Did Many Knights Die During Tournaments and Jousts?

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Wa the Medieval Joust dangerous? Let's see what period sources say
Pero Rodriguez de Lena, un notario real de Castilla mid xvth century , recorded a detailed account of the Passo Honroso, an important event which took place en la provincia de León 1434. Which of course included jousting.
16: Spear penetrates eyeslot near the target's left eye and draws blood, victim claims "'Tis nothing, 'Tis nothing." The author cheerfully observed that had not the victim simultaneously struck his opponent with "such a mighty blow upon his left pauldron that he almost would have pierced it, and he made him suffer a serious reversal of fortune" his opponent would have "poked the spear through his eye to the back of his neck in such a way that he would have killed him"
18: Minor wound on the "inner parts" of the left gauntlet.
32: The unfortunate Asbert de Claremunt is struck through the eyeslit with a "such a mighty blow that he pushed the entire head of the spear through his left eye into his brains."
8: Right arm pierced near armpit, great loss of blood, victim faints. Bystander faints.
12: Gaping wound to the bicep "with a palm's length of the broken spear pierced through to the other side"
15: Arming doublet and shirt penetrated beneath the right pauldron, blood drawn.
20: Spear skates into the right biceps and breaks: victim is wounded twice in the biceps, and has his hand dislocated, either from the spearhead, a splinter of the spear, or his own grapper breaking.
27: Spearhead penetrates "the right arm, near the shoulder joint next to the armpit, in such a way that the spearhead poked through to the other side,
which caused a gaping wound, and a lot of blood flowed out of it."
9: Victim "dazed for a while in the lists"
18: Hit on brow, victim suffers "moderate reversal of fortune"
19: Victim, hit on bevor, suffers "moderate reversal of fortune"
21: Stroke on the wrapper of an armet: "moderate reversal of fortune"
22: Victim hit " in the teeth with the same blow, and he stunned him, and made him suffer a serious reversal of fortune. And from the point at which he was struck up to the head of the lists he almost fell off his horse."
23: Horse and rider fell to the ground, serious reversal of fortune in a later course
24: Moderate reversal of fortune, and his opponent dislocates his hand. Another moderate reversal of fortune. Yet another for the man that struck.
25: Self-inflicted serious reversal of fortune
when jouster hits the tilt and lodges the butt of his own spear "between the front arcon of the saddle and the skirt of the cuirass over his belly, so that if he had not collided with the tilt, both horse and rider would almost certainly have fallen"
29: A hit on the bevor "stunned him, and made him suffer a serious reversal of fortune"
30; "and made him suffer a serious reverse of fortune, in such a way that he came out of the saddle slightly, and almost fell." In anther encounter, horse and rider knocked to the ground. On the other side, a serious reversal of fortune, with horse and rider "driven back from the tilt almost as far as the palisade, which must have been thee paces away from the point where he was struck, and he and the horse almost fell."
31: Victim, who was recovering from a previous injury "stunned for a moment in the lists."33: "made him suffer a serious reversal of fortune", and his opponent did so in return.
2: Breastplates punctured on both sides: judges insist on repair. Left pauldron disgarnished
3: Pauldron lame disgarnished, lance rest broken away
man imagine the impact of that blow. If this isn't hardcore I don't know what is.
4: Breastplate penetrated, repair necessary
6: Lance rest broken, grapper and gauntlet disgarnished, pauldron disgarnished, couter wing broken off
7: Besagew of spaulder disgarnished
9: Pauldron disgarnished, penetrated breastplate must be repaired
11: Left gardbrace cast to the ground, gauntlet reinforce struck off:
13: Pauldron disgarnished
14: Right pauldron of both disgarnished
15: Pauldron disgarnished
18: Rondel bent in half
19: Pauldron disgarnished, bevor knocked to the ground
21: gauntlet struck to the ground, left pauldron struck to the ground.
22: Pauldron "hoisted off"
23: Bevor cast to the ground.
24: Reins broken, pauldron ripped away
25: Right gardbrace struck to the ground
26: Couter wing struck to the ground, impact jolts right arm so gauntlet flies off "about seven or eight paces away"
27: Pauldron disgarnished. Stop-rib of a breastplate disgarnished.
29: Tasset disgarnished
30: Gardbace ripped off and a piece of the bevor knocked to the ground. Piece of the right pauldron ripped away.
32: Right pauldron digarnished, left pauldron digarnished.

[@metatronyt]

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[@korraiswaifu6245]

Moderate reversal of fortune is now my favorite thing lol.

[@teresamerkel7161]

...and so I did. I hope to be able to watch Brazilian t.v. and improve my Brazilian Portuguese. love those 72 wings.

