On a day before that which was fixed for the combats the helms and crests of the tourneyers were brought together with much ceremony and were arranged in due order to the satisfaction of the Judges of the Tournament. Each had its owner’s banner suspended over it and, all being ready, the Ladies were conducted round the Hall, when if any one of them, by touching a crest, accused its owner of any fault or crime against chivalry he was seized, tried and punished, according to the magnitude of his offence and the custom of the Tournament. The helm and crest of the Chevalier d’honneur, the knight selected to attend the Lady of the Tournament and at her bidding to extend the “Merci des Dames” which forbade further attacks on a combatant unfortunate in the mêlée, were the objects of especial ceremonial, and (he being withdrawn by his office from active participation in the combat) were taken from his head with much courtesy by the Judges and the Herald and were solemnly given in charge of the Ladies until such time as his duties should cease at the close of the Tournament. Until that time an esquire or gentleman bore them aloft upon a lance staff near to the Lady of the Tournament. [Illustration: FIG. 144.--Thirteenth Century.] With regard to the helm, it will not be desirable to discuss its development as armour through the various forms which preceded those which were employed to support heraldic crests; and it will suffice to begin with the early form, which was more or less cylindrical, as in Fig. 144, and afterwards developed into the more complex curves and projections of the tournament helm.