Gossip in the First Decade of Victoria's ReignAshton, John
History
Gossip in the First Decade of Victoria's Reign
Ashton, John
Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
Next day was wild with wind and rain, and nothing could be attempted out
of doors, as the armour was all wet and rusty, and every article of dress
that had been worn the preceding day completely soaked through, and the
Dining Hall and the Great Pavilion required a thorough drying. The
former was given up to the cleansing of armour, etc., and, in the latter,
there were various tilting matches on foot, the combatants being clothed
in armour. There was also fencing, both with sticks and broadsword,
among the performers being Prince Louis Bonaparte, afterwards Napoleon
III. His opponent with the singlesticks was a very young gentleman, Mr.
Charteris, and the Prince came off second best in the encounter, as he
did, afterwards, in some bouts with broadswords with Mr. Charles Lamb.
Luckily, in this latter contest, both fought in complete mail, with
visors down, for had it not been so, and had the combat been for life or
death, the Prince would have had no chance with his opponent.
On the third day the weather was fine, and the procession was a success.
There was tilting between eight couples of Knights, and tilting at the
ring, and the tourney wound up with the Knights being halved, and started
from either end of the lists, striking at each other with their swords in
passing. Only one or two cuts were given, but the Marquis of Waterford
and Lord Alford fought seriously, and in right good earnest, until
stopped by the Knight Marshal, Sir Charles Lamb.
In the evening, a banquet was given to 300 guests; and, afterwards, a
ball, in which 1,000 participated. As the weather, next day, was so
especially stormy, the party broke up, and the experimental revival has
never again been attempted, except a Tourney on a much smaller scale,
which was held on 31 Oct., 1839, at Irvine, by a party from Eglinton
Castle; but this only lasted one day.
I regret that I have been unable to find any authentic engravings of this
celebrated tournament, but I reproduce a semi-comic contemporaneous
etching from the _Satirical Prints_, _Brit. Mus._
The armour and arms used in this tournament were shown in Feb., 1840, at
the Gallery of Ancient Armour in Grosvenor Street, and they were
subsequently sold by Auction on July 17 and 18 of that year. They
fetched ridiculously low prices, as the following example will show:
A suit of polished steel _cap à pied_ armour, richly engraved and gilt,
being the armour prepared for the Knight of the Lion’s Paw, with tilting
shield, lance, plume and crest _en suite_, 32 guineas.
The emblazoned banner and shield of the Knight of the Burning Tower, with
the suit of polished steel, _cap-à-pied_ armour, with skirt of chain
mail, 35 guineas.
The splendid suit of armour worn by the Knight of the Ram, with crest and
plume, 24 guineas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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