[@michelguevara151]

people forget that the monty python loons were university students before 'current thing' and made a lot of sketches based on their studies. the taunting french knight is also historically accurate! saying "smells of elderberries" means "is a common *cheap* drunkard" I wouldn't be surprised if the "t'is but a scratch" knight was the result of some medieval studying..

[@danielbennett8647]

My friends and I once had the bright idea of getting some broom sticks and trash can lids to joust. We would ride our bikes from each end of the street and try to unseat each other. Needless to say a concerned parent put a stop to it only after 3 runs. In retrospect she did the right thing.

[@pleasecutitout]

kuelimika has put up another video. Keep the debate going unless you bowed out. You a fraud

[@Tr33B3ar]

Well since 100% of people who once jousted are now dead, I would say that you have a 100% chance of dying if you joust.

[@Michael_MW]

lol quick math

[@albeon81]

That’s fair.

[@rebeccaorman1823]

No they're not. People joust at Renaissance festivals and the like. Therefore, there are people alive today who have jousted.

[@raistlin_dourden]

100% lethal 👍

[@GuitarsRockForever]

​@@rebeccaorman1823 Everyone ever lived would die. So it is 100% true.

[@mgntstr]

Head struck, arm dislocated, back broken, teeth struck... Suffered a minor reversal of fortune.😐😐

[@gow1044]

I know right?

[@richardhockey8442]

I winder what the author would class as a 'major catastrophe' - star falls from heavens and obliterates the next kingdom over - a major catastrophe, or perhaps the lord's wife spilling wine on her brand new dress

[@sylviamaresca8852]

If only we had such men today...........😢

[@jeremymott]

Tis but a scratch

[@mgntstr]

find them on social media you will not, algorithm promotes degeneracy it does@@sylviamaresca8852

[@ModernKnight]

I'll see what I can to to add to your data on this. I've personally struck three knights from the saddle but they had no injuries of significance.

[@metatronyt]

Love to hear it!

[@saidtoshimaru1832]

One thing the account shows is that the judges did care about the wellbeing of the knights... sometimes even more than the injured themselves.

[@DemonKingBadger]

Heh, sports today can be like that. I remember when 🏈 player Ronnie Lott busted his pinky, he had it amputated to get back into action for the playoffs. 🏀 player Kevin McHale play the 2nd half of a season on a broken foot, etc

[@saidtoshimaru1832]

@@DemonKingBadger In the world cup Final of 1986, José Luis Brown, argentine defender, dislocated his shoulder. As there were no longer sustitutions, he cut a hole on his jersey to insert his thumb in as to inmovilize (as much as possible) his arm and continued playing. Argentina went up to win the game. RIP to the great Tata Brown.

[@kireta21]

@@DemonKingBadger "I can still play, coach!" is pretty common in full contact sports. Pain is a normal part of game after all, so you often don't realise you actually damaged something, until someone yells "get him off field!"

[@cyberleaderandy1]

A friend of mine who jousts was hit through his helmet by a splinter and nearly lost his sight. Hes ok now but it just shows even modern jousting is dangerous, let alone in medieval times.

[@faeembrugh]

I have also met modern jousters and facial injuries seem common along with injuries from falling from horses and/or horses falling on them!

[@ferociousgustafson4040]

Okay friend of King Henry II.

[@jeremypnet]

Would it be practical to wear goggles inside the helmet?

[@kleinjahr]

@@jeremypnet Time to call OSHA.

[@elingeniero9117]

@@jeremypnet very advisable

[@WritingFighter]

06:00 - The fact a bystander fainted from an armpit wound automatically insinuates I think fountains of blood and beheadings weren't common, as it was notable.

[@walkir2662]

Either that, or that bystander had no business being there and was unused to the joust.

[@ProbablyNotAChicken]

@@walkir2662 Or both.

[@ghostparty2062]

Or neither

[@MrBottlecapBill]

I know a pretty tough manly man who will literally faint as the sight of blood. It's just a thing some people suffer from.

[@Ron_swanson_true_libertarian]

​@@MrBottlecapBillI'm sorry but if you faint at the sight of blood then you are not a manly man because as you know a manly man kills and cooks his own food when necessary, he doesn't show weakness, cool headed in extreme situations ect A lot of that involves blood.

[@kamishin7135]

So there's where the meme "tis is just a scratch" and "just a flesh wound" came from

[@James_Bee]

Oh, sweet, innocent child. Get some culture and go watch Monty Python's Holy Grail immediately.

[@grippercrapper]

I love REAL history. That one account where the knight says, “tis nothing” had me thinking about Monty Python too.

