Favorite Moments from 2014: Part Five

A few more favorite moments from 2014...

...from Ivar Mauritz-Hansen of Norway:

The season of 2014 has been my best season yet, and my first season doing shaped solid lances and full contact melee, and because of that, a lot of moments spring to mind when I am called upon to supply my favorite.

Ivar Mauritz-Hansen jousting at St. Hallvard's Tournament 2014 (photo by Renate Skeie)

My first tournament of the season was without doubt the most anticipated one this year. Petter Ellingsen, with others, spent years of planning and preparing for the Tournament of St. Hallvard in my home town of Oslo, Norway. After months of training, traveling to Crimea during the referendum to finish my new shoulders and helmet from Roman Tereschenko, and practicing with solid lances and wooden clubs, actually doing the tournament of that magnitude in a local venue was a true blast. To meet so many good people on and off the field really makes a tournament great, even if your merits in the lists themselves are not as good as one would like them to be.

Later in the summer, I once again went to the annual Tournament of St. Olav in Trondheim and had some really good days there with lots of good jousting. No solids this time. At the last day, I let my horse pass on the melee, as we were both tired, and my crew and I were going to Denmark that evening. So we took off all gear and walked back into the lists for the final victory lap after the melee was over. I was on his back without a saddle and my groom was leading him with just a rope.

Ivar Mauritz-Hansen, riding without gear at St. Olav's Tournament 2014
(photo by Hanne Prøis-Røhjell)

At the end of the round he just let the rope go, and we cantered out of the arena with no reins, saddle or anything. It is so wonderful to be able to trust one's mount to a degree that you can let go and know that he will take care of you... even if we both know that there is a bucket with feed by the trailer right outside the arena. This truly was a great moment.

Ivar Mauritz-Hansen at St. Olav's Tournament 2014 (photo by Hanne Prøis-Røhjell)

Then it was on to Denmark for The Tournament of the Golden Chain at the Nykøbing Medieval Center with Arne Koets and Stichting HEI (am I missing someone here?). I was really looking forward to meeting these people again after Oslo, and they did not disappoint me in or outside the lists. Jousting with Arne Koets was like getting jabbed by a bus. It was awesome. But the absolute top moment of the season was getting smashed to bits by Joram van Essen in the melee. You truly never feel alive before your body believes it's about to end. I'm looking forward to crossing clubs with Joram again in the future.

Joram van Essen(left) prepares to smash Ivar Mauritz-Hansen(right) over the head during 
the mounted melee at the Tournament of the Golden Chain (photo by Middelaldercentret)

... from Rozemarijn Keuning, who is on the cusp of becoming a jouster:

My favorite jousting moment of 2014 was of course when I had a lance broken on my shield for the first time! During the show season in 2014 and related training events, I didn't have my own horse with me here in Norway, as he was still in Spain being trained. I was lucky to have such good friends who would lend me their warhorses so I could join the training events.

Rozemarijn Keuning on the experienced jousting horse Misty 
during joust training in Norway (photo by Karoline Gudbrandsen)

I purchased a second-hand armour so I could join the fun while waiting for Luke Binks to create my properly fitted jousting armour. While I was getting help with my equipment, my good friends Pelle (Per Estein Prøis-Røhjell) and Ivar (Ivar Mauritz-Hansen) decided to break some solid lances and produced such a hard hit that it almost unhorsed both of them. I must admit I was wondering why I wanted to do this so badly in that very moment!

Unfortunately, I had some trouble with my equipment rendering myself unable to break a lance on someone else's shield, but at least I had a lance broken on mine, which really was a barrier I needed to cross to proceed with my training. The picture is a still from the GoPro and mostly just a blur, but you get the idea.

Rozemarijn Keuning has a lance broken against her for the first time 
(photo by Ivar Mauritz-Hansen)

My other absolute favorite moment of the show season in 2014 was at the tournament in Trondheim. The St. Olav's Tournament is always well organized and great fun. I was squiring for Pelle and his wife took care of his horse. Of course we were very happy to get a phone call from Arundel hearing he'd won the tournament together with Ben van Koert. But best of all was that he flew straight from Arundel to Trondheim, and even though he lost a day of gathering points due to his armour getting lost on the way, he still managed to win this tournament as well! Veni Vidi Vici! Very cool.

Rozemarijn squires for Pelle(Per Estein Prøis-Røhjell) during 
St. Olav's Tournament 2014 (photo by Odd Røhjell)

Also, Pelle finally got to ride his own horse Promyk, and of course I cannot speak for him, but I believe this was the first tournament where he did not need to spend all of his energy on his horse and could rather focus on the competition. Good training pays off, and Promyk was a star! He would do the job regardless of what was happening.

The reason why this is awesome you've probably heard before, as Promyk has a history of being dangerous to people. He ended up at Pelle's place kind of as a last resort, and if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would probably have trouble believing the total change he went through during his stay. Both his body and mind needed some serious fixing, and from directly attacking people to a very reliable warhorse in such a short time is truly a great achievement. Luckily he gets to stay, and I hope it will be to the end of his days.

Rozemarijn Keuning watches Pelle compete on Promyk during St. Olav's Tournament 2014
(photo by Ragnhild Krogvig Karlsen)

While writing this, I realize how lucky I am to have such great friends and teachers to train with, and I'm very much looking forward to the day I will be able to compete myself!

“Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.” – Brandon Sanderson in The Way of Kings

So, these were my best jousting moments of 2014.

Cheers, Rose

... from Joel Evans of the UK, who acts as ground crew for the jousting troupe Destrier. 

I was unfortunately only able to attend two events this season due to work responsibilities, but of those two, Bosworth was my favourite. We often have the opportunity to hold jousts in some really spectacular castles and historic properties, and as a bit of a fan of medieval architecture, this aspect appeals to me. It makes the entire joust far more evocative and atmospheric. However, as you're probably aware, Bosworth doesn't have that draw – it's just a field in the middle of the countryside. It is, of course the site of the Battle of Bosworth, and that is something very special, which added to the experience of the event.

The joust itself was a real challenge, with adverse weather, difficult horses and very tight timing for setting up and taking down the arena, which therefore made it difficult for all members of Destrier – from the knights (and King) to the ground crew guys such as myself. But I think that was what made it so satisfying. We were able to put on a joust that ran to a successful conclusion, was enjoyed by the public and also by the other re-enactors at the event. It was hard work for everyone involved, and a lot of running backwards and forwards on my part (the lot of the ground crew!), but it's always a great feeling when everything works out a success in the end.

The Destrier Team at the Battle of Bosworth 2014 (photo by Christina Pearn)

Do you have a favorite moment from 2014? Please share it in the comments.

Related articles:
Random Pic: Practicing for St Hallvard's

POV Video of the Last Six Jousting Passes at St Olav's Tournament 2014

The Tournament of the Golden Chain at the Middelaldercentret 2014

Interview with Per Estein Prøis- Røhjell, Team Champion at Arundel and Individual Champion at St Olav's 2014

Favorite Moments from 2014: Part One

There have been many exciting and memorable moments during the 2014 jousting season. This series of posts will share some of the jousters', crews' and photographers' favorite memories of the past season, in their own words and with photographs that they have chosen to go with their stories. Enjoy!

