The Jousting Life

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Results of the Ferrara Jousting Tournament 2014

Roberto Cinquegrana has kindly sent in the results of the Ferrara Jousting Tournament 2014 and a picture of the jousters and ground crew for the tournament:

Ferrara Jousting Tournament 2014

1st place - Roberto Cinquegrana da Napoli (Naples Kingdom)
2nd place - Salvo Manfredi da Mineo (Sicily Kingdom)
3rd place - Daniele Chiveri da Milano (Visconti Kingdom)

The jousters and ground crew of the Ferrara Jousting Tournament 2014
(photo provided by Roberto Cinquegrana)

Results of the Giostra di Monteriggioni 2014

Monday, September 1, 2014

Jousting at Zhelezny Grad 2014

Text and photos provided by Dmitry Savchenko
Edited by Zhi Zhu

The 8th annual festival “Zhelezny Grad” (Iron Town) was held 1-3 of August in the town of Izborsk in the Pskov region of Russia. Izborsk is a town 30 km from Pskov where a well-preserved fortress exists. This event was the first Joust in Izborsk using shaped solid wood lances with coronels. Competitions included jousting and melee with cudgels in the format "every man for himself". The tournament lasted for 2 days.

The fortess at Izborsk(photo by Eugenia Komarova)

We should also note that in addition to the Joust, an important part of the event was the camp life of the knights-participants with its own program and a high level of historical authenticity. Also, some of the errors of “Times & Epochs” Tournament were corrected. Particularly, we used vamplates on our solid pine lances, and we tested a new design for the tilt barrier. We are working hard together to hold our tournaments at the highest level.

Five riders took part in the Joust: Yuri Bogunov, Sergey Zhuravlev, Boris Mashtakov, Viktor Ruchkin and Dmitry Savchenko.

Dmitry Savchenko(left) jousts Yuri Bogunov(right)(photo by Eugenia Komarova)

The tournament officials were:
Marshal of the Tournament - Rafael Gukasov
Two linear equestrian judges - Evgeny Vasilev and Yuri Galilov
Secretary of the Tournament - Aleksandr Kolyaskin
Herald of the Tournament - Michail Susanov

The Ladies Court included: Daria Tarasova, Daria Ruzhova, Ksenia Galilova and Marina Savchenko, who created and wore the costume for the Lady of Justice. (The theme for this tournament was justice.)

The Ladies Court(left to right)Marina Savchenko, Daria Ryzhova, Ksenia Galilova and Maria Tarasova(photo by Eugenia Komarova)

Scoring was carried out as follows. Each broken lance was counted as 1 point. The lance should be broken a minimum of 40 cm from the tip or broken down into several parts. The Ladies Court could encourage knights with ribbons. One ribbon counted for one point. The Lady of Justice could reward knights with a white ribbon that brought 2 points and penalize them with a black ribbon which took away 2 points.

In melee the competitors fought until the melee ended. The best fighters got extra points at the request of the Marshal and judges. The melees were fought all against all. During the melees, two cudgels were broken.

Yuri Bogunov's cudgel breaks as he attempts to block a blow from Victor Ruchkin
(photo by Eugenia Komarova)

In the joust each participant first competed with every other participant, then later the knights were able to challenge opponents at their own discretion. The Joust was held in two sessions. The Judges counted 24 broken lances in total.

Victor Ruchkin breaks his lance against Boris Mashtakov(photo by Eugenia Komarova)

After two days of the tournament, Boris Mashtakov took first place with 14 points. He received a white ribbon from the Lady of Justice for valor. He also earned one extra point from the Marshal for the fight with Victor Ruchkin.

Boris Mashtakov(photo by Eugenia Komarova)

In second place was Yuri Bogunov with 12 points.

Yuri Bogunov(photo by Eugenia Komarova)

Dmitry Savchenko earned third place with 10 points. He received a white ribbon from the Lady of Justice for the beauty of the fight, and knocked Sergey Zhuravlev out of the saddle.

