Page 54 - British Museum: SYTYGIB Medieval Castle

When they weren’t hitting enemies with sharp things, knights had to keep training like mad to make sure their skills were always tip-top. Part of that training was taking part in tournaments.
Tournaments – or tourneys as they were also known – were basically a huge load of guys in armour pretending to have battles. They were incredibly popular forms of entertainment as well as vital training.
Knights would travel from far and wide to take part in tournaments – even to different countries. One that took place at Lagny-sur-Marne in France in 1179 was attended by 3,000 knights who’d come from all over the country, as well as from England, Scotland, Germany and Spain.
It was too far to walk all that way, so presumably they took the knight-bus.
Tournaments were a little on the rough side. Sometimes there would be two ‘armies’ mock-fighting against each other, with one group charging the other on horseback to try to smash through them. These battles were called mellees.
Ow! You poked me with your spear!
You started it! You trampled me with your horse!
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