FightWrite™️: Jousting for Writers

I love receiving questions from writers fighting their way through a fight scene. The most recent I received was from Dakotah G. who asked about jousting. Her character needs to dress the part, follow the rules, and hit their mark. So, in this post, we will do a flyover of jousting and help Dakotah’s character, and maybe yours as well, joust their way to victory or vanquishment.

Medieval Tournaments and Jousting

Jousting was a common part of tournaments which were a significant part of medieval culture. Tournaments were held to celebrate important occasions and could last for several days. These tournaments were bastions of entertainment where the commoner could catch a glimpse of not only royalty but knights as well. It also allowed for commerce much like modern fairs.

The joust was one of several melee events common at tournaments. These sanctioned fights allowed viewers a glimpse of the glory of battle from a safe seat. The joust, in particular, because of the size of the horse, the shine of the armor, and sound of the impact, was a spectacle that drew crowds. It was the pinnacle of the tournament events.

Knights were the superheroes of medieval society. One of the requirements of becoming and remaining a knight was public acts of bravery. Tournaments provided opportunity for knights to show the requisite courage. It also allowed them to gain fans from every caste of medieval society. Though it wasn’t mandatory for knights to participate in the joust, it was great publicity for them. The more a knight was favored by the common people, the more likely they would be favored by the crowd.

Each tournament had different rules regarding who could compete in not only jousting but other melee games. Some tournaments allowed anyone with a horse to joust. However, though a horse guaranteed any participant one course, or, run, it was doubtful they would be alive for another without armor. Not only did armor protect the wearer from lance strikes, it also helped deflect the lance thereby lessening the force delivered by the strike.

Dressing Jousty

Armor used in battle, though heavy, was not as difficult to move in as one might imagine. Wearers could not only wield a weapon but punch and wrestle as well if their weapon were lost. The helmet of battlefield armor, if it had a visor, had several slots through which to breathe.

Jousting armor was far different. It was generally twice the weight of battlefield armor and unwieldy. Jousting armor had several added elements not needed on the battlefield such as a single, larger pauldron. A pauldron was a metal covering over each shoulder that protected not only the shoulder but the arm pit to a certain extent. The pauldron on jousting armor was especially large on the right side, covering not only the jouster’s right shoulder, but upper right chest and collar bone as well.

Jousting armor also included a heavy gorget that protected a soldier’s neck and collar bones. The gorget extended down just past the collar bones and up under the helmet as well. Sometimes the gorget extended up and out to cover the jaw and chin of the wearer.

The helmet, sometimes called a helm, was very different than those used on the battlefield. Jousting helmets didn’t have slots, or, breaths, through which the wearer could breathe. They were for protection above all, not extended wear. After each course, the helm could be lifted for the wearer to breathe fresh air.

The slit in the front of the helm was large enough only to allow a small line of sight. Any opening in the front of a helmet left the head of the jouster vulnerable to flying bits of wood. King Henry II of France died after a joust when a sliver of wood flew into the slit in his helmet, pierced his eye and penetrated his brain.

The armored gloves worn for the joust were called jousting gauntlets. They were sometimes affixed into a grasping position to hold the lance. In the free, left hand, the jouster held a shield.

Lances were made of wood. This allowed them to break upon impact which was fundamental to the jousting ruleset. The lances were 10 feet long (3.05m) and about 1.5 inches thick (3.7cm). They weighed about 15 pounds (6.8kg).

How to Joust

The lance was to be grasped in the right hand with the palm and thumb pointing up. This hand position protected the wrist. The remaining length of the handle was tucked tightly under the arm.

The jousters rode with their left sides to each other, shield arm to shield arm. The lance arms were opposite each other. The lances were wielded diagonally toward the opposing rider.

Jousters first started practicing on foot. This allowed them to familiarize themselves with the weight of the lance and acclimate to the approaching lance and subsequent strike. These lower velocity strikes also allowed the jouster to practice not flinching when approached or struck. Flinching or cowering from a strike was considered cowardly. Also, the flinch and cower could negatively affect the charge of the horse.

The Horse

The horse was as important to jousting as the jousting lance itself. The horse provided the acceleration and the majority of the mass necessary to create the force of the strike. The most desired horse was the Spanish destrier. These war horses were tall and strong which made them not only able to carry a heavy rider do so quickly with a regal appearance. Destriers were also aggressive which made them less likely to shudder at the sound or force of the lance strike.

The Dangers

Even though armor protected the jouster’s body from piercing, it did not protect the rider from the force of the impact. Broken bones, concussions and internal injuries were not uncommon in the sport. One could also overheat in the armor which could be as dangerous as the oncoming lance. And, as seen with the case of Henry II, flying splinters from the lance could be deadly.

How Did Lance Strike Feel?

How did it feel to be hit with a jousting lance? I am thankful to say that I do not know. Remember, the force of the strike alone could break bones. And, don’t discount the force absorbed by the one delivering the blow. It was not uncommon for the hand/wrist/arm holding the lance to break with the impact of the strike.

If I had to compare the force of the lance strike to something of the time, I would liken it to being hit by a horse or a small boulder. Will your reader have experienced those sensations? I hope not. But they are all impacts we can reasonably imagine.

The Ruleset

Carla Hoch | FightWrite

I hope this little primer helped you, Dakotah. If you have more questions, reach out again. And that applies to all those reading this post. Feel free to reach out through the Get in Touch button at FightWrite.net.

If you’d like more information on fighting in the medieval period, and modern as well, be sure to check out my second book, Fight Write, Round Two: Crafting Chaos, Combat and Crime, coming out September 17. It’s chock-full of info to help you write a fight scene start to finish. In fact, you will see a fight scene come together over the course of several chapters. The book also covers many styles of combat, medieval to modern, and can help you craft a crime scene and criminal character sure to get away with murder. And, if you want help catching that criminal, that’s in the book too.

Until the next round with FightWrite on the WD Blog, get blood on your pages.

In this WDU on-demand course, Carla Hoch will guide you through the entire process of determining why, where, and who—essential elements for the writer to understand in order to make the scene work properly using historic and real-world examples.