Andy Deane has been a jouster with Royal Armouries in the UK for many years. Here is his favorite memory of the 2014 jousting season:

It’s very difficult to put one moment at the top of my jousting season, there have been so many. Some I wasn’t even involved with; like watching some of the guys that used to joust at the big tournaments at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, now doing stunning tournaments all over Europe. The likes of Toby, Arne, Dom and Joram. They are a joy to watch and follow.

Being invited by the premier tournament group in Britain, Destrier, to join them in a mounted melee at the Beautiful Leeds Castle, and having fun folding Ash clubs over people's heads. Thank you Andreas!

Andy Deane prepares to strike Mark Caple over the head (photo by Richard Pearn)

After harrying Stacy Evans for many years, he eventually invited me to the most wonderful tournament in Britain at the moment, The Arundel Castle Tournament. Having only Jousted at the Royal Armouries for nearly twenty years, I don’t get out much, so to take on some truly competitive (and Big!) jousters from around the world was great. New friends from Poland, the ‘Man Mountain’ Jan and the smiling Assassin Jarek, from Norway Pelle (it was like jousting against Thor's Hammer), the hard to hit Dutchman Ben and those two crazy French Canadians who seem to have been hewn from the Rockies, Steve and Patrice! I’ve now crossed lances with them all, and they will be friends for a very long time. It was a brilliant time.

Left to Right: Jan Gradon, Steve R. Gagnon, Pelle/Per Estein Prøis-Røhjell, Andy Deane, 
Ben van Koert, Patrice Rolland, Phillip Leitch and Jarek Struczynski at Arundel 2014 
(photo by ARW Photography)

However the best moment happened and a very small event. It was an evening joust, on a glorious summers day for the officers of a regiment in the British Army. No more than a hundred people present. I was Jousting against my best Friend Andrew Balmforth, who also used to joust at the armouries for many years. The organisers were short of ground crew, and so I roped in my two teenage sons Henry and Oliver to help out.

With the sun low in the sky, my armour gleaming, on a very keen horse I nudge up to the mounting block, Henry resplendent in our family colours hands me my lance. Off I go, thrashing down the tilt. A massive double hit with Balmforth, rocked all over the place, come to a halt and give the remnants of the lance to my other son Oliver. That moment with my two grown up boys and Balmforth will live with me for ever.

BEST MOMENT!!!

Andy Deane(center) with his two sons Oliver(left) and Henry(right)
(photo by Andrew Balmforth)

Jouster Benedict Green
(photo by Stephen Moss)

Benedict Green, who started training with the British jousting troupe Destrier four years ago with the intention of becoming a jouster, shares his favorite memory:

I went from non-jouster to professional jouster in a season of many ups and downs... Hedingham was without doubt my highlight, as I made my debut there, but winning a joust to compete against the "King" at Bosworth also came very close!

At Bosworth, the jousting system operates differently. Four knights joust and score points in a round robin format, but instead of the top two knights jousting in a final, the highest scoring knight competes against the king (Andreas in this case). Sadly, I didn't defeat the king as well, but that would probably have been bad form!

Benedict Green(right, green feathers) breaks his lance against Jason Kingsley(left, red feathers) during Ben's first professional joust at Hedingham Castle 2014 (photo by NWY Photography)

Tina Steiner is another member of Destrier who has fond memories of Bosworth:

Tina Steiner (photo provided by Tina Steiner)

I’ve been a member of Destrier for 2 years, riding in mounted games and military skill at arms. I enjoy the games and the friendly banter among the participants. Even though at events more stress is always put on the jousts, at least as much skill is needed for cutting cabbages, spearing rings or throwing javelins in full canter.

I am the lucky owner of a horse who has pretty much seen it all and does it all, which gives me an advantage over the group members who ride horses from our suppliers. We know those horses because we train on them over the winter but it’s not the same as riding a horse every day.

When we ride in battles, like the Battle of Bosworth, I can rely on my horse to do exactly what I want and to be exactly where I want her to be. Although Zahara doesn’t like the pressure waves when the cannons go off, she will flinch but she would never run away. I've taught her to push people with her head so she gets desensitized to fighting the shiltron (troops formed in a circle, facing outward).

My favourite memory of 2014 would be riding as standard bearer to King Richard III (portrayed by Andreas Wenzel) in the Battle of Bosworth. I knew most riders in the battle would want to attack the pavaises with a lance in the main charge, and even though I could have done that as well, I knew that there was no better choice than Zahara when it came to carrying a fluttering banner and staying with the king on the battlefield no matter what. We followed him to the parley, when he rallied the troops and into the final battle. And although I know it is ‘only’ a re-enactment, I still get goose bumps when Andreas rabble-rouses the soldiers against the usurper Tudor.

After the attack on Tudor's standard bearer and the shiltron, the King got off his horse and went on to fight on foot. That is not what he really did, but it would be too dangerous for horse and rider to actually unhorse him in battle. So I followed him into the fight with his banner and dutifully died with him.

King Richard's banner bearer had his legs cut off from under him. In the throng of fighters it is easy to imagine what it would have been like. If all the weapons were sharp you could be dead within a few minutes. That really gets the adrenaline flowing. And if I get the chance I'll be there again next year.

Tina Steiner carries the King's Banner for King Richard III(Andreas Wenzel) during the
Battle of Bosworth re-enactment (photo by Mike Ingram)

From the other end of Europe, jouster and tournament organizer Dmitry Savchenko of Russia has this to share:

Well, of course, the most striking is Tournament of the Phoenix. It was my first international tournament outside of Russia, new competitors, new horse – everything is new and everything is very interesting.

Individual moments. Well, perhaps, foot tournament. I did not expect from myself that I will do it well. The most interesting fight was with Luc – probably because was the longest. Good melee where I chased Tobias. That is only with regard to the combat scenes. The rest – the most vivid impression is familiarity with wonderful people.

Dmitry Savchenko(right) fights with Luc Petillot(left) during the pollaxe competition at Tournament of the Phoenix (photo by Clarence Alford Photography)

Well, at home – it is certainly the tournament in Izborsk. I returned to the fortress after a break that lasted four years. Great fights, including – for the first time – with Victor Ruchkin. For me, in Russia, it is very important that there are new, interesting opponents. In addition, we have made a wonderful historical camp inhabited by lovely people. I wrote you a detailed report. I wish that these places could be seen by my friends from abroad.

And, of course, the event in the Crimea. I was glad to come back here and make the event on earth which is directly linked to European history of the 15th century.

Victor Ruchkin(left) jousts Dmitry Savchenko(right) during the tournament in Izborsk
(photo by Eugenia Komarova)

Thomas Andersen
(photo by Karin H. Antonsen)

Thomas Andersen of Norway shares his favorite memory of the 2014 jousting season:

The underdog story come to life!