[@a_lost_one]

Now we just need a historical account of a marriage for 'huge tracts of land!' 😂

[@shawnamiller191]

Tis but a flesh wound

[@tomkerruish2982]

I just took the family last week to a showing for the 38½ anniversary!

[@shawnamiller191]

@@tomkerruish2982 fun fact, in game of thrones there's a scene where this guy screaming at Danarys in a foreign language and he's actually quoting the French guard

[@gow1044]

It is hilarious to think about

[@rm06c]

If Monty Python taught me anything, it's that historians have a great risk of being decapitated by wayward errant knights. Be careful out there Metatron!

[@markwalker4485]

I would use the modern word “ouch”

[@eldorados_lost_searcher]

Fun fact about the Black Knight in the Monty Python film: John Cleese based it on the story of an Olympic champion (boxing or pankration, I'm not sure which) who won after his opponent yielded, only for it to be discovered that the winner had died during the match.

[@njhoepner]

I've read that story - it was pankration, ancient Olympics.

[@ryanw2032]

He had to feel like a real sissy, tapping out to a dead guy.

[@peezebeuponyou3774]

A British man lost his life jousting a few years ago- lance splinters went through his eye piece, his eye and into his brain.

[@Michael_MW]

RIP Sir Knight :(

[@Lilrob06]

Guys name was Paul Allen Died in 2011 I believe

[@jamessalvatore7054]

​@@Lilrob06was the opponent knight named pat batman?

[@moncro1871]

@@jamessalvatore7054AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAGAGAGAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAH PATRICK BATEMAN REFERENCE HAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAGAGAA

[@Nick-zp8wk]

​@@Lilrob06Impressive. Very nice.

[@gregghelmberger]

It would be fun to see Metatron tackle the subject of Church bans and edicts when it comes to warfare and militaru topics: how often where they issued, how widely were they obeyed, why were they lifted?

[@njhoepner]

The Peace of God and the Truce of God were both attempts by the church to either prohibit (the Peace) or limit (the Truce) warfare, beginning in the 10th century. There was broad popular support, since every other class in society were the primary sufferers in medieval warfare. It had some influence since the combination of popular and church support put a great deal of pressure on the knights and nobility. Still, violations were common. Violating the Truce was one of the things Pope Urban II brought up as one of the specific sins that the knights and nobility had to make up for by going on what we now call the First Crusade. As "feudalism" faded and monarchies gained strength and central control, the influence of the Peace and the Truce faded. Tax revenue in money allowed for the hiring of mercenary professional armies, and kings with that level of strength could increasingly ignore the scruples of the church.

[@thebigone6071]

If I ever invent a Time Machine, I’ll take the Metatron back in time with me so his god like knowledge and skill can protect me from evil scallywags and we can clap historical cheeks together!!!!!

[@metatronyt]

Always good to see you in the comment section 🙂

[@davidsantiago-bonilla3442]

And settle one and for all how cleopatra looked 😆

[@ivanklobucar6570]

​@@davidsantiago-bonilla3442she was actually chinese

[@udahfickt]

​@@ivanklobucar6570I knew it😮

[@ivanklobucar6570]

@@udahfickt i was also suprised untill warlord bul lsh it didn't told me

[@RealSeanithan]

I watched a person almost get injured in a re-enactment. The lances broke (like they very often do), and a very large shard went up and under the guy's pauldron. If the angle was any different, it would have stuck in his shoulder. Granted, if it had come at that angle, it probably wouldn't have made it into the pauldron anyway, but it scared a bunch of people who thought it was planned at first until some very modern medics ran out onto the field to make sure he was good.

[@w.adammandelbaum1805]

Jousters made some guys get off their high horse.

[@st0rmrider]

Jesting can sometimes be more dangerous

[@stax6092]

Love the Image of the HOMM3 Necropolis when you mentioned Undead Knights. DreadKnights are one of the coolest if not the coolest Undead creature in there.

[@metatronyt]

Very true!

[@davidschlageter5962]

I’ve fallen from horses twice. It’s not like falling off a bike, it feels like you’re a bomb being dropped from an airplane. Falling off horses with regularity means at some point you’re going to get really hurt not counting what the lance might do. We had a jouster at the local ren fair that got splinters through his eye into his brain he survived.

[@strawpiglet]

Just curious, do you know to slap the ground, like in aikido? It has worked for me many times. Granted, I wasn’t in armor or being struck by a lance.

