Tournaments: Jousts, Chivalry and Pageants in the Middle Ages

This is the first serious study of medieval tournaments throughout Europe. The romantic image of the tournament, derived largely from the literature of the middle ages, has perhaps been the reason why historians have tended to regard them as frivolous occasions, but recent research has encouraged a different view. Richard Barber and Juliet Barker illuminate the importance of tournaments, and reveal their place at the heart of medieval culture. They areseen as having played a vital role in the training of a medieval knight, and they stimulated new developments in arms and armour; they were used by ruling princes for political patronage and thus made an important contribution tonational order and stability; and they were occasions of glamour and splendour, confirming the power of the ruling order, and providing a public spectacle of the order of a present-day major sporting fixture. Their uniquely attractive feature, the conbination of idealism with practical skills, gives an extraordinary insight into the medieval mind, and into the origins of many of the attitudes that colour life and behaviour in the western world today.

Table of Contents:
The origins of the tournament; the tournament in the 13th and 14th centuries; the tournament in Germany - Italy - Spain; the late medieval and Renaissance tournament - spectacles - pas d'armes - challenges; the dangers of tournaments - spiritual condemnation and public disorder; tournament armour; tournaments as events.

About the Author :
RICHARD BARBER has had a huge influence on the study of medieval history and literature, as both a writer and a publisher. His first book on the Arthurian legend appeared in 1961, and his major works include The Knight and Chivalry (winner of the Somerset Maugham Award in 1971), Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine, The Penguin Guide to Medieval Europe and The Holy Grail: the History of a Legend which was widely praised and was translated into six languages.

Review :
`..will appeal to a wide audience. It is beautifully presented, in large format, with fine-quality paper and print, containing excellently reproduced illustrations, all at a very reasonable price....the illustrations...add further glory to a thorough historical analysis which is based on extensive research in Europe-wide sources, particularly useful in bringing to our attention lesser-known materials from the Iberian peninsula. The level of discussion, range and thoroughness of treatment and excellence of annotation make this a useful reference work for the academic historian too. It is hard to find any aspect of tournamnets that is not covered: chronological, geographical and thematic chapters contain little repetition. HISTORY [Anne Curry] Sorgfältig recherchierten und dokumentierten sowie eindrucksvoll illustrierten.