My favorite moment of the jousting season in 2014 was my last match against Per Estein Prøis Røhjell (Pelle), in the finals at St. Olav's Tournament in Trondheim. One could feel the tension in the air. The men and woman I rode against are far more trained on horseback than me. They have their own horses and have a lot of experience competing in jousting tournaments. A true jouster presents a good target. Pelle is one of those guys!

Coming in 2nd place just two points behind Pelle was truly an awesome feeling!

A huge thanks to my team, for doing an awesome job during the tournament! My aunt, Tone Antonsen, for letting me ride her horse, and being a perfect horsemaster for me. And to my squire Martin Hagen Johnsen for superb help with all the equipment I needed!

Left: Thomas Andersen riding Even, the 21 year old Norwegian Fjord horse (WarFjord).
Right: Thomas Andersen jousts Pelle(Per Estein Prøis Røhjell) at St Olav's 2014
(photos by Stine Gulli)

More Favorite Moments will be published soon!

Do you have a favorite moment from 2014? Please share it in the comments.

Related articles:
Interview with Ben van Koert, Half of the Winning Team at Arundel International Tournament 2014

An Interview with Toby Capwell, Champion of Tournament of the Phoenix 2014

Jousting at Zhelezny Grad

Interview with Per Estein Prøis- Røhjell, Team Champion at Arundel and Individual Champion at St Olav's 2014

An Interview with Arne Koets, Jouster and Organizer of the Grand Tournament at Schaffhausen

The Grand Tournament at Schaffhausen was a grueling ten day tournament display held in conjunction with an exhibition of knightly arms and armour at the Museum zu Allerheiligen in northern Switzerland. Arne Koets, who organized The Grand Tournament of Sankt Wendel in 2012, was also the tournament organizer for the joust in Schaffhausen.

Arne Koets during the Grand Tournament at Schaffhausen (photo by Andreas Petitjean)

A total of eight jousters participated in the tournament including: Bertus Brokamp, Toby Capwell, Petter Ellingsen, Arne Koets, Wouter Nicolai, Dominic Sewell, Joram van Essen and Alix van Zijl. The jousters did not ride the same horses throughout the tournament because that would have been too hard on the horses. However, the horses that were ridden were: Bertus' Andalusian stallion Talento, Toby's Friesian stallion Duke, Petter's Andalusian gelding Sigismund, Arne's Andalusian gelding Maximillian and his Lusitano stallion Sultan, Wouter's Andalusian stallion Flamenco, Dominic's Andalusian gelding Coralito(in his first jousting season) and his Belgian Warmblood stallion Marduc, Joram's Murgese stallion Zogo, and Alix's Andalusian stallion Torero. Interestingly, Talento and Torero are half-brothers.

The Lady of Honour was Christine Krischke and she rode her Berber stallion Raisulih. The Tournament Master was Wolfgang Krischke, Court Riding Master of the Fürstlichen Hofreitschule Bückeburg, who rode his magnificent Knabstrubber stallion Olymp.

Left: Arne Koets' Andalusian jousting horse Maximillian,
Right: Wolfgang Krischke's Knabstrubber stallion Olymp (photos by Andreas Petitjean)

There were two sessions of jousting/mounted melee each day, and many of those sessions sold out. In fact, during the course of the whole ten day event, approximately 80% of the jousting tickets, which cost 30 - 45 francs and also allowed entry to the museum exhibition, were sold.

Despite somewhat uncooperative weather, none of the sessions were cancelled, and only one was delayed. Before each session of jousting/mounted melee, an explanation of the history and rules of the tournament was given to the audience. Other information, such as details on the art of riding, was also provided.

Each session of jousting actually involved five separate parts, all based on an extant description of an actual tournament that was held in that very square in Schaffhausen in 1436.

First, there were two matches of jousting, with two different jousters in each match. Each match consisted of three passes with lances down the length of the tilt. The lances used for the jousting were shaped solid wood with sharp steel coronels. A winner for each pass was declared based on a set of historical rules involving riding, lance handling, where the opponent was hit and whether the lance broke. The jouster with the best two passes out of three won the match.

Toby Capwell waits at the end of the tilt as a member of the ground crew carries
away his broken lance, and a line judge signals the score for that pass.
(photo by Ingrid Isabella von Altdorf)

Second was a Mounted Duel using steel swords on horseback. The duels were judged by the Tournament Master and the Ladies Court, and the winner was determined based on both riding ability/horse positioning and the number of strikes landed against the opponent. According to Arne Koets, in every case, the competitor who rode the best also landed the most strikes, so determining the winner was easy.

Wolfgang Krischke takes a break from judging to participate in a mounted duel
with Arne Koets. You can see members of the Court in the stands behind them.
(photo by Ingrid Isabella von Altdorf)

Third was a Team Turnier(mounted melee), which consisted of two teams of three riders each charging at each other and attempting to strike the members of the opposing team with wooden clubs. Acceptable target areas included any part of the body covered by armour above the waist. For each session, the charge was repeated three times. When a rider broke a club, he could collect a new one from the squires. As many as 12 clubs were broken PER SESSION.

Joram van Essen breaks his melee club over Toby Capwell's helm
(photo by Isis Sturtewagen)

Fourth was a living history display of the 'punishments' that were described in the historical record of the tournament. These historical re-enactments were based on the museum's interpretation of the documents describing them.

Fifth, and finally, there was a Nachturnier or 'after-tournament'. This was an individual Crest Melee where competitors used steel swords to try and knock the crests off of everyone else's helms. The last competitor with his crest still attached to his helm was the winner.

Arne Koets and Alix van Zijl during the Grand Tournament at Schaffhausen
(photo by Andreas Petitjean)

Even though this type of mounted combat can be dangerous, especially when doing it twice a day for ten days, only two injuries occurred – both caused by impacts with the crossguards of the steel swords used in the Nachturnier.

Not long after the Grand Tournament at Schaffhausen, Arne Koets graciously answered several questions about the event. [Due to various circumstances, it took quite a while to publish this interview. My apologies to both Arne and to the readers of The Jousting Life.]

How did the Grand Tournament at Schaffhausen come into being?

I was recommended to organize the tournament for the museum, whose director had organized an event in Berne some years ago. He wanted to enhance his knightly arms and armour exhibition, and we were meant to give a slice of history, doing it for real. Hence the combat was competitive, but in a medieval, not in a modern sense. We were to capture the image of the original historical tournament.

The jousting/mounted melee sessions were a museum ‘interpretation’ and the texts were straight out of the original sources (edited by the director himself). We re-created the whole four day tournament in the space of one hour. Twice a day. For ten days running. The only thing we didn't have was 195 riders on the field like there were in 1436.

Six of the eight jousters who participated in Schaffhausen. From bottom left to top right: Arne Koets, Wouter Nicolai, Toby Capwell, Petter Ellingsen, Bertus Brokamp and Dominic Sewell
(photo by Stefan Kiss)

What were the biggest challenges in organizing the tournament?

