Medieval Easter: International Jousting Tournament highlights

Over Easter weekend (29 March to 1 April 2024), the Royal Armouries hosted the Medieval Easter International Jousting Tournament. Teams from the United Kingdom, France and Italy battled it out to win some of the most coveted prizes in the jousting world today.
Over the weekend, the knights were competing as individuals for the Queen's Jubilee Horn, presented to the Royal Armouries in 2002, by the late Queen Elizabeth II; and as national teams for the Sword of Honour.
Relive all of the action from a weekend filled with thundering hooves, shattering lances and the toughest competitors on horseback with our highlights programme.
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We are the Royal Armouries, the United Kingdom's national collection of arms and armour. Discover what goes on behind the scenes and watch our collection come to life. See combat demonstrations, experience jousting and meet our experts.
Have a question about arms and armour? Feel free to leave us a comment and we'll do our best to answer it.

[@darraghchapman]

Very cool, though I'd have happily traded the scoreboard reading for some full speed clips with audio rather than commentary

[@antiluckermd1956]

These are Richard and India, keepers of spiky stuff at the Royal Armouries museum in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic items made for poking from throughout history.

[@jonathanferguson1211]

I know you're joking, and Richard and India are wonderful, but we do actually have a Keeper of Edged Weapons & Armour - my good friend Henry Yallop 😊

[@antiluckermd1956]

@@jonathanferguson1211 you should get him a name plate with somewhat similar like this and place it on his office ;-) . Btw: at this point I need to type "Jona" to trigger the autocompletion of my Phone to "Jonathan Ferguson the keeper of firearms and artillery at the Royal Armouries museum in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history"

[@jonathanferguson1211]

@@antiluckermd1956 Ha! I must see if I can get a massive name badge with that on it...

[@mozzy207]

Well this is a criminally underviewed video. Appreciate the effort that clearly went into it!

[@causewaykayak]

Welcome to the competitors from France and from Italy.

[@jacktanner4948]

I witnessed that hit at 10:15 and can still hear it - It actually stopped the Armet closing again properly that they could not allow Marie to do another run - the fact she appeared very eager to do so immediately earned my respect.

[@rodneyhull9764]

The horses thundering by was unforgettable at my visit

[@JeffBilkins]

Shame that wasn't included in the video

[@CrispyGFX]

Very cool

[@Mulvers]

Love this sports coverage style! (also thank you Andy for how much you've taught me on my past visits to the Armouries)

[@TheIconsofsin]

Well done to everyone involved that was fantastic, all of you are true knights at heart

[@brianshutt5223]

Loved every second! Bravo to everyone! 🐎🐎🐎 -- Kim in Indiana

[@grahampalmer9337]

I've no idea why the thought popped in to my head but I saw the first few seconds of the video - & thought of 'Brave Sir Robin' from Monty Python's Holy Grail. 😀

[@chivalricmedia]

Absolutely brilliant round up of what was an amazing tournament!!! 👏👏👏👏

[@causewaykayak]

Falconry next ?

[@ComiCBoY000]

Im sad my local renfest doesnt do jousting anymore becasue someone broke the safety rules at a tournament and got hurt. At my renfest no one is supposed to be within 3 feet of the tounament fence and someone went right up to it and got hit by a piece of a shattered lance and they sued and despite the clear signs and rules saying dont be near fence so they just pass by each other on horses now and dismount and just do some choreographed fight for a min. Was very underwhelming.

[@andybrown4284]

Could probably create a safety lance that collapses into itself like a piston rather than shattering

[@DTNaquapolis]

Cracking video!

[@Theknightman-wg1dz]

The visor popping open seems really dangerous especially with the lances being wooden like that and exploding everywhere. You ever heard of king Henry II of France?

[@Pedro8k]

Did not know anything about it was it advertised anywhere glad to see it though

[@ptonpc]

That looks like an amazing event. Melee next time?

[@vikingskuld]

Awesome video thank you

[@nerdycus6935]

Super interesting to see the decorations on the armor, stuff you probably wouldn't have when fighting on foot.

[@BIG-DIPPER-56]

THANKS! That was so Cool! 😎👍

[@orkharrid7065]

We need to petition to have this televised or added to the Olympics :P

[@davidgoreted]

this is so awesome

[@noahrosz3902]

How dose one watch the hole thing

[@johnsmith-jq1uc]

archery?

[@robviousobviously5757]

May the 4th be with you..

[@buttered__toast_2899]

Good soldiers follow orders

[@andybrown4284]

Started wondering if competitors deliberately put dents and dings in their breastplate to suggest that they take more hits than they do

[@skepticalbadger]

Nope. They take pride in their armour.

[@marks7502]

Joust

[@nellynelson965]

Could we not have just had the actual jousing tournament at real speed and THEN the rundown

[@Yandarval]

The problem would be that speed. It really is a blink and you miss the strike.

[@toyboxgoblin]

Man, if I had money.

[@salty4496]

:)

[@asdgashash]

Why are you hyping up "a hit so hard the lance is dislodged from the rider's hand" in the first highlight? The hit is two horsepower hard every time. Followed by granting points to rider for losing control of the lance, when otherwise the hit would be illegal. At least that's how I understood the marshal's ruling.

[@skepticalbadger]

That's not how horsepower works (a horse actually generates around 15 BHP in automotive terms), nor is it a useful measure of force in this context. Hits absolutely vary in how much energy is delivered, based upon the speed that the horses achieve being different each time, the angle of the impact, at what point the balsa section fails, whether the metal section makes contact etc. Its like saying a mace hit in a foot combat is the same every time just because the fighter is trying to give his all. It isn't the same every time and neither is this. Yes, some of this will be subjective perception but Andy is an experienced jouster and if he says that was a hard hit, it was.

[@asdgashash]

@@skepticalbadger I was being a bit flippant about horse power. The point is, there is an upper threshold for how much force can be transferred, and the rider is expected to control the lance through it. Rewatching it, it seems like marshal was excited by the unusual circumstances of the strike and scoring. This being the first highlight, I got the impression that the strike's strength was the focal point, with rider's failure to keep hold of the lance as the measure of said strength.

[@jonanderson5137]

Horses long-term average as much as automotive horsepower.