any record of the coronal, a lance-head formed like a flattened crown (whence the name), before very early in the fourteenth century, when it appears on a picture in a MS. in the British Museum.[33] Cavaliers frequently successful in the tourney enriched themselves by the forfeiture of the horses and armour of the vanquished.

The routine of an early tournament is described in Codex 69 of the Harleian MS.[34] It is first proclaimed over a wide area; and on assemblage the cavaliers, mounted on horseback, are divided into two parties or squadrons, the challengers and the challenged. Each troop usually varied in number from twelve to twenty, and was headed by its own leader; the weapons were pointless swords with rebated edges. The two bodies then take up positions at opposite ends of the lists; the onset is sounded, “_Lasseir les aler_,” and they engage in combat until the signal is given to cease fighting. Various perquisites fall to the superintending Norroy King at Arms, and he and the heralds are paid their expenses and six crowns of “nail money” for affixing the cote-armour of the two leaders in front of their pavilions. An illustration on a MS. of the thirteenth century in the royal library[35] is reproduced in _Sports and Pastimes_. It pictures the entry on horseback of the two baron-leaders into the lists, wearing chain-mail and pointed bascinets, and with their horses trapped; they bear no weapons. The King of Arms, in civil dress, is standing between them holding their banners, one in each hand. Trumpeters are seen in the background.

The presence of ladies graced the tournament, and they were treated with great deference; the names and deeds of the successful champions were submitted to them, and it was they who awarded and presented the prizes. The days of combat usually closed with the banquet and the dance. The tourney from the first was confined to men of noble birth, though this rule was not so strictly enforced in England as in Germany and France, where all not of the privileged class were strictly excluded.

The first mention we have found of prizes at tournaments is in 1279, when, at the Round Table held at Kenilworth in that year, the prize (a golden lion) was awarded to Sir Roger Mortimer; but they do not seem to have become general until much later.

Henry III, on his marriage with Eleanor of Provence, in 1236, held a tournament for eight successive days; and according to Matthew Paris, there was one at Northampton in 1247, another at Nebridge in 1248.

The tournaments held during the reign of Richard I were frequently interdicted by the Church owing to the brutal character of many of them; and Jocelin of Brackelond tells the story of a number of knights who held one between Thetford and Bury St. Edmunds, in spite of the fiat of the abbot. Another took place soon after, which had also been prohibited; and all who had taken part in it were excommunicated. Matthew Paris describes a tournament held at Rochester in 1251, at which foreigners contended with English knights. There was great bitterness at the time between some of the nationalities owing to very rough treatment that had been experienced by some English knights abroad; and all rules and regulations were thrown to the winds at Rochester, the proceedings degenerating there into a free fight. The English set upon the foreigners with staves, beating them severely, and chased them into the town, to which they fled for refuge. Another instance of this kind may be cited in an account given by Matthew of Westminster of a case in 1253, when the Earl of Gloucester and a companion took part in a tournament abroad, at which they were so roughly handled as to require fomentations and baths before they were in a condition to return to England. Trivet relates a further striking example in a case, lawless and brutal in its character, which received the name in history “_La petite Bataille de Chalòns_.” Edward I, King of England, was travelling through France in the year 1274 on his way home from the Holy Land to take possession of the crown, when he was invited by the Count de Chalôns to take part in a tournament to be held in the open, near the town of Chalôns, with a certain number of his followers. At an early stage of the contest the Count, a knight of unusual strength, forcing his way through the _mêlée_ attacked the King with great vigour and impetuosity; and casting away his weapons threw his arms around King Edward’s neck, hoping to unhorse him. The King, however, being a tall and powerful man kept his saddle, and at the moment of the greatest pressure cut fiercely at his adversary, dragged him from his horse and threw him heavily to the ground. The exasperation of the French cavaliers on seeing their leader fall was very great, and for a time a real battle ensued, in which the outside followers of both sides took an active part, the English using their terrible bows: but some degree of order having been at length restored the count surrendered to the King and acknowledged him to be the victor. After this tournament laying hands on an opponent was strictly forbidden. Thomas of Walsingham also gives a spirited account of this meeting, which runs on similar lines.[36]