The amount of shows. Twenty shows is a lot, but 20 shows with up to 5 melees in each is even more insane! The level of what we wanted to do was really high in terms of riding, saddlery, armour, fighting technique and weapons accuracy, but also we made a marathon of it. Due to the long duration, the team size was very limited, and we were a bit understaffed due to the cap on overall team numbers.

A HUGE challenge was to manage the workload on the horses. The weather was really hot, as well, and we rotated the horses and riders, as planned from the start. The horse transport was also very complicated due to customs, and that cost a great deal of money.

Also the site is very strongly sloped and small due to the requirements of the grandstands and the surrounding shops. In medieval times, the square's outside track would have been the audience area. Now, it needed to be kept free, reducing the field to tiny proportions.

There were very many challenges to get such a complex event to run. Too many to mention.

Explain how the tournament related to the exhibition at the Museum zu Allerheiligen?

We really did a museum display, where we showed a slice of history, and the actual combat was there to supply one of the aspects of authenticity. The arms and armour exhibition was showing in great detail many of the aspects of German tournament culture, and we wanted to incorporate as many of these in the display as possible. We rejected the set notions of how shows are normally run, and instead, first formulated what would have actually been seen in the historical tournament, and only then reduced it to a watchable show for a modern audience.

Petter Ellingsen waits at the end of the tilt while two other jousters compete
in front of a sold out audience (photo by Ingrid Isabella von Altdorf)

How do you think tournaments such as this one can benefit those who study history? 

Due to using a great deal of rare pieces of equipment (like saddles and special helmets), we were able to experiment in new directions, but also the completeness of the ‘experiment’ made it worthwhile to get new insights. There were several visitors from America – academics who flew over for the occasion. We had a lot of museum curators and directors there to see it, and they were able to confirm our interpretation, as well as see things in a different light – understanding much more of the culture and the mechanics of what they study as static objects and written accounts.

Describe any specific training you and/or the other jousters did in preparation for this tournament?

The process started really in 2010, when we replaced almost all the horses in the team and started riding in a more historical way, and being helped a great deal to develop the collected exercises. The team of horses, the time to prepare and the equipment was made and extended. Especially in Holland, several test training's were run, but also clinics in England and Germany were run, so that we could develop the lances, the clubs, the tactics, the riding, the saddles....

Most of the riders worked daily on this development over the last 4 years, ordering armour, riding, learning, reading up on riding theory, etc....

There was also a significant push for mounted martial arts.

Bertus Brokamp, Alix van Zijl, Petter Ellingsen and Joram van Essen during a mounted melee, Schaffhausen 2014 (photo by Isis Sturtewagen)

What can you tell us about the two injuries that were sustained during the mounted melees?

Two horses running at one another have a lot of force, so the dynamics of the swordwork in the Turnier(mounted melee) are quite impressive, and sometimes things go wrong. Bertus' hand punched into a crossguard. The thing was that Bertus' injury was an unfortunate accident. He was hit on the inside of his hand where the leather glove is inside the gauntlet.

Joram was struck in the face with Toby's crossguard. During the melee both men were riding like furies and came upon one another frontally. Whilst they were targeting each others' crests, they noticed they were about to crash and made a last minute swerve to make sure the horses did not collide. However, that could not be said of the riders themselves. Not only did the armoured men hit each other, the hilt of Toby's sword punched onto the visor of Joram's helm with the force of the two colliding horses.

Despite needing stitches, in true warrior fashion Joram came back to the tournament almost instantly and kept rocking the event with his skill and presence...

Alix van Zijl and Joram van Essen. Through Joram's visor you can see the bandages
from being injured during a previous Turnier (photo by Andreas Petitjean)

Please describe the type of lances used during the tournament and why that style of lance was chosen.

Fir tree-trunks. The lances were grown, naturally-tapered fir lances with steel coronels, vamplates and grappers. They are representative of 15th century lances as depicted, described and extant.

Please tell us about your armour.

We use field armour with sport specific exchange pieces, as was the norm in 1460s. My personal armour is based on effigies of Ulrich Busch and Ulrich von Hohenrechbrech (both +1458) with exchange elements from Michael Pacher and Talhoffer. The armour is clearly German in design. Across Europe, the hinged cuirass was used in England, Iberia, France, lowlands, the empire, Italy… mostly everywhere. The silhouette and design of the armour is otherwise distinctly German and specific to the distinctly German style of this period.

Arne Koets in his 15th century German field armour
(photo by Michael Kennedy)

My armour was made by Luke Binks, Craig Sitch and Jeffrey Hedgecock. I have horse armour by Joram van Essen and Roman Tereschenko. What I like about my armour is the shape, fitting, maneuverability, the design I insisted on, the frogmouth helm and kolbenturnierhelm, the sallet for general use, the finger gauntlets,... It is a little thin in places but has stood up fairly well.

If I need to mention bad things: The buckles are really weak and the leather quality is rather bad. There are some design features I ordered which were not implemented in the core set of armour, and that made a difference. Steel thickness was reduced relative to specific order, some sliding rivets were not implemented, bevor's height… stuff like that.

But all in all, this armour is a really workable rig. It keeps soldiering on, and it is comfortable and has good lines.

Please tell us about the horses that you rode during the tournament.

I rode Maximilian, an eight year old Andalusian gelding, and Sultan, a fourteen year old Lusitano stallion.

Max is my old friend, veteran of Sankt Wendel and many other events. He was dependable and did some really nice collected work. He also has opinions, and he needs convincing sometimes. He has done a lot of historical dressage and garrocha work, as well as desensitization in terms of guns, fire, all sorts of things. Stamina was an important part of the preparation for this event, and I built that up over the last year or so. Including riding out, etc...

Arne Koets and his Andalusian gelding Maximillian (photo by Andreas Petitjean)

Sultan is my new horse, a former rejoneo horse. He is very quick on his feet, but he needed to be taught to be less defensive. Bullfighting horses might be quick, but they are taught to dodge at the last moment. Doing this on command is great, but they want to do it as a matter of course. Sultan clicked with me at the event, and I was able to ride him much more offensively, and he did a great job.

I am indebted to Wolfgang Krischke for retraining Sultan. The horse as he came from Spain was ridden very much with the bit and very little on the seat, so he needed a lot of training to be able to work as he does now.

What were some of your favorite moments of the tournament?

The first Sunday was the highlight. Everything fell into place, the Turniers(mounted melees) were hard and well ridden, everybody seemed to give their all on the eve of the rest day. It all just looked great and worked well. The whole team seemed proud of what they achieved

Then again on a personal note, I really liked the fight I had with Wouter at the end of the Nachturnier on one particular occasion. I could still pirouette my horse after all that and could just keep him exactly where I wanted, turning inside him for a while before closing in for the kill. That was nice.

What would you like to say about/to the other participants in the tournament?

