CHAPTER VI

Much that is fanciful and unreal written about the tournament—Scientific writers on the subject—Narrations of chroniclers—German records—Ashmolean, Harleian and Cottonian MSS.—Hall, Holinshed and other chroniclers—The tournament reaches its highest development in the first half of the fifteenth century—Decline of the tournament—The introduction of barriers in combats on foot—The bâton of illegitimacy—The tournament restricted to cavaliers of noble birth—Prizes—New forms of jousting—German tournament-books—Harnesses for the tiltyard made in Germany—The tournament as practised at the German Courts—The _Freydal_ of Maximilian—Other works of the kind—Tournament-books at Sigmaringen and Dresden—Paintings of jousts at Dresden—Jousting on wooden horses equipped with mechanical apparatus for charging—Trappers: their paintings, devices and embroideries—Prices of knightly armour—Tourney book of Duke William IV of Bavaria—Other tourney-books—Forms of jousting and equipment—Bards and saddles—The _Gestech_ in its several forms—Maximilian I armed for _Hohenzeuggestech_—Two armours for _Gestech_ at Paris—Harness for the _Gestech_ in the Wallace Collection, London—Other examples—The lance, vamplate and coronal—A _Gestech_ at Leipsig in 1489—The frontispiece, which represents a _Gestech_—_Gestech im Beinharnisch_—Jousting with pointed lances (_Scharfrennen_)—The lance and vamplate—Salient features of the forms—Examples of the armour employed—Realistic representation of a joust with sharp lances—Maximilian II mounted and armed for _Scharfrennen_—_Geschiftrennen_—_Geschifttartscherennen_—A _Rennen_ held at Minden—_Geschiftscheibenrennen_—_Bundrennen_ —_Auzogenrennen_—_Krönlrennen_—_Pfannenrennen_—_Feldrennen_—The _mêlée_—_Feldturnier_—All these forms defined—Joust at the tilt—Its inception—The salient features—A joust at the tilt at Augsburg in 1510—Armour employed—Two harnesses for this type of joust at Paris—A German suit dated 1580—_Realgestech_—Three armours in London for jousting at the tilt—Fatal accident to Henry II of France in a joust of this kind—Triumph of Maximilian—Drawings by Hans Burgmaier—Combats on foot—_Barriers and Foot Combats_: a paper by Lord Dillon—Armour for foot-fighting—Weapons employed—The _Fussturnier_—The _Freiturnier_—Armour employed—_Realgestech_—The _Scharmützel_—The Karoussel or Carrousel—Permanent lists—Harness for the tiltyard—Best armours imported from Italy—Interest taken by Henry VIII in armour-making—German smiths employed at Greenwich—The iron imported from Innsbruck—Alleged inferiority of English iron—“Hoasting” armour of the sixteenth century—Its form slavishly follows that of the civil dress—Fluted or “Maximilian” armour—Tonlet armour—Bards—The expression “trapped and barded”—Some armour for campaigning made much lighter—“_Pfeifenharnis_”—Its unsuitability—The enrichment of armour—Armour of the middle of the century—The “Peasecod-bellied” doublet and breastplate 85