Jousting: Tournament at the Tower pt 1, London England 2007

Philipped Willaume (at left) and Graham Turner (at right) smash it up at the Tower of London, September 1st, 2007.

This was part of the "Tournament at the Tower" in which Armourer-Jouster and Historic Enterprises co-owner Jeffrey Hedgecock participated, but unfortunately was only able to participate in the first show, due to a hand injury sustained in a hard strike on Order of the Crescent team-mate Steve Mallet, in his third course.

The jousting at the Tower was the most intense yet seen in England, featuring a 40 metre long 6 foot high solid planked tilt, the first ever used in a major modern jousting event. Several jousters sustained light injuries due to the force of impacts caused by the speed of the horses and near direct angle of the lance strikes.

Other jousters participating included Toby Capwell, Jason Kingsley, Sean George and Mark Griffin.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• jousting
• joust
• tilt
• tilting
• royal
• armouries
• hedgecock
• tournament
• tower
• of
• london
• graham
• turner
• armour
• armor
• lance
• knight

[nonSteel]

Bahaha, they wouldnt allow women to just interupt like that

[historicent]

@nonSteel She was portraying Queen Elizabeth Woodville, and we were jousting for her pleasure as members of the court and visiting nobility. As Queen, she could do anything she liked in this situation.

[JBMontgomery87]

Is this different than the American full-contact stuff which is getting its own reality show? ('Knights of Mayhem', I think it's called.)

[historicent]

@JBMontgomery87 sorry, link didn't work. Check out the video comment I just made, for comparison. Or if that doesn't work, look at our video titled "Tournament of the Phoenix 2010 - from WealthTV". It lays out how we compete, both in North America (San Diego and Quebec) and in Europe most commonly. For us it about sportsmanship and chivalry, and we place a high value on horsemanship. Nearly all the riders are accomplished enough that they stay on their horses. Unhorsings are rare. We ride well.

[thedukeofantioch]

i wish it was televised and had proper sponsorship.

[smokey23quickz]

what happend to the old jousting striking them with the lance

[GriffinHistorical]

MrNamen, the words we used are ad libbed with a mind to period feel. We do not speak 'tudorese' or try to be real medieval people as the audience simply wouldn't understand true medieval English.

We have a fine line to tread with getting info across to a modern audience whilst still retaining a period feel.

We certainly don't borrow any dialogue from 'The Tudors', which is at best a script writers attempt at loosely interpreting events from HVIII's reign.

[GriffinHistorical]

printz150 - the words used are 'laissez aller'. Stricly speaking it means to let go but it has 'off we go!' meanings with a sense of lack of restraint. It's French for lets get ready to rumble!, but with a more period feel.

[1169Timothy]

@shcnoozlebop Jousting tournaments in the medieval era were not blood baths you know. They were contests for knights to gain prestige and honor as well as a form of sport for the masses. The only thing is that back then the lances did not shatter on contact, they were real but dull at the top.

[MrMeineNamen]

this are the exact lines from the show Tudors... or is the show Tudors taking these lines? or were these just documented word from word 600 years ago?

[shcnoozlebop]

i didn't know people would still be jousting today. but it doesn't seem nearly as brutal as it used to be when it started.

[JBMontgomery87]

@historicent Not sure where to look for the video comment you mentioned, but will definitely check out that tournament video and get back to you; cheers!

[historicent]

@l0udcheese- We prefer average sized horses, but somewhat heavily built, like draft crosses. In England, Dales cobs and heavy-ish hunters are used, as well as gypsy cobs, even friesian-cob crosses. Strength, level head, quickness, nimbleness, athleticism and smooth canter are all desirable traits in jousting horses. Type is more important than breed.