The Armour Archive

A few images from the Joust for the Sword of Honour at the Royal Armouries, Leeds

Dominic Sewell, Toby Capwell and Jeff Hedgecock wait their turn to joust.



The Order of the Crescent in high spirits after their session against Destrier. L to R- Toby Capwell, Jeff Hedgecock, Steve Mallett
[img]http://www.historicenterprises.com/misc/leeds4-06/0163.jpg[/img]


The Order of the Crescent in their ceremonial robes. Robes of this type can be seen in Fouquet's painting of the Order of St. Michel. L to R- Dominic Sewell, Jeffrey Hedgecock, Toby Capwell, Steve Mallet.



Jeffrey rides as a mounted squire during a session. He wears his new pleated coat, and his horse Carla wears a reproduction bridle made by Jeff. All fittings on the bridle are gold plated. Read more about this bridle in the latest issue of the HE Journal



Dominic and Fred Pireau(sp?) trade strikes in a shower of splinters


More images to come as we process them.

Enjoy!

Gwen
Order of the Crescent
Roadie, Pit Crew

Yummy!

The robes are just dead sexy!
Cheers,
Leo

Toby Capwell has that look.

"Who's the man? You know who's the man."

Truly a four of men who are satisfied with their lot. Here's to 'em!

John
Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus
www.mron.org

Jeff's armour is looking really good. Note the closeness of fit on Toby's (Mac) harness. In every shot it look "calm" or settled on his body. The robe shot is very cool.

More images:

Arne Koets of the Burgundians and Armouries rider Christopher Lockie trade strikes while Dominic looks on. Tom Hayman readies another lance in the background.



Dominic executes the cut and thrust at a full gallop, hitting the target perfectly.



Dominic carries the Order of the Crescent's banner. Dominic rides his horse Hawthorn, a Fresian/Cob stallion and formidible jousting horse. Joram van Essen, Captain of the Burgundians in the background.
[img]http://www.historicenterprises.com/misc/leeds4-06/0368.jpg[/img]


Dominic, Toby and Jeff wait their turns for the rings.

Fabulous, inspiring photos!

wonderful !!!

Absolutely marvelous

Superb

Gwen;

Thanks for posting those great photo's! I can see that Jeff is totally in his element there, and obvioulsly having a wonderful time! It's good to see such high historical fidelity adheared to all around in a group like that, and the members of the Order of the Crescent (as well as their adversaries) are to be highly commended for their efforts. Well Done! Bravo!

Allons!

Gordon

What a beautiful turn out! When were these pictures taken? I know Mac made a new helmet for Capwell and reworked his fauld and legs recently, but he's wearing the old hat and I can't tell whether the rest is pre-or-post overhaul.

I love all the details- the bridle, the crests- they all enrich the overall impression. It's always a pleasure to look at new pictures and see what's been added.


Clare/Tracy

The bar just got raised again. I don't know whether to be inspired or sell my armor.

Stop it, Gwen! You can't show me pics like that yet, I don't think I'll be able to handle them until next year!

Boy, now I am REALLY glad I sold all of my joust armour (well, I do have my 13th century stuff...no, no, must stay retired, must stay retired).

Seriously, the pics looked great. I know that Jeff, et al, had a great time jousting and please pass on my best to all of them.

...now I just have to suffer through the pics that Rod will be posting of his tourney next week....

The new helm was there but didn't make an appearance. It looks sooo sexy

Last set of photos. Any more than 12 holiday photos and people start leaping from windows, so this is the final installment.

Lance rack with Jeff, Toby and Steve's lances ready to rock 'n roll. Jeff's lances have been tricked out with a fabulous new paint job, my suprise anniversary gift to him. On the butt, a rampant lion wearing a Crescent livery collar carries a pennon bearing Jeff's personal motto. In the grip where it will be closest to his body is a bannerole inscribed "Ave Maria, Gratia Plena" (Hail Mary, full of grace) as a protective charm. A Crescent is immediately forward of the vamplate, and the Crescent's motto "Los en Croissant" adorns the black ferrule-


Jeff waiting his turn at the cut & thrust. On the ground L to R are Rob Temple from the Armouries and Tom Hayman wearing Jeff's livery. Tom started out his career as Jeff's valet and has become a general purpose dog's body, filling in where ever needed. That's Rob Martin of Destrier on the right, mounted on a green and white caparisoned horse.


Dominic waits his turn at the cut and thrust. Dom was riding as a mounted squire this session and therefore wears civilian kit rather than armour for this exercise.


Fred Piraux of the Burgundians vs. the Armouries Andrew Barnforth


4 days of jousting resulted in a tied score between the Order of the Crescent and Destrier, necessitating a final "joust off" between team captains Toby Capwell and Dom Sewell. Neither struck in the first tiebreaker pass, so there was a second pass in which Dom scored 4 points to Toby's 3 points, securing the win for Destrier.

Gwen

That looks like way too much fun. Are they aiming for the helms or is that just the way it looks in the photo's?

Although the helmet was a legal target area historically, helmets and anything below the waist are illegal targets by the RA's rules. Fred did not hit Andrew in the head in the last photo, it just looks that way because of the camera angle. There was only one strike to the helmet during this tournament, and this wasn't it.

This tournament was held Easter weekend, April 13-17, 2006.

Gwen

Yup, i'm there for whoever needs me

Lucky f***er.

Luck's got nothing to do with it. This is the product of hard work and dedication.