Everybody worked soooo hard!
The grooms, the squires, the rest of the crew making 120 crests to be destroyed, prepping the lances, making new clubs (because we broke so many), repairing armour, dodging running horses to remove broken timber from the Turnier,… Wolfgang and Christine riding, doing falconry, speaking, acting… every day. Everybody worked to exhaustion in that heat.

We had a new commentator that no one had met before who was a genius!

The typical working day started at 7:00 am – repairing, preparing, mucking, feeding, free-running horses, etc... And we all worked without a break until dinner at 22:00. We still had meetings after that to coordinate stuff. There were no exceptions. We all worked until we dropped.

The crew and jousters for the Grand Tournament at Schaffhausen
(photo from the Museum Zu Allerheiligen)

What are your plans/hopes for the future?

There is talk of a repeat of this event, and I was officially invited to another really exciting one. However, we will not do this workload again on the horses. Hopefully by subtle means, we can take it down a peg. This was too much, for too long.

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and best of luck with your future endeavors.


A few more pictures from the Grand Tournament at Schaffhausen:

Joram van Essen(left) breaks his lance against Dominic Sewell(right). In the background,
you can see the Ladies Court watching the joust. (photo by Andreas Petitjean)

Toby Capwell breaks his lance against Wouter Nicolai (photo by Stefan Kiss)

Left: Arne Koets and his Andalusian gelding Maximillian (photo by Ingrid Isabella von Altdorf)
Right: Dominic Sewell riding his Andalusian gelding Coralito (photo by Isis Sturtewagen)

Joram van Essen breaks his lance against his opponent(photo by Andreas Petitjean)

Joram van Essen holds the remains of his broken lance (photo by Andreas Petitjean)

Left: Groundcrew member Max Knegjens holds aloft Arne Koets' broken crest (photo by Isis Sturtewagen) Right: Jouster Wouter Nicolai stands armoured as part of a demonstration (photo by Ingrid Isabella von Altdorf)

Toby Capwell's jousting helm reflects the ground crew (photo by Andreas Petitjean)

After the final jousting session, the jousters decided to dismount and engage in foot combat. 
L-R: Alix van Zijl, Dominic Sewell, Capri the dog, Bertus Brokamp and Joram van Essen.
(photo by Isis Sturtewagen)

Related articles:
Video Report on the Grand Tournament at Schaffhausen

The Grand Tournament at Schaffhausen in the News

Jousting in Schaffhausen a Success!

Arne Koets Comments on the Tournament So Far, Plus More TV News Coverage of the Grand Tournament at Schaffhausen

An Interview with Arne Koets: Chosen by the Ladies Jury as the Bravest Competitor at The Grand Tournament in Sankt Wendel

An Interview with Andreas Wenzel, Chairman of the Destrier Jousting Troupe

Andreas Wenzel is not only an excellent jouster, he is also an excellent writer and has generously written several articles for The Jousting Life, both as himself and as the spokesman for Destrier.

Andreas Wenzel(photo by Richard Pearn)

He and his teammate Mark Caple recently won the Grand Tournament at Leeds Castle 2014 which took place in late August and was the last Destrier tournament this season.

The scores for the tournament(graciously provided by Emma Pearn) were as follows:

Leeds Castle Team(Mark Caple, Andreas Wenzel): 25 points
Royal Armouries Team(Jason Kingsley, Stacy van Dolah-Evans): 22 points

Mark Caple(left) and Andreas Wenzel(right), Team Champions of Leeds Castle Grand Tournament 2014(photo by ARW Photography)

Although there was no individual winner for this tournament, individual scores for the mounted skill at arms(MSA) competition and the jousting were given. The combined total is shown below. Note: although the mounted melee scores were an important part of this competition, no individual scores for mounted melee were given, only team scores. So the scores below do not accurately reflect how much each individual contributed to his team overall.

Andreas Wenzel: 20
Jason Kingsley: 17
Mark Caple: 13
Stacy van Dolah-Evans: 11

When asked to do an interview about winning the Leeds Castle Grand Tournament, Andreas preferred not to focus the interview on himself personally, but rather to focus it on Destrier as a whole.

This year's Leeds Castle Grand Tournament was a bit different from previous Destrier tournaments. Can you tell us about the format of the tournament at Leeds, and what made it different from other Destrier events?

Well, the first major difference was, of course, that the Leeds Castle tournament ran for five days – from Wednesday to Sunday. The second major difference was that this was not a competition between four individuals, but between two teams – one representing Leeds Castle (the host), the other representing the Royal Armouries (the guests).

Additionally we were asked by the client to differentiate the shows on the weekdays from the weekend. So we worked out a tournament schedule in which the two teams competed against each other in so-called “Combat Mounted Skill-at-Arms” [Combat MSA for short] shows during the weekdays, and then progressed to a grand melee and a grand joust on each weekend day.

The Royal Armouries Team(Stacy van Dolah-Evans and Jason Kingsley, with Zac Evans as their third)  in the Combat MSA competition during the Leeds Castle Grand Tournament 2014
(photo by Stephen Moss)

Combat Mounted Skill-at-Arms is a new display format we introduced last year, which is designed to test all the skills demanded of a mounted 15th century man-at-arms. Two teams comprised of three fully armed riders compete in three rounds. The first round tests ability and discipline during a cavalry charge. Each team runs with lances at rings while maintaining a line abreast. Once the ring targets have been passed, the riders discard their lances, draw side-arms, turn about, and run at the cabbages while still maintaining their line abreast. Points are awarded for the quality of the formation and number of targets taken. The second round tests martial horsemanship and close combat skills in a three-pass melee. In the third round, the skill with the lance is tried in a five-pass joust between an individual competitor from each team.

For the weekend, we switched gears to disciplines more representative of a medieval tournament, with a pretty grueling five-pass “grand” melee, and then the “grand joust” which pitched the jousters from each team against each other three times (six passes in total per competitor).

Andreas Wenzel and Stacy van Dolah-Evans both break their lances against one another during the Leeds Castle Grand Tournament 2014(photo by Richard Pearn)

The Leeds Castle Grand Tournament 2014  included one session that focused entirely on the mounted melee. Please, tell us about the differences between the mounted melee and the joust, and why the mounted melee is important.

I think most readers here will know that the joust is fairly simple as far as horsemanship goes. You canter your horse in a straight line, as close to the tilt rail as possible. Okay, you could debate nuances and get into whether left or right bend is better, and whether a Travere is preferable to a straight line, and whether and when you should accelerate before impact. Nevertheless, even at that level of refinement, I would maintain that the art and complexity of the joust lies predominantly in the handling of the lance – how and when do you couch, when do you lower your lance, how do you lower your lance, where do you then hit with how much accuracy and consistency, at which angle and therefore with how much force. In a good jouster all of this happens semi-automatically, drilled into muscle memory by years of training.

Jason Kingsley(left) and Andreas Wenzel(right) joust against one another at Hedingham Castle 2014(photo by NWY Photography)

As a discipline, the joust has its roots in testing the skills required during the initial charge in battle. The melee is important as it simulates what happens after that initial charge – when you’ve lost or broken your lance and are reduced to your side-arm. Then, suddenly, horsemanship prevails completely – your riding skills are as critical then as footwork is to the foot combatant, and no amount of fancy blade handling will save you if your horsemanship can’t get you out of the wrong position and into the right position.

