The Rules of Jousting | Henry VIII's Favourite Sport Explained

Jousting was the most prestigious of all tournament sports. It involved heavily armoured knights or warhorses hurtling towards each other at tremendous speeds. There's no surprise that Henry VIII absolutely loved it. Today, I'm talking to jousting expert Mark Griffin to learn more about this unbelievable sport. Jousting started off as training for war, but as it developed over the centuries until it becomes the sport Henry VIII knew, it was more a chance to show off just how magnificent you were and a chance to entertain. It starts off in 1066 when the Normans arrive. It becomes really popular around the time of Richard I, the Lionheart, and then over the next two or three hundred years, it becomes a formalised sport. And by the time we get to the Tudor period, what are the rules? We're simply trying to break our lances on two areas, either the shield that the knights wear or the helmet of our opponent. It's never about knocking the other guy out the saddle. You get more glory for breaking the lance on the opponent's helmet because that's just the difficult thing to do. If you strike the tilt rail, that's not allowed. If you sweep the lance across your opponent's face, that's not allowed. And absolutely, you cannot strike the horse. Each course, as each knight runs towards each other, is no more than about two and a half seconds. You've got to get your horse up to about 20, 25 miles an hour, a collected canter. Make sure your horse is in line with the tilt. Lower your lance at precisely the right moment. It's about timing, but it's also about bravery as well, because as well as hitting your opponent, I want to present a target to be hit too. It's a big game of chicken, but at the same time, you don't want to be seen as a chicken. You want to be hit. You want to hit him. What are the common dangers of jousting? Well, jousting is an equestrian sport, so as soon as you put horses in the mix, that can be quite dangerous. But of course, we need to check all the armour is strapped on properly, that nothing's going to fail. Vital that the visor is down on the helmet before you start your course. And kings are actually killed jousting. Yes, one of the French kings was killed. Many knights, in fact, were killed throughout jousting. It's a very, very dangerous sport. So what special equipment do you need and what does it do? Well, first of all, you need an armoured saddle to sit on. Very important. Protect your front and also make sure you don't come out the back of the saddle. Then we get onto the armour. The armour was very specialised for tournament. It's quite rigid and set in only a few positions. There can be no gap now between the neck and the head, so the helmet is very, very heavy and very rigid and it's fixed down to the breastplate so nothing can get through. And then on our left shoulder, we have a big shield. Now that's going to protect you, of course, but also it's there so the wood will catch the lance as it comes in. We armour the front of the horse. He has armour on his head and neck, but there are also decorative items, the trappings. And effectively, these are warhorses. Yeah, these are the ultimate warhorse. So what safety features were there? The tilt rail is one of the most important aspects of the joust. It enables each rider to run as close as they can into each other without crashing headlong, but also deliver the best blow possible. If you're using a sharp steel lance, it could be potentially fatal. It's a very, very dangerous thing to do. So we use, as they did then, a three-pointed coronel. It's got three points on, which means you can't skewer your opponent. 12-foot-long lance made of wood, solid all the way down. And hopefully, when I hit him, the coronel bites into the shield and the lance will break. So why was jousting so expensive? Well, there are a lot of logistical costs. You've got to keep your horses. You've got to train. The armour is expensive. And also, it's not just steel. There's gold. There's engraving. So the more decorative and advanced the armour, the more it's going to cost. It's mainly for knights, but of course, it's a very expensive sport. So it's the top echelons of society. So it's Henry VIII, his friends, the dukes and the earls, and the barons of England. What's the hallmark of a good jouster? Somebody who is brave, somebody who is fearless, somebody who is chivalrous, and somebody who is accurate. And your mood's important, I presume? You've got to be completely calm and concentrating on what's going on. It's all over so fast as well, so you don't really have time to think. If you're stressed or panicky or really angry, it's going to transmit into the horse. And then you've got even more problems. And was jousting a sport just for men? Well, only men took part in the actual jousting. But of course, women were the epitome of chivalry. So everything we do in the tilt yard is for the women who are watching. And were they involved in scoring at all? Yes, they could choose the best knight. They could award extra lances to those who'd done very, very well. And don't forget, of course, they could also disqualify knights for unchivalrous behaviour. So if you're a knight jousting against the king, would you make any exceptions for him? No, any exception would be spotted. So it's all down to the skill of the king. And also, we know that his friend Charles Brandon, who jousted against him a lot, was also breaking as many lances as he was. So it's totally down to just how good the king is. I think if he'd have kept his health, he would have been jousting right till the day he died.