Unless you're talking about Thomas, in which case, yeah, lucky sod.

John
Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus
www.mron.org

Wow that looks like alot of fun.

Hey, i work hard too. Admittedly, luck was involved too but i still work hard.

Wait for the pictures of the St Georges day pageant at Scarborough Castle.

I know you work hard, Tom.

John
Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus
www.mron.org

Okay, I quit.
Back to carpet armour.

I've got to find some way to do that before I die.

Duncan wrote:I've got to find some way to do that before I die.

I second that

Outstanding harness all the way around. This is the kind of commitment to detail we should all aspire to.

"Okay, I quit. Back to carpet armour."

Oh, no you don't!

This sort of excellence of display has a wide variety of effects on people. Some look at it and say "I will never get there!" Some look at it and say "It can be done!" Therefore there are those who will look upon this sort of proof of where our own efforts lie on the scale as discouraging, and there are other who will look upon it as encouragement.

We need this sort of encouragement, I say, and good on Jeff and all these other good people whose dedication to this pastime results in this level of display and panoply. This shows us what can be done. This gives us all a target to aim at, and if we fall short, at least it won't be for lack of aiming high enough.

John
Jehan, your squire
www.mron.org

Duncan wrote:I've got to find some way to do that before I die.

Thirded. Anybody do any novice joust training within a couple hour drive of Durham, NC? I can/could ride a horse once enough to have the thing trot under neath me. It's a start.

Vitus wrote:Okay, I quit. Back to carpet armour.

I thought that for a couple of days too. But I'm a singleminded bugger. Now I'm just more determined. See you at Blackstone tomorrow?

Jehan de Pelham wrote:Unless you're talking about Thomas, in which case, yeah, lucky sod.

Yeah, I was talking about Thomas, who I am sure does work hard. I'm just jealous of the opportunity he has. If I had that opportunity 15 years ago I like to think I wouldn't have wasted it but I bet I would have.

In 15 years I wanna watch Thomas unseat some poor sod at Leeds himself.

I hope i'm jousting at the Armouries (jousting at all?) in 15 years. don't know about unhorsing..
That weekend has pushed me to get off my ass and start riding when i get back from the tournament in Holland. i MUST ride in a period fashion!!

I posted these photos to show another option for historical reenactment/medieval dressup/whateveryoucallit. The intent was not to cause anyone to throw their hands up in dispair, but to encourage those who thought they might like to do an activity like this to JUST DO IT

The men in these pictures are very average, with very average incomes. There are no monied English lords, trust fund babies or Bill Gates wanna bes. They are all average working guys who have worked, scrimped and saved to afford their harnesses and kit, simply because they are absolutely mad for jousting at this level. If they can do it, so can anyone with the desire to do so.

The International Jousting Association is dedicated to promoting historical jousting worldwide. Although the Royal Armouries are not IJA members, the jousts held there follow the same rules and conventions as the IJA does. The IJA supports and encourages a high level of safety for horse and rider while promoting high standards of historical accuracy and sportsmanship. The IJA has a small but enthusiastically growing membership in the US. Use the links in the "Members" section of the website to find an IJA group near you.

Gwen
The Order of the Crescent
Los en Croissant

I couldn't agree more with Gwen. Just Do It! Take up Horsemanship for one thing. (Please don't be one of the "Joust Jocks"* who just want to get on a gigantic horse, hit the spurs and go, then get off [one way or another!] and repeat as necessary.) As Jeff is showing folks in his "Knight School", you need some basics first. Walk before you Run.

I would recommend first English riding lessons, for the seat, ballance and use of the legs. Learn to ride without stirrups at all gaits. Then after you are reasonably competent at that, go for Western lessons, as the neck reining, longer stirrups and different seat are both useful and necessary to become a complete Horseman for this game, or Early-Modern Cavalry for that matter.

Ground School too, learning the Lance from the Dirt up. (Beats learning it from the Lance down to the Dirt! ) Again, take Jeff's lead on this: learn from them what's been there, done that if you possibly can.

While you're working on that end of things, you can work on upgrading the armour and soft kit!

Sure, it takes some money and lots of time, as you aren't going to be doing any of this in a month. Or a year, even. But a long-term focus on your goal, with a budgeted amount of time and money will get you there in the long haul. If you have a five-year plan (remember, Squires had a longer apprenticeship than that) and stick with it, you ought to come out the other end quite the accomplished (and well accoutred!) Man-at-Arms, with LOTS of Moral Superiority to lord over your friends!

Good luck in all of this, and God Speed!

Allons!

Gordon

* BTW, there are PLENTY of excellent jousters out there who are anything but "Joust Jocks", who spend countless hours on their horses working with them to improve both their own horsemanship and their horse's skills and training. But sadly, there are a few who do not, and they can be rather a blot on the whole at times. My snide comments are directed at these few.

Speaking of which, we have another session of Knight School happening the weekend of May 6/7. Email jousting@historicenterprises.com if you'd like to attend. There is no cost to attend, but we do like to know how many people are coming so we can be prepared.

Gwen

Gwen and Gordon are right. The biggest step is simply getting off the couch and getting started. Anyone can reach this level, it just takes time and commitment.

I knew Jeff years ago out in California when we were both in the SCA, early in his armouring career. It's great to see that his commitment hasn't lessened and that it's brought him to this level of quality. He's living proof that the only thing really required is desire.