Prior to the 15th century, jousters met in an open field and could pass on the right or the left side. Riders and horses were prone to severe injury in the event of a collision. In 1429, at a joust in Arras, France, a rope was hung with cloth to separate the contestants. It was called the tilt or toile. It is likely that the tilt barrier originated in Italy as early jousts with a barrier were referred to as the Italian Course. It did not reach England until the 1430s. Eventually, the cloth barrier evolved into a sturdy wooden wall. Prior to the 15th century, jousters met in an ...
The sixth annual La Campaigne du Château 2026 was an event hosted by the Company of the Lynx Argent that took place from 18 - 22 March 2026 at Red Rock Canyon Campground and Adventure Park in Hinton, Oklahoma. It was billed as "a weekend immersed in the martial & material culture of the latter half of the Hundred Years' War." Events of the weekend include unarmored duels to group skirmishes, group skirmishes, to deeds of arms fought in head-to-toe armor, to feasting and hiking and singing and dancing. Participants formed ...
I was invited by Steve Hemphill to join the a'Plaisance, Ltd., team in a jousting demonstration at the 19th annual PumpkinFest held on Saturday, Oct. 15 from noon to 5 p.m. at Paschall Park, 1001 New Market Road in Mesquite, Texas. It is a family-friendly event that features a community stage with performances, kids’ activity area, Birds of Prey shows, vendor booths, contests, carnival food, trick-or-treating, and, best of all, the public jousting demonstration. The demonstration opened with a friendly skills at arms competition in full armour. Each rider took a turn ...
In July 2022, I joined a team of American jousters in an international tournament at the Château de Sainte Croix Grand Tonne, a 14th-century chateau in the basse-Normandie region of France. The American team was comprised of Steve Hemphill, Galen Bevel, and Robert Odekirk, all of Texas, and Jonathan Garrigues of Washington. The French tenons were Xavier de Gonneville (Xavier Fauvel), Perceval de Galles (Jean-Pierre Duprat), Phillipe de Sainte-Sauveur (Phillipe Van Den Broeck), Hervé du Portuais (Hervé Badouard), and Jérôme de Marylou ...
I was invited by Steve Hemphill to participate in Lysts on the Lake 2019 located in the "Village of Castleton" on the beautiful shores of Lake Austin. Produced by a'Plaisance, Ltd., Lysts on the Lake is billed as the largest competitive jousting tournament in the world, hosting more than a dozen competitors each year. The "Lone Star Open Joust" is also one of the few events open to any equestrian who meet the qualifications. The tournament consists of three mounted events: le Chasse, or "the hunt"; Melée a'Cheval, or "combat on horse"; and Joust a'Plaisance, or ...
The decision to commission a new harness was finally made real in January 2015. It was important that it be as historically accurate as possible without having to pawn all of the wife’s heirlooms. It was also hoped to reproduce a complete harness rather than a composite one that had been assembled from multiple decades. That greatly reduced the number of options available. In the end, the best choice was the harness once owned by Friedrich I, Kurfürst von der Pfalz, often referred to as Frederick the Victorious ...