At Whitsuntide in the year 1256 great jousting was held at Blei, when the Lord Edward, afterwards King Edward I, “first began to shew proofs of his chiualrie.” In one of these encounters “William de Longspee was so brused that he could never after recover his former strength.”[37]

“In the ninth year of King Edward’s reign, the feast of the round table was kept at Warwike with great and sumptuous triumph.”[38]

The Round Table assembled at Kenilworth by Sir Roger Mortimer has been already referred to in the section devoted to the Tabula Rotunda, and Hardyng in his _Chronicle_[39] thus pictures it:

“And in the yere a thousand was full then Two hundred also sixty and nynetene,[40] When Sir Roger Mortimer so began At Kelyngworth, the round table as was sene, Of a thousand Knygts for dicipline, Of young menne, after he could devise Of Turnementes, and justes to exercise.

“A Thousand Ladies, excellyng in beautee He had also there, in tentes high above The justes, that thei might well and clerely see Who justed beste, there for their Lady Love For whole beautie, it should the Knightes move In armes so eche other to revie To get a fame in play of Chivalry.”

Hardyng died about the year 1465, nearly two centuries after the events he narrates.

The lance, or glaive as it is often called, of the eleventh and twelfth centuries[41] was quite straight and smooth; a vamplate was added in the fourteenth, small at first but larger later, for the protection of the right arm. The lance for jousting was made of soft wood, so as to splinter easily.

A manuscript in the Record Office, transferred from the Tower about 1855, entitled _Emptiones facte per manum Adinetti Cissoris et visu Albini ＆ Roberti de Dorset contra Torniamentum de Parco de Windsore, nono die Julii anno Sexto_ (a Roll of Purchases made for the tournament held at Windsor Park in the year 1278), is copied in _Archæologia_ of the year 1814.[42] This document is of rare value in giving particulars of the equipment of the cavaliers engaged in tournaments of the last quarter of the thirteenth century, besides mentioning other matters of interest. Thirty-eight cavaliers took part in the tournament at Windsor Park, twelve of the highest rank being styled _digniores_. Among these were the Earls of Cornwall, Gloucester, Warren, Lincoln, Pembroke and Richmond;[43] and there were several foreign knights present. Many of the cavaliers whose names appear on the roll had been with King Edward in the Holy Land. Both arms and armour[44] were provided for the occasion for all the cavaliers taking part. Thirty-seven of the outfits ranged in cost from 7_s._ to 25_s._ each; that for the Earl of Lincoln, however, was much higher than any of the others, being 33_s._ 4_d._ The equipments must thus have differed widely in quality and embellishment. The armours were of leather gilt, each suit consisting of a coat-of-fence (being a “quiretta”[45] of leather), brassards of buckram, a surcoat (the material for the majority of these garments being carda,[46] but those for the four earls were of cindon silk), a pair of ailettes, of leather and carda,[47] two crests (one for the man, the other for the horse), a shield of wood heraldically ensigned, a helm of leather, and a sword of whalebone and parchment, silvered over. The shields of wood cost 5_d._ each, without emblazonment; the swords 7_d._ each, and 25_s._ was paid for silvering the blades, and 3_s._ 6_d._ for gilding the hilts. The helmets for the “_digniores_” were gilded at an expense of 12_s._, the others silvered. Each helmet cost 2_s._, and the ailettes 8_d._ the pair. Eight hundred little bells (_grelots_) were provided, to be used in necklets for the horses; sixteen skins for making bridles; twelve dozen silken cords for tying on the ailettes;[48] and seventy-six calf-skins for making crests. The cuirasses and helmets were made by Milo, the currier; and the cost of carriage for the whole of the sets from London was 3_s._ The sum total for all these outfits provided in England was £80 11_s._ 8_d._; but some other purchases were made in France, and in the list are items for saddles and horse furniture. There is no mention of lances, and many of the items scheduled are only open to conjecture. Sir Roger de Trumpington, whose effigy lies in Trumpington Church, Cambridgeshire, was among those taking part in the tournament. If one can imagine this passage of arms, its participants armed with swords of whalebone and parchment, with their arm-defences of buckram, it does not seem a very dangerous affair, though a rough enough sport.

There is another document of about the same period of the highest importance, viz. the _Statuta de Armis_, or _Statutum Armorum in Torniamentis_. This was drawn out at the request of the earls and barons of England and by the king’s command, and affords much information as to the equipment for the tourney late in the thirteenth century, the usages to be observed, and the regulations as to the heralds, esquires, and varlets. There are several copies extant, one of which, and that perhaps the most reliable, may be seen in the Bodleian Library. Part of the text is reproduced by Hewitt in his invaluable work on ancient armour,[49] and the document is referred to in _Archæologia_ of the year 1814.[50] These statutes provide that:—

No “conte,” baron or other chevalier shall henceforth be attended by more than three armed esquires, who shall all bear the cognizance of their master.

No knight or esquire taking part in any tournament shall bear a pointed sword or dagger, a staff or baston, but only a broadsword for tourneying. All should be armed with “mustilers;”[51] “quisers;”[52] “espaulers;”[53] and “bacyn,”[54] and no more.

If any “conte,” baron or other chevalier break any of the rules of the tourney, he shall, with the assent and command of the Seigneurs, Sire Edward, fiz le Rey; Sire Eumond, frère le Rey; Sire William de Valence; Sire Gilbt de Clare; and Cunto Nichole,[55] lose horse and armour and be imprisoned at the discretion of the said court of honour, and all disputes shall be referred to it for settlement.

Any esquire to a knight breaking the regulations in any way should lose horse and armour and be imprisoned for three years; and none was allowed to raise up a fallen knight but his own appointed esquire, bearing his device. Spectators were prohibited the wearing of armour or the carrying of arms. Etc.

May we see in the comparative mildness of these rules, and the control exercised by the court of honour, some results of King Edward’s own dangerous experiences at the Chalôns tournament.

It is an interesting fact that the effigies of two of the members of this distinguished committee have been preserved, viz.: those of Edmund Crouchback, whose sword-belt is enriched with heraldic bearings; and William de Valance. Both are in Westminster Abbey. The figure of the former wears the coif or hood of mail; the body is covered by a surcoat with long sleeves and reaching nearly to the ankles; but poleynes or knee-kops can be discerned. In the case of the other effigy the surcoat is sleeveless and shorter than the other, reaching down to just over the knees. Poleynes are present, but there are no coudes. A concave triangular shield hangs by the belt. Chain-mail; quilted stuffs, often reinforced with rings or studs of iron, bone or horn; ordinarily dressed leather and _cuir-bouilli_, which is leather boiled or beaten—were all quite capable of resisting an ordinary sword-stroke or lance-thrust.

An effigy of the twelfth century in the Temple Church, London, that of Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, dating in the year 1144, in the reign of Stephen, exhibits the knight completely encased in mail, wearing a coif of mail of the same fabric, and over it is the tall cylindrical, flat-topped helm. It was found, however, that certain vital and more exposed parts of the body required further protection, for the mail, far from presenting a glancing surface towards the strokes and thrusts from weapons of attack rather afforded them a lodgment. The mail therefore became gradually reinforced over the most vulnerable places with pieces of leather or plates of iron until a full panoply of metal plating had been attained, a process which had not been quite completed before the first decade of the fifteenth century. The course of transition can best be followed by a study of brasses and effigies. The Crouchback and de Valence effigies show us that but little progress in the direction of plate-armour had been made up to the end of the thirteenth century, though after that time the transition became rapid.