[@PrinceAlhorian]

​​@@strawpigletIt's clear you have never fallen from a horse or been thrown. When a beast 3 to 5 times your mass dictate the turning moment of your center of mass coupled with an odd vector of lateral travel up to 10ft from the ground (depending if you're thrown or fell) at speeds up to 50km/h... Please tell me, how DO you fall CORRECTLY in those conditions? Plus, now do it in 35-40kgs of steel, wool and linen. This comes from experience with 3 different stallions and a spooked mare thanks to a punk with a motorcycle.

[@cahallo5964]

@@PrinceAlhorian you can break fall tho I broke a fall from a second floor as a kid, I injured my wrist pretty bad but I'd imagine you rather break your wrist than your back.

[@deanmaynard8256]

I got a splinter through the occularium -- it looked like it was in my eye but it was actually the brow. An epic black eye though - it went ALL the colours.

[@papalaz4444244]

and then you woke up and turned the Playstation off

[@sebastiencz3931]

French King Henri II famously died from a jousting injury, and not even during medieval times but in 1559 during the celebrations of his daughter's and sister's wedding. A wodden shard penetrated one of his eyes, he died 10 days later in excruciating pain.

[@Njuregen]

Seems most maims and deaths are related to visor failure, splinters entering the eye.

[@beelzebub5286]

Minor reversal of fortune

[@enoughothis]

All contact sports have some element of risk, that heightens the experience. Of course precautions are taken but even modern athletes risk injury despite all such measures.

[@CrispyCircuits]

Let's not forget that if you were smart you could write books, if you were macho you could joust. Otherwise, you could .......... Nope, that's about it for social status stuff.

[@sokar_rostau]

When you break it down, jousting is a simple target game. All you technically need is a horse, a lance, and a shield. The armour is superfluous to the game BUT we're talking about an era where a broken arm could mean death, and a game where the players were all but expected to fall off a galloping horse at some point. The armour is superfluous to the game which makes it pure safety gear. It's there to protect the rider from falling off the horse just as much as it is there to protect the rider should the other player miss the target shield. Of course you can argue that they were wearing the same (kind of) armour they wore in battle during these combat games, and that the armour added spectacle but jousting isn't real combat it's just a game. If bravery meant everything, then true bravery meant entering the lists without any armour but they DID wear armour because it was just a game. Sure, there were times when jousts were used to settle scores but the vast majority of the time, contestants were in it for the prizes and the glory. Why wouldn't The Bravest Man In Christendom wear the best safety gear available anywhere during the period? Sidenote: Gridiron players are pussies with all that armour. Real men play rugby.

[@onceamusician5408]

at a guess, before watching this vid, i would suggest it really was DANGEROUS, after all Henry Prince of Wales, later Henry VIII was FORBIDDEN by his father Henry VII from jousting for the risk of him being killed and the Tudor line ending was too much

[@rebeccaorman1823]

Possibly, but remember Henry the Seventh had just founded the Tudor dynasty. Therefore, there was a limited number of Tudor heirs. Henry and his brother Arthur. With so few heirs Henry the Seventh was undoubtedly included to be extremely protective. Where more established dynasties as protective of their heirs. Additionally, did this occur before or after Arthur's death. If after, Henry was the only hope of the dynasty and to be protected at all costs. Something along the lines of how Henry the Eighth treated his only son Edward.

[@rebeccaorman1823]

Additional to my earlier comment. Since Henry was Prince of Wales at the time, Arthur had died and Henry was the sole hope of the dynasty. Henry the Seventh's refusal may have reflected his extreme protectiveness of the dynasty's sole hope rather than a realistic view of how dangerous jousts were.

[@zsigzsag]

He still participated after becoming King. He had many injuries and suffered headaches from injuries there. I think the worst was when his horse fell on him. He was 6'1" so it was probably a draft horse well over 1500lbs +.

[@rebeccaorman1823]

@@zsigzsag true but then he was choosing for himself and human beings tend to think that they're indestructible and the risk will fall on someone else.

[@alansmithee8831]

Hello Metatron. So if like Monty Python, it could have been worse. They could have faced the knights that said "Ni"!

[@soso4169]

Or the rabbit! 🐇

[@alansmithee8831]

@@soso4169 Referring to Caerbannog would really make them lose hop.

[@andrewriddle7897]

I jousted from 2001 to 2011. I worked with the freelancers. Then with the knights of valour. In my experience, hand injury is the most common. Armour bites gilour. Concussions. I loved everything about it. In 2011 I dislocated my shoulder and that was it for me.

[@henryblaylock2946]

My friends and I were those stupid kids who thought it would be a good idea to try that on electric motorcycles took a broom handle to the chest while going 30 miles an hour and let me tell you THAT SHIT HURT.

