92 HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 



locks of their hair, &c. At the conclusion of the tournament the knights 

 were disarmed by the ladies, and after receiving magnificent clothing were 

 led to the feast. A ball concluded the entertainment, the knights taking 

 precedence according to their success during the exercises of the morning. 



The last public tournament was held at Worms in 1487. The intro- 

 duction of gunpowder as a material of warfare, and the cost attending the 

 magnificent displays, caused these exercises to be abolished. 



The carrousel took the place of the tournament, especially in France. 

 It opened with a quadrille of horsemen, in bands of four to twelve knights, 

 and commanded by a leader. ISText followed the quintaine. The game 

 consisted in marking a point on a tree or pillar, which must be struck with a 

 lance at full speed. Another form of the sport was afterwards introduced. 

 Wooden figures were placed on pegs, so that they could turn round, and 

 were to be hit in the face. Sometimes the figure to be struck was a Moor's 

 or Turk's head. Another play consisted in striking ofi" a ring placed upon 

 the top of a pole. In all these sports the ladies presided and distributed 

 the prizes. 



The judicial combat ^ or the trial by the judgment of God, differed from 

 the tournament. It proceeded upon the presumption that God would give 

 success only to the party having a just cause. We find these contests 

 among the German tribes as early as the sixth century, and they soon 

 increased so much that laws were passed for their regulation. The 

 leading features were, in the main points, the same as at the tourna- 

 ment. It may be observed, that before the combat took place the com- 

 plainant had to swear to the truth of his accusation, and the defendant, 

 with similar formality, to his innocence. Particular clothing and armor 

 were worn by the contending parties ; special judges enforced a strict com- 

 pliance with the rules, and the combatants deposited with the officers a 

 pledge sufficient to satisfy the victor. As such a pledge often consisted of 

 a garment, it is not unlikely that the custom of throwing down the gauntlet 

 in challenge originated in these pledges. The vanquished met with more 

 or less severe punishment ; and if he was sentenced to death, or fell in the 

 conflict, he was denied the privilege of honorable burial, as the issue of the 

 combat was thought to fasten the guilt of perjury on the conquered man. 

 The laws exempted minors, the aged, the maimed, the sick, women, and 

 the clergy, from this mode of trial, though any of these classes might 

 employ others to fight for them. 



From this custom, doubtless, originated the private duel and the code of 

 honor, the first traces of which we meet with in France in 1250. It was 

 in that country also that the last judicial combat took place in 1547. 



PI. 23, fig. 5, vassals offering their allegiance when admitted to the 



castle; jpl. ^^^ fig. 1, Maximilian I. in full armor ;^^. 2, Henry YIII. of 



England in full armor : fig. 3, an English knight; fig. 4, a German knight; 



fi^. 5, squires ; fig. 6, English knights as they appeared in the tournament; 



fig. Y, German knights before the tournament ; fig. 8, king-at-arms, or 



judge. PI. 38, fig. 2, view of a tournament in Germany. PI. 25, fig. 1, 



contest with the lance by German knights ; fig. 2, judicial combat with 



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