The Equipment

There are many mentions in medieval wills of jousting fathers passing on their armour for the tournament and their armour for war to their sons. It is clear that specialised equipment was being developed solely for the tournament. In the Tournament Gallery, on Floor 2 of the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, you can see many examples of this sporting equipment, such as the ‘frog mouthed’ helm. Also there are many reinforcing pieces for armours, designed to offer more protection to certain areas of the body.

The Scottish Earl of Crawford took part in a joust on London Bridge with Lord Wells in 1390 and was accused of being attached to his saddle. To prove his accusers wrong he jumped off his horse in full armour and got back on again. The English king was so impressed with his performance that expensive gifts were lavished on him.

Edward of Woodstock, known as the Black Prince, received his first armour when he was only seven years old. Among his equipment were lances and helms for jousting. His love of the sport stayed with him all his life and at royal tournaments he would lavish gifts of armour, covered in expensive materials such as velvet, on his friends. He obviously inherited his taste for grandly decorated armour from his father, King Edward III, who liked his armour covered in white leather and decorated with golden scallop shells. Usually a person had to be very wealthy to own special tournament armour and compete, but Prince Edward would often lend his armours to others so they could also take part.