[@GarfieldRex]

The story of that jousting tournament is that the Knight of that land, Count Suero de Quiñones, asked the king for permission to make a tournament in which every knight that crossed the bridge of his land, would have to participate. If that knight declined, would have to leave a glove there as sign of cowardness. Of course is not that random knights were just passing there, but several were invited. But still pretty cool. The bridge survives to this day. Paso honroso means honoring step or march. The winner of the tournament was the Count's son.

[@Lumos89]

In 1999, we had a theme park in the netherlands calles land van ooit. it was a semi/fictional medieval themepark and had jousting. One of the jousting knights died when the woodsplinters of his lance managed to get through the eyeslits and hit his eyes.. as i was browsing the comments to see if someone already mentioned it, i noticed more people mention other accounts where splinters hit them in the eyes.

[@HighLordBaron]

Okay, but, imagine being the guy accidentally killing you King in a joust 💀

[@kellysouter4381]

🤢

[@arthanor9631]

Indeed! Reading a bit about it, the king absolved him, but he fell from grace nonetheless, retired to his estate, converted from state religion of catholicism to protestantism and was a leader in later religious civil wars. Could say it was the beginning of his evil arc.

[@-.Germanicus.-]

This is a big factor why King Henry VIII had a huge personality change. It's never easy to tell why but when you have the shards embedded in your eye socket, it kinda makes it hard to disbute that 😂

[@thesisypheanjournal1271]

The renfaire I used to go to in Waxahachie, TX, had real jousting -- guys trying to break their lances and knock each other off their horses. I asked one of the guys about injuries and he said that broken hands were fairly common and one guy lost an eye because of a splintered lance.

[@madbrosheo1514]

I’m totally adding “reversal of fortune” to my daily lexicon.

[@benkalem]

Imagine being one of the unlucky Knights, who often got decapitated. That would be so stressful.

[@janmlcoch8766]

Thanks for mentioning our Bohemian king Jan, one info to be mentioned as well... several years before Crecy his son, later king and emperor Karel IV was severly injured in jaw during the joust. He recoverd very well. And a perk, the quote of Jan´s last words in czech is(as a linquist you might appreciate it): "Toho Boh dá nebude, aby český král z boje utíkal"

[@dirkbruere]

We also have to bear in mind that blood poisoning from even minor woulds may be fatal. My GUESS is that jousting probably had something like a 2% fatality rate, so those 89 deaths would imply some 4500 participants

[@jordansmith1541]

I remember a freak accident from a few years ago when a lance was dropped, bounced, then fatally injured one of the jousters. Cannot find the article, though...

[@Sawtooth44]

i always find it funny that Lancelot is one of the most iconic knights of the round... but hes not part of the original story, its only after the French get the Arthurian Legend that he shows up Lancelot du Lac, one of the oldest fan made characters in the world to be made a canonical character

[@stefanodadamo6809]

Injury was probably just as common as a spectacular KO in martial arts. Deaths were probably equivalent to those in boxing.

[@donwild50]

Pride and ego might have counted for much in tournaments, but we mustn't forget the monetary gains a successful knight might gain from tournament. A magnificent example of this was William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. At the beginning of his career, he was the minor son of a poor knight and gained lands and funds sufficient to make him one of the wealthiest knights of his time. He ended up serving four kings of England. But he got his start as a tournament champion in 1166 when he was first sponsored by William de Tancarville and apparently never lost in a tournament. It is said he was the only knight to unhorse Richard the Lionheart. Marshal's illustrious career, full of battle and combat, was still based on his success in tourney.

[@wheediesmanchild5229]

When talking about risk of injury, entertainment, and expectations I always think about pro wrestling and WWE. How even though it’s a “staged and predetermined” sport injury is extremely common and the wrestlers have very similar expectations of bravery and showmanship.

[@josephnardone1250]

St. Francis was unseated during a joust and during his recovery had his epiphany and became a preacher of peace. Let us remember that in medieval times life was rough and uncertain and the people had to be rough to live it.

[@sakesaurus1706]

not all medieval times. Some periods I would consider less dangerous than present day

[@eternalpadawan1]

Really enjoyed this one, thank you. Would have been interesting if you could have ended with the death stats for modern jousting. I purchased one of your silver rings to help support this channel, I'll leave a review when it arrives 🎉

[@metatronyt]

Thank you for your comment and support!

[@DeusRegum]

I know of no other YT Historian who deserves 1+ Millions subs! Keep up the GREAT work Metatron!

[@thomaspunt2646]

My frogmouth plushie arrived recently and I love it! Keep up the good work.

[@Michael_MW]

Same! Together we are one of like 400-something people that own one.

