Ancient history

The time of the knights:a memorable tournament

In 1390, during a truce in the Hundred Years' War, three French knights (Marshal Boucicaut, Renault de Roye and Chamberlain de Saimpy) challenged anyone who wished to confront them to come to Saint-Inglevert, near Calais. . The candidates for the game, which took place from March 20 to April 20, notably had to touch the two coats of arms which adorned each of the three red tents of the champions. Thirty-nine English knights took up the challenge, and 137 jousts took place under the delighted gaze of an aristocratic public, in an atmosphere of perfect courtesy, demonstrating that the spirit of chivalry knew no boundaries.

L emblems
Knights wore their crests on their helms. Each knight who challenged another announced the number of jousts he intended to fight against his opponent. The squires kept spare spears on hand to replace those that broke during combat, which was not uncommon.

The weapons of the joust
Special weapons were used for jousting, such as the "frog's mouth" helm, used only in tournaments:opening a field of vision to the knight only when he leaned forward on his saddle, its spear horizontal, this type of helm was indeed of no use on the battlefield.

L horses and riders
The horses did not always obey the orders given to them by their rider by means of reins and spurs:they sometimes refused to advance or deviated from the indicated path, thus preventing the knights from confronting each other with their spears . In Saint-Inglevert, this phenomenon repeated itself 18 times.