TOURNAMENT (OF. tournoyemcnt, tour noiement, from tournoier, to joust, tilt, tourney, wheel about, from tourner, to turn, from Lat. tornare, to turn in a lathe, from tornus, from Gk. rouvoc, compasses, carpenter's chisel ; con nected with rtipew, teirein, to pierce. Lat. terere, OChurch Slay. Lith. triti, to rub). A knightly sport of the Middle Ages, in which combatants engaged one another with the object of exhibiting their courage, prowess, and skill in the use of arms. It existed first probably in France, whence it spread to Germany and Eng land, and afterwards to the south of Europe. A tournament was usually held on the invitation of some prince, who sent a king-of-arms or herald through his own dominions and to foreign courts. The intending combatants hung up their armorial shields on the trees, tents, and pavilions around the arena for inspection, to show that they were worthy candidates for the honor of contending in the list in respect of birth, military prowess, and character. The combat took place on horse back, or at least was always begun on horseback, though the combatants who had been dismounted frequently continued it on foot. The usual arms were blunted lances or swords; but the ordinary arms of warfare, called arms a l'outrance, were sometimes used by cavaliers who were ambitious of special distinction. The prize was bestowed
by the lady of the tournament on the knight to whom it had been adjudged, he reverently ap proaching her, and saluting her and her two attendants. The period when tournaments were most in vogue comprised the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries; and the place where the most celebrated English tournaments were held was the tilt-yard near Saint James's. Smithfield, London. The Church at first dis countenanced tournaments, some of its decrees prohibiting persons from engaging in them under pain of excommunication, and denying Christian burial to a combatant who lost his life in one. The Church seems, however, to have looked with more favor on these combats after the middle of the thirleenth century. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries tournaments continued to he held, but the alteration in the social life and warfare of Europe had changed their character, and they are rather to be regarded as state than as real combats. The death of Henry II. of France. in 1559, consequent on the loss of his eye at a tournament, led to their general abandonment, both in France and else where.