[@teresamerkel7161]

I had read (somewhere) that Henry VIII had an injury to his leg while jousting which festered and, it is speculated (so take that for what it is) that this accounts for him being particularly nasty in the final years of his reign. I had not run into statements about an injury through his visor so that is a new one for me.

[@kevinmcqueenie7420]

It seems like it was the head trauma that changed his personality and the festering leg wound merely exacerbated things, but as with any of this stuff, it’s highly speculative, just that head trauma has more likelihood of negative mental health outcomes.

[@daveharrison61]

​@@kevinmcqueenie7420 Dr. David Starkey has come up with a solid refutation of the head injury changing his personality. I can't quote it now (been a couple of.months since I watched the video) but it's to do with the timing of the injury and the vicious execution of an official a long time later and they don't line up. The injury to his leg however did result in her early death, his medical suffering (likely from obesity and diabetes), and that may have resulted in a more gradual change of character as he compensated for disability in the eyes.of his subjects.

[@kevinmcqueenie7420]

@@daveharrison61 Cheers for the info, interesting stuff! I guess all the mental pressures of producing an heir, breaking with the church etc. wouldn’t have helped either!

[@daveharrison61]

@@kevinmcqueenie7420 the break with the pope in particular. Henry VIII was probably the most ardent supporter of the pope in the whole of Christendom until he asked for divorce from Catherine of Aragon. He had fought at least one war under the pope's banner (I think it was against the excommunicated king of France, but I'm a bioscientist so my recall is unspecialised and not brilliantly informed!), and had written theological texts in support of the papacy against the accusations of Martin Luther. It would be like the most ardent disciple of Karl Marx founding his own business and becoming a Musk-like billionaire within a few years!

[@kevinmcqueenie7420]

@@daveharrison61 nice analogy and an angle I’d never thought of before! Forgot what a huge thing that would have been at the time and for Hank himself!

[@GenXican84]

"COME BACK, TIS BUT A FLESH WOUND!!"

[@EksaStelmere]

Q: How dangerous was the Medieval joust? A: Yes.

[@brothersliutgeryitzchakjea7889]

Great video my friend! As a jouster I feel I should mention there are so many styles of joust that it can obscure injuries. I’ll pm you some of the more unusual and def unsafe versions

[@Banzai431]

I recall an illustrated book when I was a child that mentioned sometimes knights would agree before the joust for "arms of courtesy" which was to use blunted and padded weapons, or full edged weapons. The book also mentioned how jousts were sometimes used to settle long fueds and grudges in an honourable fashion. I wonder how true that child's book was. Intriguing stuff.

[@Frogasmol]

That Might and Magic reference, though

[@Kendro311]

Joust me bro! There was a modern jousting TV show about 10 years ago, can't recall the name but am sure its easy enough to find. They crafted modernized armor for the challengers, and the suits were absolutely gorgeous. And even with the modern materials, custom fitting, padding and the science and engineering put into making the suits, the jousters still ended up in the hospital. Was an awesome show. 👍🏻 Edit: it was called Full Metal Jousting.

[@Northman1963]

No mention of horses being injured? Surely if a lance had struck the center tilt then a horse or two must have been skewered.

[@framegrace1]

Strange they don't mention it. Were they provided by the organizers maybe? Considered no more than a cost, i mean.

[@mattm8870]

In a joust you have a target normally the other knight shield with points being unseating hitting the boss hitting else where with bonus points for breaking or shattering your lance. Hitting anywhere other than the target zone resulted in you being disqualified and I fully expect anyone who missed bad enough to hurt a horse would die of shame.

[@lattucesoldier8794]

I'd love to see Metatron cooperating with Schwerpunkt. The guy made an immense work on Medieval knighthood and from quite a standpoint

[@CAARaeed]

Medieval athlete: * gets wooden lance in his eye * : Tis but a scratch! Modern man: *goes to restaurant * : Is this sauce vegan and pasta gluten-free?

[@Nertea]

I LOVE giving more historical accuracy to Monty Python XD

[@oliverwoodcock5307]

Another great video 🤌 Got a bit of a soft spot for medieval tournaments. They're always a great day out. Hot food, jousting, on foot melee fighting, archery, falconry and sometimes there is music 👌

[@veronicatash777]

It seems silly to ask what we think about how likely you are to die in a joust. These would be formal events where there would be surviving records - it seems we could literally tally up the total deaths in all European jousts vs how many total participants (by joust) to get a straight up chance of how likely you are to die every time you enter a joust. Even if some records were destroyed by bookworms or fires or whatnot, we certainly can get a far more than sufficient sampling to calculate a very close death rate. What we think is pointless - what does reality say? Hell, I'm sure we could measure by rank of nobility and if the records show what type of armor is worn we could measure death rate by type of armor.

