90 HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 



mostly took place in churches or chapels, sometimes in halls of castles or 

 court-yards of palaces ; on special occasions, e.g. after a battle, they were 

 performed in the open field. 



During a period of actual war the chevalier was bound to follow the 

 banner of his liege lord ; if he was a lord himself, he would lead the array. 

 In time of peace the knight frequently went to strange lands in quest 

 of occasions of gaining instruction and experience. On these tours he 

 visited castles and courts, attended ceremonies and investiture, took a 

 ready share in tournaments or serious quarrels, protected the weak from 

 injustice, enlarged the circle of his friends, greeted his brethren in arms, 

 and signified his friendship by an exchange of weapons. He bore the title 

 of a knight-errant, and was welcome wherever he went, until knight- 

 errantry was disgraced by gross abuses. 



The Joust, oe Toitbnament. 



The tournaments offered another occasion for the display of knightly 

 skill and valor, and an opportunity for the exercise of warlike weapons, 

 even when there was no war. They consisted of a series of martial 

 contests, and formed an important feature on occasions of festival at the 

 castles of nobles, princes, and kings. The tournament is from the French 

 tourner^ to turn ; it only became general in the middle of the twelfth 

 century. 



In the time of Conrad 11., or Henry YI., the knights formed four tourna- 

 ment associations, or circles : the Rhenish, the Bavarian, the Suabian, and 

 the Frankish ; each of which was headed by a field-king, or judge of the 

 tournament. Subsequently these circles were respectively divided into three 

 branches, each under the control of a subordinate king-at-arms. 



Those only were qualified for entering the lists who belonged to an old 

 family of the nobility counting at least four knights among their ancestors, 

 in France three ; but the conditions were subsequently modified, so as to 

 admit the more recent nobility. Still they excluded all persons whose 

 circumstances obliged them to pursue any branch of business or trade, and 

 who lived in cities ; any one who had married into a rank beneath himself, 

 together with the issue of such marriage to the third generation ; all 

 natural children ; and, finally, all who had by unworthy conduct forfeited 

 the honor of knighthood. 



The qualifications for tourneying were tested by the following regula- 

 tions : 1. Tlie heralds exhibited a helmet and scutcheon, at the same time 

 proclaiming the name of their owner ; and if any one made objection to 

 his honor, the points of opposition were reported to the master of cere- 

 monies. 2. The knight recorded his name in a register, so that the freest 

 investigation might at any time be instituted in regard to his ancestry. 

 3. A certificate from a field-king was made out for each knight after a 

 tournament, and served not only himself, but also his posterity, as a testi- 

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