Piston tournament

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Kolbenturnier ( Georg Rüxner's ThurnierBuch - From the beginning, causes, vrsprung, vnd come from the Thurnier in the holy Roman Empire Teutscher Nation of 1530)
Kolbenturnier (Book of Arms of Conrad von Grünenberg , approx. 1480)

The piston tournament is a late middle tournament in which two Ritter with wooden mace , dreschflegelartigen Bludgeons or blunt swords the crest had to cut off the enemy. But there were also large piston tournaments, similar to the Buhurt , then the participants were divided into two parties, which then fought out the tournament. Up to 200-300 participants fought, like in a battle, only between barriers (such as in the four-country tournaments ). A second phase could follow with blunt swords, or single stabbing with the lance. Since the piston tournament was seen as the higher-ranking, befitting event, a distinction was made in heraldry between aristocratic piston tournament helmets (in heraldry also known as bow or spade helmets, but not identical to these historical helmet types) and bourgeois stinging helmets . These tournaments were fought in special plate armor , the perforated breast armor and piston tournament helmets, which guaranteed a wide field of vision with a non-movable grid visor. Bumps and blows were only allowed above the saddle, as only the upper body was covered by a plate armor. Ransom money for a defeated fighter could not be asked at will, it had been negotiated before the tournament.

The last significant piston tournament was held at the end of the four-country tournaments in Worms in 1487 .

  • Piston tournament armor of the 1480s

  • Historical illustration of a piston tournament helmet from the 15th century by Barthélemy d'Eyck

  • Knight during a butt tournament

  • Blunt sword and butt for the butt tournament

  • Piston tournament (tournament book by Marx Würsung , 1518)

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Austrian Institute for Library Research, Documentation and Information, Franz Grasberger, Franz Hadamowsky, Franz Unterkircher, Albertina Graphic Collection, Biblos-Schriften, Volumes 21 – S25 , Verlag Österreichisches Institut für Bibliothekforschung, Documentation and Information, 1958, page 188