[@papalaz4444244]

What does any of this actually mean?

[@veronicatash777]

@@papalaz4444244 simple math. If you sample from the records of jousts, add up all the participants and deaths you divide the latter by the former and get a death rate per joust. You can literally say you have a 2.87% ± .03% chance of death or whatnot, every tournament you enter. Objective metrics can be made.

[@GilgameshEthics]

@@veronicatash777 You are assuming much more accurate records than exist as well as a much higher survival rate of records than exists. Think about all the offices with official records in our country, pre computer of course so paper records. Now think about how many of those will exist in 100 years from their time. Even with the invention of computer I imagine a VAST majority of documents will be lost. And pre-computer It has to be like less than .1% of documents written survive to modern day.

[@veronicatash777]

@@GilgameshEthics These are documents of noble and royal families - peasants couldn't afford to joust - and so we would expect there to be detailed enough records to know how many participated and who may have died - not to mention the names of who participated. But the first two do fine. Even if there were low survivorship for these documents, what would bias the results? If there were 1000 jousts and only 50 records survive, we would assume that to be a more than representative sample to get meaningful results - and unless records where participants died or didn't die are strongly biased in their survivorship, there is no reason you can't get an accurate death rate.

[@tomjjackson21]

Haha *"When I hit my little toe on the omnipresent piece of furniture"* made me lul. Tbh, I guess I've never considered it, but jousting was metal af. I dig it. Glad to see this wasn't just a compilation of scenes from a Knights Tale.

[@richardaubrecht2822]

When you're mentioning the Bohemian king John, you could also mention his son Charles IV. He loved jousting and in 1350 he was badly wounded during a joust in Northern Italy. He was already an Emperor at this time so he fought usually under fake name and coat of arms, hiding his face )he was far from the only ruler who did that). He was struck in the helmet, fell from the horse and could not move his hands extremities due to a heavily bruised neck spine. His helmet did that, along with breaking his ower jaw joint and his chin. He also lost six teeth, his tongue swelled massively and he was almost suffucated by all that. It was basically a miracle and a wonderful work of the Italian surgeons (who had actually a lot of experience with similar wounds) that Charles survived, altough somewhat disfigured. it also helped that he was built like a bull. No surprise that the previously joyful, trendy sportsmanlike king turned into deeply religious and serious man.

[@Madmax-rz5hz]

how frequently can you be decapitated? after the first time it seems pretty academic whether it's weekly, monthly or every joust

[@xyz8512]

Jousting lances were designed to break bc it looked spectacular. battlefield lances weren't as weak.

[@psychologymajorptsd62]

These men made so many blacksmiths happy and fed.

[@thomaspancner]

Metatron you make my life worthy of living. Vielen Dank

[@Svartalf14]

You know, I'd like to know how, and how well, the lance rest was affixed to the armor... if soldered on, it might have been pretty fragile.

[@Michael_MW]

I was thinking the same thing. Probably isn’t too hard to break off. It’s not like they had access to mig welders :P

[@alexv1387]

Don't know about the rest of Europe, but on some german Armours they were actually screwed on, as fot example seen in the armour of Sigismund of Tyrol

[@lanorothwolf2184]

I too suffer from moderate reversal of fortune

[@stvasile]

Thank you for another very well documented video!

[@totallynotrocci5079]

"Did he press down-square-circle" I see what you did there man, I see your d1+4 Yoshimitsu shenanigans

[@ferociousgustafson4040]

Yeah…I actually AM a medieval knight, so I speak from experience. The number one injury is chafing.

[@TrungNguyen-du9cn]

Matt Easton recommend Vaseline skin lotion to prevent chaffing.

[@CreepyMF]

I cannot get the mental images out of my head when i heard about these severe reversals of fortune. Sure love that term thou.

[@NicholasproclaimerofMessiah]

Considering modern sports, such as boxing and American football and MMA, I think the sensibilities were somewhat similar back then and now, though I would say Ancient Roman sensibilities were very different. It does seem that the willingness to risk death was greater, but the perception of severity seems to be about the same, though they were more often willing to face that severity. There are modern sorts of subcultures which are well known for risking their lives, such as specific crime-cultures and such, and police officers and soldiers do so in a more honorable fashion, so I think the perception of severity of injury is comparable between Medieval Europe and the Modern West.

[@Rekhan4242]

This video makes me want to rewatch A Knight's Tale! Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Rufus Sewell, Alan Tudyk

[@veritasinvicta8128]

Looking forward to this one Tron, very interested in the historical accuracy of the jousts in film.

