If movies have not lied to me (😜), knights’ tournaments are involve hacking, slashing, and jousting each other. How did they not kill each other using such weapons or speed on horses? And if it was actually dangerous, why did they participate?
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The thing is, at first they didn’t bother trying not to kill each other. The earliest tournies were just a bunch of bored knights gathering on either side of a field and then going at it. Blunted swords were an innovation! In a weird way it was like auto racing. At first nobody gave a sh- about safety. Then people realized it was a way to make money, and they started making it safer. And each step was a real innovation. They had to think up blunting lances, making them frangible, if you’re never getting off the horse make that armor as thick as you can, and so on.
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