The medieval joust originated as a tournament between knights where not only could the arts of warfare be practised and displayed, but was also a show of wealth and status.
Jousts originated as bloody individual combat between knights on foot but, by the fifteenth century, had developed into the tournaments familiar in popular fiction where armoured knights would charge each other in the tilt yard attempting to unseat their opponents from their steeds by the fifteenth century, the joust being regulated by an elaborate series of rules.
The event would stretch over many days, not only allowing the knights to display their wealth, social status, prowess and bravery, but were carnivals involving all ranks of society including knights-errant, dragons, giants, musicians, cunjurors, magicians dwarves, wildmen of the woods, etc., etc.
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These pageants naturally took on their grandest form when the vanity of monarchs was involved on occassions such as the "Field of the Cloth of Gold" in 1520. Ostensibly a diplomatic effort to secure peace between Henry VIII and Francis I of France, the event did not secure a lasting agreement between the monarchs but both spent vast sums of money to outdo each other in the splendour of their courts and the display of their military might.
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As well as tilting with lances, another form of combat took place in which two knights would fight armed with pollaxes in a circular enclosure known as the barriers. Normally the number of blows was restricted to a predetermined number and, in the case of no obvious victor, the victor of the bought was determined by a panel of judges.
With the displays of combat limited to titlting with the lance, special armour was developed for the joust. Those parts of the body which were unlikely to be at risk (particulary the left side) were guarded only with chain mail while plate armour was improved and additioally padded on those parts of the body which might be subject to the blow of the lance (see: Armour).
Each knight was equipped with a lance, a one handed sword and a rondel. The knight who succeeded in knocking his opponent off his mount first was considered the winner of the round (the contest between each pair of combatants usually being conducted on a "best-of-three" basis). Should both knights be unseated at the same time, the round was considered a tie and the knights continued the round on foot, fighting with swords to determine a victor of the round. The reward for winning the tournament was usually the hand of the victor's choice of lady.
The spectacle of the joust continued in its popularity during the fairs of the Renaissance and a form is still practised in modern times.
A form of jousting practised in medieval times has survived into modern times, the titl having been abandoned because of the high risk of personal injury involved.
In modern jousting competitions, riders on horseback show their prowess in horsemanship by attempting to thread a lance through a ring, with the diameter of the rings reducing progressively as the competition progresses - the riders who fail to successfully lance the ring ere eliminated from the competition until only the champion remains.
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This modern version of jousting has been adopted as the official state sport of Maryland in the USA.
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