[@JETWTF]

From a logical standpoint deaths and serious injuries would not be all that common. If you were a lord or a king would you want your best knights dying or injured so bad they couldn't fight anymore in a tournament? No, you would want them to be very capable soldiers to fight in battle and therefore you wouldn't host a tournament if death and serious injuries was very common.

[@OJdidit]

Thanks for the video Metatron

[@josestirtabudi6247]

Fantastic video! Thanks Metatron :)

[@sabertoothanimations2912]

I think a good thing to think about is the experience of both knights, a well seasoned knight would know more ways to brake a lance or even dismount someone as in a lesser experienced one although well trained before participating might find accidence more common.

[@kittehgo]

"OMG you have been shot" "Eh it's nothing, just a moderate reversal of fortune"

[@brandonrossjr]

Good one! Classic Metatron!

[@baronvonboomboom4349]

Can't wait to see Jason's thoughts on this one.

[@stairwayunicorn4861]

And Zac

[@Barakon]

9 minutes ago ayy? that's the release date of 4:58 pm EST.

[@TheAlison1456]

6:50 damn. That's fascinating. I don't think the Monty Python scene was reflecting a historical attitude but if it is that is awesome.

[@sambun6394]

Like Henry the 5th being shot in the face and we know he was still fighting with the arrow stuck in his face for half an hour. The Monty Python scene has slight more validity and that’s hilarious

[@GraupeLie]

"Great loss of blood. Victim faints. Bystander faints." Best line! XD

[@user-tf1rq9vg1j]

They had this show on about 10ish years ago, called 'Full Metal Joust'. I loved it.

[@Joe-Mamasixtyninefourtwenty]

Moderate reversal of fortune is a new addition to my vocabulary i never new i needed.

[@roberw1912]

Jousts were more dangerous previously whem they were melees. By the 1500s, they were dangerous but more structured and the biggest danger was being knocked off a horse at speed. These impacts were like being hit by a car, and very powerful. The science behind the force impact would be fascinating.

[@WhatDemocracy]

Love your content dude.

[@andrewsmith9174]

The mention of the high number of deaths instantly brought me to the movie Jabberwocky.

[@sbskinner369]

Thank you so much for making this video! I am writing a story where jousting is a large part of the plot, and I was struggling to find information.

[@robo5013]

Did you try a library?

[@sbskinner369]

@@robo5013 I was mainly referring to the first-hand accounts that he provided in the video. Though I have done research of my own, I'm not very experienced. I have a hard time finding sources that I am sure are reliable and primary sources are difficult to find and get a hold of, because I'm not entirely sure where to look. I am my worst enemy 😅, but videos like this help me to know more about things I need to research and point me in the direction of the sources I need to find.

[@Dominator046]

Really glad to see this content. Haven't watched a video in a while, as debunking theme(s) aren't usually my cup of tea. But, this was a fun change of pace. It might not get as many views, but happy to see it.

[@player1_fanatic]

Defender of the Crown footage. Nice!

[@Nevada19711]

love your channel!

[@roboknight]

From what you read here, I’d expect at least one death per tournament if it was more than a handful of knights. The fact that you could be killed by splinters flying that fast from a broken lance seems to increase the overall danger. That is something I wouldn’t have thought of anywhere except a naval battle. You really do learn something new every day. It would be nice to find out how bad moderate vs severe was. Tough old birds for sure.

[@anta3612]

Great work!

[@MrSquigglies]

HEMA and jousting gets a lot of love. Think you could do a video (or maybe a series?) On Buhurt, or the melee?

[@MrSquigglies]

There will be a MASSIVE tournament in the US called Carolina Carnage February 2nd that may provide good footage of a modern melee tournament.

[@aaronskuse2207]

It’s funny you made this right after I watched a retrospective of A Knight’s Tale, with Heath Ledger.

[@augustinep6193]

Good. Thanks.

[@enoughofyourkoicarp]

Knight: "gets unhorsed, lands in the crowd" Audience Member: "That was amazing! Mum, get the camera!" Mum: "They haven't been invented yet!" Audience Member: "Okay I see the problem with that, I know, I'll right it down!" Historians: "Thank you for sharing, that actually helps a lot."

[@bethholley9659]

In 2007 during a joust re-enactment, Paul Anthony Allen was killed by a piece in his eye when a lance splintered. The joust was at Rockingham Castle. The accident happened during filming for Channel 4 for an episode of Time Team.

[@pastorofmuppets4552]

Poor King Henri II, at least he kept an eye out.