Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/253

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MEDIEVAL MANNERS AND COSTUME.

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dysport and yowre gret labur, that ye have this day in thayre presens; and the sayde ladijs and Gentylle wymmen sayyn that ye have beste Just this day; therefore the sayde ladys and Gentylle wymmen gyff yow this Diamunde, and sende yow myche worschyp and joye of yowre lady Thus schalle be doon with the Rube and the Sauffer, un-to the other .ij. nex the best Justers: this don.

¶ Then schalle the harraude of armus stonde up alle on hey, and schalle sey withe a hey voyce, Johne hathe welle Justyd, Rycharde hathe Justyd better, and Thomas hathe Justyd best of alle.

¶ Then schalle he, that the Diamonde ys gyf un-to, he schalle take a lady by the honde, and be-gynnythe the daunce: and when the ladijs hathe dauncyd as longe as hem lykythe, then spicys and wyne and drynke. And than a-voyde.

The just, thus held in the presence of courtly dames, appears to have been the least perilous of the chivalrous sports of this nature, in which our forefathers took so great delight; although, doubtless, many, like Syr Perceval, were victims of the untoward accidents in such rude encounter. The skill of the combatant mainly consisted in keeping his saddle, in spite of the rude shock to which he was exposed from the heavy spear of his opponent; the danger was, indeed, diminished by the substitution of a coronel, or, as Hall the chronicler terms it, a cronet, in place of a sharp point^[1]. This however, formed with several blunt points, and resembling in some degree a little crown, whence the name is supposed to have been derived, must have fallen with a force difficult to be resisted, even with the greatest assistance afforded to the jouster by a saddle formed expressly for the purpose with immoderately high arçons, and projections on either side of the thigh. Every precaution was moreover taken by strict rules against all unfair advantages on these occasions, such as the Ordinance enacted by the constable of England, John, earl of Worcester, by command of Edward IV., a document full of curious information in regard to the subject under consideration^[2].

↑ One of the earliest and most interesting illustrations of the use of the coronel is supplied by the beautiful sculptured casket of ivory, in the possession of Seth W. Stevenson, Esq., E.S.A., of Norwich, exhibited, by his kind permission, at the late annual meeting of the Institute. It is seen also on a curious ivory casket at Goodrich Court, given in Skelton's Illustrations, vol. i. pi. xi. The coronel is well shewn in the illumination, representing a joust, in Ashmolean MS. 764, engraved in the Illustrations of State and Chivalry, before cited, and incorrectly in Dallaway's Heraldry in England, p. 77. It appears also in the drawings in Rous's Roll of the Achievements of Richard Beauchamp, Cott. MS. Julius, E. IV. Strutt's Horda, vol. ii. pi. xi., xxxvi. See also the Jousters in the Triumph of Maximilian, plates 45–48.
↑ Strutt has given this in the Horda,

[1] One of the earliest and most interesting illustrations of the use of the coronel is supplied by the beautiful sculptured casket of ivory, in the possession of Seth W. Stevenson, Esq., E.S.A., of Norwich, exhibited, by his kind permission, at the late annual meeting of the Institute. It is seen also on a curious ivory casket at Goodrich Court, given in Skelton's Illustrations, vol. i. pi. xi. The coronel is well shewn in the illumination, representing a joust, in Ashmolean MS. 764, engraved in the Illustrations of State and Chivalry, before cited, and incorrectly in Dallaway's Heraldry in England, p. 77. It appears also in the drawings in Rous's Roll of the Achievements of Richard Beauchamp, Cott. MS. Julius, E. IV. Strutt's Horda, vol. ii. pi. xi., xxxvi. See also the Jousters in the Triumph of Maximilian, plates 45–48.

[p253-2] Strutt has given this in the Horda,

[1]

[2]