The horses themselves will join the fight during a melee, keen to assert dominance over each other. I personally feel that there is a kind of dialogue between horse and rider, in which they agree who to attack or how to best get out of a tough spot. The best melee riders and their horses are perfectly harmonious teams, brothers in arms.

Andreas Wenzel and his mount Yeha look for opponents during the mounted melee at Leeds Castle Grand Tournament 2014(photo by ARW Photography)

That’s why the melee is so important in tournament, and why it was often regarded as superior to the joust – it relentlessly tests the skill of combatants and their horses, and makes immediately apparent if a competitor or his horse are either lacking in ability or not well aligned. As a discipline it is all about refined skill and complexity, as opposed to the joust’s brute force through automated motion.

So how did the session of mounted melee go?

A lot of melees you see around suffer from a general lack of impulsion, with the majority being fought at the trot, the walk or even the halt. This is not what would have happened – a rider in battle at the trot or the walk would have been dead almost straightaway. To keep alive, you would have had to maintain the canter at all times – this is the gait in which the horse is most maneuverable, quickest to accelerate, quickest to turn. Of course this considerably raises the bar in terms of the horses’ and the riders’ skill level. It also completely changes the dynamics of the melee – suddenly the riders move around the arena in what looks like a constant high-speed dance.

It also completely changes the dynamics of the melee – suddenly the riders move around the arena in what looks like a constant high-speed dance.

So the primary challenge of putting on a well-run melee is to keep all riders in the canter at all times. To ensure this at Leeds Castle, we introduced the Sankt Wendel “canter rule” – if any rider dropped out of canter for longer than five seconds, he would be counted out, the melee would be stopped and his team would lose a point.

Just to explain the scoring properly: Each rider had a scorer watching him from the side lines. As soon as this scorer saw his rider getting hit twice, losing his weapon, getting unhorsed or dropping out of canter for longer than five seconds, he would shout and wave his hands to the Knight Marshal (the highly capable Dom Sewell). The Knight Marshal would then halt the melee, clarify the situation, and award a point to the opposing team. After this, all riders would return to their ends, and the next pass would begin.

Mark Caple(right) strikes Stacy van Dolah-Evans(left) while Jason Kingsley watches from behind during Leeds Castle Grand Tournament 2014(photo by Richard Pearn)

Overall, and despite all the work we had done on this in training, the melees were really hard work. I felt that all riders were stretching their riding and physical abilities to their limits. I am delighted to say that we had some fantastic feedback from the public – the sheer sight of all this armour moving around a fairly restricted space at speed, throwing in flying changes and the occasional pirouette, ultimately leading to violent clashes when wooden clubs found their targets; the Knight-Marshal having to step in with raised voice to separate the furiously engaged combatants bout after bout – all this made for a fantastically dynamic and dramatic display, which was yet completely different from the joust and showed an aspect of 15th century mounted tournament the British public had not been treated to so far.

Just as in historical times, when different tournaments were run and scored differently depending on when, where and for whom they were held, modern jousting tournaments are run and scored differently depending on those involved in organizing them. Would you care to explain how Destrier tournaments are generally run and scored?

At most Destrier shows we don’t try and find an overall champion over several disciplines, so each event is scored on its own merits. During the mounted skill at arms(MSA) competitions, we usually give between one and three points for the cabbages, depending on how the cut was executed, between one and three points for the javelins, depending on where on the target they struck, and between one and three points for the rings depending on whether they were dislodged or taken, and how large the rings were. Quintains are usually scored with one point per revolution.

Tina Steiner, riding Argie, destroys a cabbage during a Hunting Games MSA competition
(photo by ARW Photography)

During the jousts, we typically give one point for a broken lance to the arm, two points for a broken lance to the breast plate, three points for a broken lance to the shield. Head strikes are subject to prior agreement between the jousters, and can either be considered illegal or awarded three to five points. We always award an extra point if the lance is broken particularly far down, to encourage hard hits. If a rider is unhorsed, he forfeits any points for that pass while his opponent receives the regular points for wherever he struck.

When we are aiming to award a championship across several events, we usually find that adding up the scores from each round is getting us to very high numbers. To enable the use of a scoring board, we therefore tend to use the concept of “victory points” on those occasions: the top scorer of an event will receive three victory points, the second-placed scorer two, the third-placed scorer one, and the last-placed scorer none. Where only two combatants are involved (for example when scoring for two teams, or in a two-man joust) the winner receives three points, the loser none.

Stacy van Dolah-Evans jousts Zachary Evans at Herstmonceux Castle 2014
(photo by ARW Photography)

Does each Destrier rider have a specific horse or horses that he/she usually rides? Please tell us about your horses.

No, generally not – the majority of our riders do not own their own horses, or if they do, they don’t use them for Destrier events. The only real exceptions to this rule are Jason Kingsley who usually rides his PRE gelding Warlord, and Tina Steiner who prefers to work with her PRE mare Zahara.

Tina Steiner on her PRE mare Zahara at Bosworth 2013(photo by Richard Pearn)

Destrier usually rents specially trained stunt and re-enactment horses from professional horse suppliers. In 2014 we worked with Nicky Willis/Tournament Stud and Dom Sewell/Historic Equitation. Next year we will work again with Nicky Willis and hopefully Dom’s Historic Equitation, but also with Mark Atkinson’s Atkinson Action Horses. Between them, these suppliers provide horses in a wide variety of breed and skill levels – the breeds we use include cobs and polo ponies just as much as Spanish, draft and sport breeds. Every Destrier rider is expected to work with a wide variety of mounts, and a large part of our training aims at broadening each rider’s available horse base.

However, I guess all of us have our favourites. If you take me personally for example, I spent most of my events this year with Nicky Willis’s Yeha (PRE) and Dom Sewell’s Marduc (Belgian Warmblood), but also rode Tournament Stud’s Argie (Polo Pony) and Coal (a Hungarian breed, possibly a Nonius), Nicky Willis’s Burt (Dutch Warmblood), Donk (a Polish breed, possibly a Polish draft cross), Tikka (Polo Pony) and Dom Sewell’s Hawthorne (Friesian x Cob). I also had the exquisite pleasure of spending a whole week with Ben Atkinson’s PRE stallion Sonyador – although that was at Arundel Castle, not during a Destrier event.

Riding many different horses is a core part of our culture at Destrier. If you were to sit by the Destrier camp fire during one of our events, you’d most likely hear members discussing the merits of different horses, exchanging tips about how best to ride each of them, or reminiscing about a horse which in the past had touched their heart.

Besides the Grand Tournament at Leeds Castle, what were some of the other tournaments that Destrier staged during 2014?

This year our event calendar included a small St. George’s Display with some skill-at-arms at Dover Castle, as well as full Destrier events (i.e. jousts with either Hunting Games MSA or Combat MSA competitions) at Hedingham Castle, Bodiam Castle, the Chalke Valley History Festival, and Herstmonceux Castle.

