King Richard’s Faire and the Modern-Day Joust
By: Emily Wright
King Richard’s Faire brings to life pieces of the Middle Ages in modern day Carver, Massachusetts. There are many aspects of medievalism present as you walk around the fair, but one of the most prominent are the displays of jousting. Jousting was a form of organized combat popular for entertainment in the middle ages in which knights could demonstrate their strength and bravery. The King’s Tournament at King Richard’s Faire entailed a 21st-century take on the sport of jousting. Putting a spin on the tournaments that typically involved violence, and sometimes even bloodshed and death, the Faire presented a much tamer and family friendly show. The four knights participating in the tournament arrived in a procession, and, of course, respects were paid to the King and Queen before any of the action began. Each section of the crowd around the tournament arena were assigned a knight to root for and took on the role of cheering in support. Our knight, seen below, was dressed in blue.
The tournament began with a proclamation of the prohibition of violence – the determination of the winner was to be one entirely based on skill. Instead of jousting with the intent of striking your opponent, the tournament consisted of many rounds in which the knights could prove the accuracy of their strikes. Depicted below is one round of the tournament in which riders had to successfully collect a ring with their lance while passing by.
While an obvious attempt at making the joust more acceptable to parents with small children, I also think this transformation of the joust is representative of a shift in values from the Middle Ages to the 21st-century. No longer is it idealized to be a strong and fearless knight, so therefore no longer is it necessary to prove your courageousness by charging head on into your opponent, and throwing him from his horse. In turn, I am not saying that I believe today’s values to instead include skill and precision with a lance, but I do, however, believe there is something to be said about the community which developed between the spectators. Each group of the crowd passionately rallied behind their assigned knight, and suddenly formed bonds through a mutual agenda with those around them that they had never known before, and probably will not know in their future. In addition, despite this division of the crowd, there was still an overall sense of excitement for entertainment. People were brought together to watch the King’s Tournament in a way that is otherwise uncommon for today’s society where people are so divided on so many other subjects.
Image Link: https://www.medievalchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/medieval-tournament-jousting.png
