Tournaments

In the early Middle Ages knights fighting on horseback were important members of an army. They needed great skills to handle their horses and weapons, and in peacetime elaborate competitions - the first tournaments - were held to test these skills. In this remarkable portrait of the world of medieval tournaments, Richard Barber and Anne Dalton describe the development of these contests over 500 years and look at one tournament, from about 1450, in detail. Winner of the 1978 "Times Educational Supplement" Junior Information Book Award.