The usual knightly panoply was a coif of mail and beneath it a cap of cloth, worn in battle with or sometimes without a surmounting helm; the tunic; the gambeson or pourpoint, of quilted cloth; the hauberk, of chain-mail; the chaussons, which covered the upper part of the leg; the chausses, the lower; and the surcoat.

Chain-mail is probably a fabric of Eastern origin, consisting of forged iron rings, each ring interlinked with four others. This web must have been somewhat of a rarity even as late as the eleventh century, and, indeed, until the process of wire-drawing had been invented, owing to the laborious and costly nature of its manufacture. Each ring required to be cut from a long strip of wire, hammered-out from the solid, then interlinked, riveted, forged or butted together. The Romans employed chain-mail, as shown by the compressed masses which have been found, but whether it was interlinked in the manner just described is doubtful. Hauberks of quilted stuffs, reinforced with rings or studs of iron, bone or horn, were much in use; and so were those of ordinarily dressed leather; or of _cuir-bouilli_, which is leather prepared by boiling and beating. All these defences were quite capable of resisting an ordinary sword-stroke or lance-thrust.

The arming of the horse with a bard of chain-mail or its substitutes did not take place before the third quarter of the thirteenth century; the trapper came into use somewhat earlier, though probably not painted or embroidered with heraldic bearings before the reign of Edward I.

FOOTNOTES:

[21] He began to write the _Annals_ just after the death of Henry II. in 1189. They begin with the year 732 and end in 1201; and form not only a chronicle of England, but include also the history of many other countries.

[22] _Perambulation of Kent_, fol. 448.

[23] Cited in _Horda_.

[24] Cited by Strutt in _Horda Angel-cynnan_, p. 92.

[25] _Rymer Foed._, 301.

[26] _Chronica Jocelini de Brakelonda, de rebus gestis Samsonis Abbatis Monasterii Sancti Edmundi._

[27] See Appendix B.

[28] Trivet. Cited by Holinshed. II, 263.

[29] Holinshed II, 418.

[30] Ashmolean MS. 860, 88. See Appendix A for catalogue of the Ashmolean MSS. relating to the tourney.

[31] _Horda Angel-cynnan_ II, 91.

[32] Foedera III, 982.

[33] No. 14, E. III.

[34] See Appendix B.

[35] No. 14, E. III.

[36] _Historia Anglicana_, 1272-1422.

[37] Holinshed, II, 438.

[38] _Ibid._ II, 484.

[39] Chap. 155, fol. 161.

[40] _Anno_ 1279.

[41] The Bayeux tapestry shows one of the eleventh century.

[42] XVII, 297.

[43] John de Britannia.

[44] _Hernesium de Armis._

[45] Cuirass.

[46] A kind of cloth.

[47] Ailettes first appear in the second half of the thirteenth century and continued in fashion for about sixty years. They assume various forms, and were worn upright at the outsides of the shoulders, attached by laces. On brasses they appear at the backs of the shoulders, but this is probably for the reason that the artists found some practical difficulty in picturing them so as to appear as they were really worn. It is not clear whether these singular pieces were intended for defence or to be used as planes for the ensignment of heraldic devices; it is certain, however, that they could afford but little protection against a stroke from a sword or a battle-axe.

[48] Aiguillettes, or laces, later termed arming points, played an important part in the arming of a man, and were freely employed in fastening certain parts of his armour together. These points were also an important item in civil dress, and were usually of cord, silk, or leather.

[49] I, 366.

[50] XVII, 298.

[51] Probably a coat-of-fence.

[52] Cuisses.

[53] Shoulder-pieces.

[54] Bascinet.

[55] Edward, the King’s son; Edmund, the King’s brother; William de Valance, Earl of Pembroke; Gilbert de Clare; and the Earl of Lincoln. These five noblemen constituted a court of honour, a committee in fact for the control of the tourney. William de Valence died in 1296, so the document must date before that year.