Jousting Knights Lived Dangerously!

[A Senefelder]

who was healed after having a lance pierce his right eye during a tournament.

I've actually seen this happen. Back in the 90's I had a booth at a local renaissance festival. The jousting troupe that did the shows there was a full contact group. One of the participants had a lance shard pass through the vision slot/occularum of his close helmet and go in a millimeter under his eye. He was taken out of the show on a stretcher with his helmet still on as one end of the shard was protruding from it and they did not want to risk making things worse before a doctor looked at it. The fella was very lucky, he did not loose the eye. I had read historical accounts of this sort of thing happening but actually seeing it was positively unsettling. The dangers of engaging in that activity haven't changed in 4-500 years.

[Matchlock]

It is getting hard to say something substantial after what you wrote.
As I realized at an early stage how dangerous full contact sports and reenactments are I completely resigned from watching such shows, though I do admire those guys for being totally devoted to their profession and the martial arts.

m

[A Senefelder]

It is getting hard to say something substantial after what you wrote.

Being an armourer I worked closely with them and have done work for a number of todays pro jousters. They're a very different animal. I don't know if they're reflective of what the mindset of 15/16th/17th century jousters would have been like. They're pretty much fearless, or at least broadcast that image, and don't seem to think about what they're going to do much more than I would about driving a car. I've wondered personally several times in the past, when reshaping/fixing damaged harness for these guys if that really is how the jouster of that day may have been. The fella I mentioned in my first post actually returned to doing it for a living after he recovered. There's the famous story of William Marshal having to have a blacksmith pound his great helm somewhat back into shape while he had it on after a joust just so he could get it back off his head again. While not exactly the severity parity between the two events, the mindsets are not completely different. The stuff of pure conjecture I suppose.

[Matchlock]

Thank you so much for sharing both your inside experience and your mind. I believe you must be right with your formation of hypotheses concerning these guys.

Best,
m

[fernando]

Originally Posted by A Senefelder

... There's the famous story of William Marshal having to have a blacksmith pound his great helm somewhat back into shape while he had it on after a joust just so he could get it back off his head again...

An episode with macabre contours