A very important event for us each year is the re-enactment of the Battle of Bosworth, where we perform our usual Hunting Games and Jousting competitions, and also provide cavalry for the battle, performing Richard III’s famous charge.

Members of Destrier re-enact the charge of Richard III during the Battle of Bosworth 2014
(photo by Stephen Moss)

In addition we have developed a habit of challenging all re-enactors present to combat on foot in form of a Pas d’Armes, which is brilliant fun and provides opportunity for a bit of friendly ... ahm ... rivalry.

I feel we are truly privileged to perform at all these beautiful venues – there’s nothing quite like riding through an original castle gate in full armour together with your brothers and sisters in arms. Next year we hope to change events around a bit, adding a few new venues to the diary.

You mentioned Arundel Castle earlier. The Arundel International Tournament is often affiliated with Destrier in the press, but I notice you did not mention it in the previous question.  Is Arundel a Destrier event, or not?

The Arundel International Tournament is not a Destrier event. The reason that it is often linked to Destrier is because of its history, and because so many Destrier members are involved with it. The initial jousting events at Arundel, prior to about 2006 I think, were staged by the Royal Armouries Display Team. In about 2006 this changed and went over to Destrier, who then performed there until 2009, first as Destrier and then as Destrier Pro. The principal format of today’s tournament was more or less defined during that period.

As part of a reshuffle within Destrier, the Arundel tournament was then turned over to Stacy van Dolah-Evans who since then has run the event as a production separate from Destrier, and has grown the tournament to the leading position it has today. Nevertheless, many key figures of the tournament remain Destrier members, as for example Stacy himself, his wife Kyle (the Lady of Honour at the tournament), the commentator Kate Vigurs, and many of the ground and support crew. Stacy is a close friend, and I myself have been riding at the tournament for years and have also helped out a bit with the organization – I am proudly responsible for the insane and utterly unintelligible scoring system of the competition!

A scoring sheet from Arundel International Tournament 2014(photo by Ben van Koert)

Many of Destrier’s jousters also compete in international tournaments and and are quite successful. Destrier’s Sean George won two Team Championships this year, one at Gniew Castle in Poland and another at Bicolline in Canada. Mark Caple has also been very successful, winning this year’s Queen’s Jubilee Horn Trophy and last year’s Team Championship at Arundel International Tournament with Stacy van Dolah-Evans. Stacy is another Destrier rider who has won Royal Armouries tournaments twice and a Team Championship at Lachute in Canada. And then there are your own successes, including, amongst others, two championships on the WorldJoust circuit, two championships at Arundel Castle, and of course the Squire’s Championship at Sankt Wendel. What is the secret to Destrier’s competitive success?

To be perfectly honest, I don’t believe that these successes are owed primarily to a membership in Destrier, but much more to the fact that all those riders are living (or have been living) in the UK. England just offers a huge wealth of jousting opportunity to riders capable of seizing it. Destrier alone has staged 22 jousting displays across seven events this year, and that does not include the numerous jousting events held by English Heritage, the Royal Armouries, or other historical jousting teams. British jousters just have a lot more opportunity to practice their sport than many other competitors in the world.

That said, we do of course pride ourselves on our training, and I feel that the capability to ride a variety of horses, as mentioned earlier, is probably making it easier for Destrier riders to succeed internationally. We all try to help each other get better, and equally try to learn from each other. At training and during events, all of us watch each other, and everybody chips in with tips and hints to improve. A major part of being successful is, for example, how well your armour works. This is something everybody is interested in at Destrier – when somebody turns up with a new piece of armour, half the society is involved in marveling, testing, fitting and debating.

I personally really enjoy it when one of our guys comes back from an international event and we share our experiences with each other by the camp fire or during training. Equally, I love those moments when we exchange views and analyze passes after a joust.

Andreas Wenzel, Sean George and Mark Caple discuss a jousting pass at Bodiam Castle 2013(photo from Bodiam Castle/Mr E. Sampson)

I like to think of Destrier as a family – not everybody always gets along, and there may have been a few black sheep over the years, but ultimately we all know that we belong together. When in battle or in tournament, I know of no man or woman I’d rather have by my side than a fellow Destrier rider.

From all this, it seems apparent that Destrier is a jousting team. Yet on Destrier’s website you characterize yourselves as a cavalry display team, using the phrase “15th century mounted soldiery”. How is this reflected in the society’s activities?

You need to know that Destrier was born as a 15th century cavalry unit back in 1996 and mostly focused on providing mounted units for battle re-enactments until its’ riders started experimenting with jousting in 2000. So the traditional focus of the group has always been in mounted battle re-enactment rather than tournament. However, it is a fact of life that horses are expensive and no event organizer is willing to spend a lot of money just to add some horsemen to a battle display. As a result, the society has developed a considerable focus on tournament, and pretty much all our events are now headlined by a jousting display.

That said, the cavalry element has always been maintained. Our training includes considerable elements focusing on cavalry skills like formation riding and melee combat, and all our jousters maintain armour for battle. Sadly, opportunity to provide cavalry is pretty limited, mostly to Bosworth and the occasional display at English Heritage’s History Live! event.

However, when the opportunity presents itself, we will certainly seize it. One such occasion arose last year, at Bexbach 1474 - Call to Arms in Germany. Several hundred 15th century reenactors came together for three days in the western countryside of Germany, exactly where the historic border between the Duchy of Burgundy and the Holy Roman Empire was located. They found themselves a LARPing area of several hectars. In that, they put the Burgundian camp at one end onto a hill, and then the Imperial camp into a valley about a mile away. Then they said “You are now free to fight each other until 12.00 noon the day after tomorrow.”… Wow, what an event.

Members of Destrier and Stichting HEI at Bexbach 2013(photo by Isis Sturtewagen)

The guys from Stichting HEI had been at the event the year before, with three horses, and what they said about it just sounded fantastic. So last year Destrier decided to bring five horses over, and so did Stichting HEI. What an experience. My memories feel like looking back into the mists of time, seeing myself figuring out enemy troop movements in the far distance, noticing tack and armour glinting in the forest to our flank, ordering a charge while moving around thickets… amazing.

You mention Stichting HEI, who refer to Destrier as their sister group in their report on the Bexbach event. Would you mind telling us a little bit about the relationship between the two societies?

Stichting HEI and Destrier share the same origins, and the same objectives. When Destrier began jousting for English Heritage in 2002, the society’s core team (in those days Rob Martin, Dom Sewell and Stacy van Dolah-Evans) was re-enforced by Joram van Essen, and later Arne Koets. Both of them were members of Destrier in those days, but they were also key figures around the foundation of Stichting HEI (they can probably tell you more about the exact circumstances of Stichting HEI’s birth).