Dmitry Savchenko(photo by Eugenia Komarova)

Friday, August 29, 2014

Jousters Featured in Documentary about Richard III

Several contemporary competitive jousters are featured in a new documentary about Richard III, including Dr. Tobias Capwell, Dominic Sewell, Arne Koets and Joram van Essen.

Richard III: The New Evidence(posted by Gemma Payne)

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

The Scores for Arundel International Tournament 2014

The annual Arundel International Tournament took place July 22 - 27. A previous article announced the names of the Individual Champion, Andy Deane, and the Team Champions, Ben van Koert and Per Estein Prøis-Røhjell of the Burgundian Alliance. Here are the scores for the rest of the competitors:

Mounted Skill at Arms:
1) Jan Gradon (PLN) - 38 points
2) Jarek Struczynski (PLN) - 34 points
3) Andy Deane (ENG) - 29 points
4) Per Estein Prois-Rohjell (BDY) - 23 points
4) Tina Steiner (HRE) - 23 points
6) Patrice Rolland (FRA) - 21 points
7) Steve Gagnon (FRA) - 20 points
8) Phil Leitch (ENG) - 18 points
9) Ben van Koert (BDY) - 14 points

Note that this year the skill-at-arms was not limited to the jousters, but also included non-jousting competitors on an invitational basis. Stacy Evans, Kyle van Dolah, Mark Atkinson, Ben Atkinson and Michael Collin also competed, but decided to remain outside of contention for the prize.

Ben Atkinson slices a cabbage in half during the MSA competition(photo by ARW Photography)

Joust (Individual Scores):
1) Andy Deane (ENG) - 10 victory points - 83 strike points
2) Ben van Koert (BDY) - 10 victory points - 77 strike points
3) Jan Gradon (PLN) - 10 victory points - 74 strike points
4) Patrice Rolland (FRA) - 8 victory points - 73 strike points
5) Jarek Struczynski (PLN) - 8 victory points - 68 strike points
6) Per Estein Prois-Rohjell (BDY) - 7 victory points - 69 strike points
6) Phil Leitch (ENG) - 7 victory points - 69 strike points
8) Steve Gagnon (FRA) - 5 victory points - 53 strike points

For an explanation of the scoring system including victory and strike points, please refer to last year's article.

Jarek Struczynski jousts Ben van Koert during Arundel Castle International Tournament 2014(photo by Stephen Moss)

Joust (Team Scores):
1) England - 19 victory points - 213 strike points
2) Burgundian Alliance - 14 victory points - 195 strike points
3) France - 14 victory points - 181 strike points
4) Poland - 13 victory points - 183 strike points

Team scores are higher than the sum of individual scores as two-man jousts count towards the team score only, not for individual scores.

Team France, Steve R. Gagnon and Patrice Rolland(photo by Ian Foss)

The Final:
Burgundian Alliance - 37 points England - 31 points

Ben van Koert (BDY) - 21 points
Andy Deane (ENG) - 18 points
Per Estein Prois-Rohjell (BDY) - 16 points
Phil Leitch (ENG) - 13 points

Scoresheet and one of the prize rings(photo by Ben van Koert/Kaos Historical Media)

Many thanks to Andreas Wenzel for providing this information.

Related articles:
Other articles about Arundel Castle International Tournament

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

Burgundian Alliance Wins Team Championship at Arundel Castle International Tournament 2014

Arundel Castle International Jousting Tournament 2013

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

On The Road to Bicolline

The first Tournoi International de Joute du Duché de Bicolline begins this weekend, August 30 - September 1, in Quebec, Canada. Several of the jousters are already in town for the tournament and have been doing some promotional appearances. Photographer Eric Dube was there to capture some fun photos of the four jousters who all happen to wear black armour – Jezz Smith, Marc Hamel, Patrice Rolland and Steve R. Gagnon. Here are a few of the pictures: