A couple weekends ago The Man and I headed over to Kenilworth Castle to observe a jousting tournament.
When we lived in Mississippi, we went to mule pulls (I kid you not).
When we lived in Alabama, we went to shrimp fest.
In England, we watch people whack each other with big wooden sticks.
Oh yea, we like it here.
But before we get to the jousting, I wanted to show you a little of what Kenilworth Castle looks like.
Though it has now been destroyed, Kenilworth Castle was once one of England’s most celebrated castles. Building began in the 1120s, and shortly after it became a royal castle. Though it had been expanded and improved many times throughout the years, the most famous of all the improvements occured when Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, lived there. Dudley made the improvements to prepare for (and impress) Queen Elizabeth I. (Historians still debate over whether the Queen and Dudley were lovers or just very close friends.
If you’d like to see more of the castle and it’s grounds click here or here to see two short videos.
The first video covers some of the castle and town, and the second video covers the castle and the garden that was created for Elizabeth I.
(Please don’t be distracted by the widely varying weather as seen in these photos. The weather around here changes about every fourth minute- it’s baffling.)
Proof that vandalism goes waaaaaay back.
Now, the Jousting.
Alright, to start I’ll answer a few questions that you may or may not be asking:
- Who started this awesome craziness? Most historians credit Godfrey de Preuilly, a frenchman, with starting jousting tournaments. He at least hosted the first recorded tournament in 1066 (thats a whole heck of a long time ago- think Dark Ages, Vikings, and the downfall of the Mayans)
- Why joust? Technically it was to help Knights hone their skills so that they would be ready for battle. But let’s be honest- it was just an easy way to impress chicks and whack each other around.
- What’s cool about seeing a tournament at Kenilworth? History, that’s what! Alright, here’s the story: To minimize the amount of injuries occurring during these tournaments, King Richard I (of Robin Hood fame) created a series of rules. One of these rules stated that jousting tournaments could only be held in five predetermined locations throughout England. Kenilworth was one of them. (You also had to be English, have a license, and pay to play)
- Did people actually get hurt? Oh yeah. Actually, King Henry II of France died during his daughter’s marriage celebration- a silver splinter went through his eye and into his brain. Now that’s just nasty.
- What brought the downfall of jousting? Same thing that crushed the American Indian- guns. In this case, the musket. And thus forth men put down their sticks and started shooting each other instead.
But before the joust, first the knights show off their skills.
In this one they get points when the spear sticks in the chest and a bonus for the head.
Here they hit the white shield, and the winner is the one that makes it spin around in a circle the most.
And they also chop various sized fruit. Penalty for hitting the stick.
And, of course, they had music.
This was our MC for the day.
While the “knights" took a little break before the joust, we watched the falconry demonstration.
Here she took down an imaginary pheasant.
(This is how I react when G tries to take chocolate cake from me.)
And (finally) at the end of the day, we watched the joust!
Well, hello there knight in shining armor. I know a few ladies who are looking for you.
and….BAM!
What a way to round out your weekend!