The two societies maintained quite close relations early on, with many shared stories and adventures – in fact I recall attending a HEI event in the Netherlands as a squire just after I joined Destrier in 2003. Relations quietened somewhat later on, as both societies went through their own challenges and changes. I personally was really excited when HEI and Destrier joined forces at Bexbach after all those years – the two groups just somehow slotted together, as if we had trained with each other for ages. It was a bit like meeting a sibling after a long time.

It's a little hard for outsiders to keep track of the members of Destrier. Who is now actually a member of Destrier? And how many members are there?

This is probably because of Destrier’s long history. Many well-known jousters have at one point been members of Destrier, and are still associated with the society. Also, members have to renew their membership with the society every year, and we have quite a bit of fluctuation from one year to the next.

At the AGM[annual general meeting] in October 2014, Destrier had a total of 36 members, which included ten jousters, 14 non-jousting riders and twelve non-riding ground crew. You will understand that I can’t name all of them, but Destrier’s committee members as elected at our recent AGM are myself as Chairman, Mark Caple as Vice-Chairman, Ben Green as Secretary, Sue Alderman as Treasurer, and Tina Steiner as supporting committee member.

Many, but not all, of the Destrier team members at the Battle of Bosworth 2014
(photo by Christine Pearn)

Destrier is known for the high quality of the armour worn by its members. Can you tell us a little bit about Destrier’s approach to armour and equipment?

Well, I think I have mentioned before that many of Destrier’s members have a keen interest in 15th century armour. We love discussing it, and comparing it, and competing for the best and shiniest harness – it’s part of what makes us Destrier. There’s little more exciting for me than one of our members turning up with a new piece of armour.

Almost all of Destrier’s harnesses are based on original sources, and were then realized by a skilled armourer with specific experience of building armour for riders. Most of the Destrier armours are made by Will West of Englyshe Plate Armourie, who is also a long-standing Destrier member and retired jouster. Many other pieces in the group have been made by Dave Hewitt of White Rose Armoury, Matt Bailey of Matt Black Armour, and others. Some of our harnesses are based on extant pieces (like Mark Caple’s A62 replica), some on effigies (like Graham Turner’s Fitzherbert harness, and Ben Green’s Beauchamp interpretation), some on paintings (like Zac Evans’ and my own Pacher harnesses).

A lot of research went into each of our armours. Let’s take mine as an example: My harness is a South-German/Tyrolean design of around 1465. It’s been an aspiration of mine to build a German harness from the 1460’s, which was not at all straightforward as references for this period are pretty hard to find. Most depictions of German harnesses and almost all extant pieces you see around are from the 1470’s and later. After going through all the usual sources and coming up empty, I ended up finding a modern drawing in a German book by Ulrich Lehnart showing a very distinct design for 1460’s Germany.

I contacted the author, who very kindly revealed his source material for the drawing as paintings by various Tyrolean artists including Michael Pacher and the Master of Uttenheim. He pointed me to an old exhibition catalogue featuring those paintings, which however has been out of print for some time. When I finally found a copy of that catalogue in a bookshop in Augsburg I was very happy and excited. (Nowadays I know that the original paintings are on display in the Austrian Gallery in Vienna.)

A detail of the altar painting, c1465, by Michael Pacher at the parish church of St Lawrence, originally in Southern Tyrol, now in the Austrian Gallery in Vienna and a photo of the back of Andreas Wenzel's armour(photo from Destrier)

What are Destrier's plans for the future? 

In my view, the society’s current focus is very clearly on the recruitment and training of a new generation of Destrier jousters, and on maintaining a solid and varied event base at attractive locations that allow those jousters to develop their skills. It usually takes a member about three years from joining the group to breaking his first lance, so this is a pretty long-term project.

At the same time we are working to bring historical (“real steel”) jousting to venues all over Britain, so more and more people can get an impression what the real thing looks like, as opposed to theatrical jousting.

Our big challenge right now is to bridge the contradiction of lifting the game with our experienced jousters to the next level, while at the same time keeping standards accessible so new members can come into the group and develop. I am quite happy with how we managed in 2013 and 2014, and I feel we’ve really pushed our game at Bexbach and Leeds Castle amongst other events. On this we have to build – I like to think there is a hunger in the Destrier society to push the boundaries again, to try new things.

Destrier jouster Jason Kingsley leads other members of Destrier across the bridge at Bodiam Castle(photo by Richard Pearn)

Once we have accomplished our objective of further broadening the jouster base, I think some of us might be tempted to revisit Destrier’s foray into shaped solid lances back in 2008/2009, and build on the pioneering work of Arne Koets and Stichting HEI. And another Bexbach-type event would be brilliant.

One last question for you personally: If you could produce your ideal tournament, what would it be like? (If money, etc... were not a consideration.)

To be very honest, I feel the tournaments available today are not leaving a lot to be desired. The shaped solid lance events like Nyborg or Schaffhausen are achieving an incredible level of accuracy where further improvement is bound to be mostly academic. On the other hand the leading balsa tipped lance tournaments like Arundel, the big Lysts on the Lake event in 2012, and the WorldJoust events are starting to properly achieve the competitive element and are really transporting the concept of jousting as a sport to the public.

The jousters and horses at the White Bear Tournament in Nyborg 2014
(photo by Hanno van Harten)

Something I would find very exciting would be the recreation of a trial by combat along the lines for example of the famous confrontation between Jaques le Gris and Jean de Carrouges, although of course interpreted “a plaisance”. Imagine two combatants with a range of weapons in a closed arena. Both would enter mounted with solid lances and confront each other openly (without a tilt). Once lances are broken, they would proceed to mounted melee with weapons of their choice. Leading on from that they may dismount to engage on foot with axes or hammers… that would be a truly awesome project. There’s not many people in the world who would qualify as a combatant though…

On the competitive side, I would love to see a proper world championship being staged with balsa tipped lances which actually brings together all the sport’s centre stage individuals from around the world – which has often been attempted and even claimed, but in my opinion was never truly achieved. I am talking about European historic jousters getting together not only with their equivalents from Northern America, Australia and New Zealand, but also with the top riders from the global IJA/IJL community, and the US heavy jousters – wouldn’t that be a spectacle?

I like to think it’s possible, but you’d have to specifically approach certain leading competitors from each grouping and convince them to join in. Then of course you’d somehow have to figure out an equipment standard, a venue suitable to all, funding to enable financial support, and a sufficient supply of trained hire horses… Going forward you’d have to define a set of representative qualifier tournaments in each major jousting region in the world… and I imagine you’d have to hire NASA to wrangle all the planet-sized egos.

Thank you so much, Andreas, for doing this interview, and best of luck in all your future endeavors! 

Andreas Wenzel, after winning the Individual Championship at the Arundel International Tournament 2013(photo from Arundel Castle)

Related articles:
There are quite a few articles featuring members of Destrier

Training for the Joust with Destrier

Destrier at Hedingham Castle

An Interview with Jouster Mark Caple, Champion of the "Queen's Jubilee Horn Tournament 2014"

Interview with Sean George, Half of the Winning Team England at the Tournament of King Jan III at Gniew Castle 2014