The Tournament

The Tournament is made up of several parts:

The Procession and Laying down the Gauntlets

The Squires' Archery Tourney

The Crest Melee

The Grand Club Melee

The Procession and Gauntlet

The tourney starts with a procession with the host of the tournament and his or her retinue; then the Knight Marshall (The knight of honour who has been selected to be the referee) Then the Knights and their squires.

Everyone is introduced to the commoners (YOU) and then the knights will issue their challenge with the throwing down of a gauntlet. Listen carefully you may chose your knight to cheer for based on just what he does or says.

Gauntlets are then recovered by the squires and the knights should leave the arena.

The Squires Archery Contest

We then move onto the archery contest (Not at all venues) The squires take centre stage demonstrating their skill with the classic English weapon, the Longbow. The squires shoot for accuracy and speed. They will shoot at their own colour on the boss, a wand, an inch wide strip on the boss, a speed shoot - how many arrows can they loose in a minute or thirty seconds and a beast shoot, either a noble beast of the forest or pest control at rats.

 The Crest Melee

The Crest melee is the first of the Knights' tests of skill. 

This is a fast and furious contest, where each knight uses a whalebone hand a half sword to strike the dragon crest from his opponent's helmet.  Watch carefully at the different styles of combat. Each knight favours a different guard and style of strike. Who will emerge victorious and who shall be crestfallen?

The Club Melee

There are many other things to see during the day, but the other part of the competition is the Grand Melee fought at the end of the day. Each knight is joined by his squire and all 8 men fight to the last in a brutal combat of club and shield.

 

Deals are done, alliances are formed and broken. This is a fascinating battle of both strength and strategy. 

If a knight falls his squire is eliminated, if a squire falls the knight must fight on alone. This is the most dangerous part of the day. Nothing is planned or scripted anything can happen and often does.

After the Grand Melee the victor for the day is announced.