of their sleep, and doing everything in scorn of the Abbot; spending the day, until the evening, in this manner, and refusing to desist, even when the Abbot commanded them. When the evening was come, they broke open the gates of the town and went forth bodily. The Abbot, indeed, solemnly excommunicated them all, yet not without having first consulted Hubert, at that time justiciary; and many of them came, promising amendment and seeking absolution." The more regular tournaments, however, were controlled by royal ordinances. They were restricted in England to five localities: namely, between Sarum and Wilton, between Warwick and Kenilworth, between Stamford and Wallingford, between Brakeley and Mixeberg, and between Blie and Tykehill. And, as nothing in these days could be done without a fine to the king or a tax to the pope, every earl had to pay twenty marks for his privilege to appear as a combatant; every baron, ten; every knight having a landed estate, four; each knight without such estate, two; and all foreigners were excluded[260]. In France, under Philip Augustus, tournaments appear to have been held on a large scale, as Père Daniel has remarked, from the incident of Philip having suddenly procured at an assemblage of this kind, troops sufficient to repel an unexpected attack on Alençon[261]. It is not within the province (if it were in the limits) of this work, to give any detailed account of tournaments and their usages; for at this period and long after, the defensive armour used for the joust (as shewn by the pictorial monuments of the time) differed in no respect from that worn in battle[262]. In the curious sketch of London in the twelfth century by Fitzstephen, an eye-witness of the incidents he records, we have a spirited notice of the military exercises of the young citizens in these days. "Every Sunday in Lent, after dinner, a company of young men go into the fields, mounted on war-horses:-- ----in equis certamine primis: each of which Aptus et in gyros currere doctus equus. The lay sons of the citizens rush out of the gates in crowds, equipped with lances and shields (_lanceis et scutis militaribus_); the more youthful with blunt spears; and they engage in sham fights and exercise themselves in military combats. When the king happens to be near the city, most of the courtiers attend, and the varlets (_ephebi_) of the households of earls and barons who have not yet attained knighthood, resort thither to try their skill. The hope of victory animates every one. The spirited horses neigh; their limbs tremble; they champ the bit; impatient of delay, they fret and paw the ground. When at length ----sonipedum rapit ungula cursum, the young riders, having been divided into companies, some pursue their fellows, but are unable to overtake them; others push their companions out of the course and gallop beyond them.