The Jousting Life: Fourteenth Century Style Jousting at the Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament 2015

During the weekend of February 21 - 22, the 8th Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament will take place in Upper Hutt, New Zealand. The tournament, which is organized and hosted by Callum Forbes and the Order of the Boar, was first held in 2003 and has grown bigger and better with each iteration. Currently, the tournament is held every other year, and the most recent Harcourt Park joust, which was held in 2013, was won by Canadian jouster Dale Gienow.

Dale Gienow(left) jousts Simon Tennant during Harcourt Park 2013 (photo by ATPhoto)

This year's tournament will feature the usual jousting competition for the Grail of Chivalry, which includes Mounted Skill at Arms(MSA) and Mounted Melee competitions in addition to the actual Jousting. Other old favorites will also be part of the overall event, including a Medieval Battle Display and an individual Medieval Martial Arts competition involving dagger, sword & small shield, and longsword. Due to its successful launch during Harcourt Park 2013, there will again be a Junior Sword Fighting competition featuring the Order of the Boar's Knight School students in association with the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy.

Harcourt Park Jousting Tournament tv ad (video by Callum Forbes)

However, this year's Harcourt Park Tournament will differ from previous events in several ways: For the first time, professional medieval harpists Wryd Medieval Music from Australia will be providing music for the event. The popular Medieval Archery Competitions and Displays will now have their own dedicated archery range where even more archery events will be held, including 'have a go' public participation. And Armoured Foot Combat, which has been a popular display in the past, will now be an actual competition as Harcourt Park hosts the inaugural Pacific Cup which features full contact armoured combat.

One of the most dramatic changes from previous Harcourt Park tournaments is that the joust will now be done in strict 14th century style.

Jouster Rod Walker of Australia jousts against the quintain in his new 14th century armour
(photo by Michelle Walker)

According to tournament organizer Callum Forbes:

"All the jousters will be wearing only 14th century armour and costume for this event. Previously this event, like many others, was open to the wider medieval period (e.g. late 13th century through to the 16th century). This created an anachronism, as historically this never happened, but, in the interests of being inclusive to all, I decided to allow this.

"However, in recent years we have seen the development of period specific events (e.g. mostly 15th Century ‘historical jousts’), and there are now enough of these events worldwide to cater for people who do later period jousting. So, I feel the time is now right to limit my own events to an earlier period. For this year’s jousting, only armour and costume that was used from the period 1350 to 1400 is allowed in the joust.

"Note, this is for the joust only. Other foot and equestrian based events still allow the wider range of armour and costume to be worn." – Callum Forbes

Callum Forbes is not only a tournament organizer, he is also a competitive jouster. However, he does not compete in the Harcourt Park joust for a couple of reasons. First, because it is highly impractical for overseas jousters to bring their own horses, he generously loans his jousting horses to be ridden by the visiting jousters. And second, he is simply too busy running the tournament each year to be able to compete as well.

Callum Forbes (photo by Stacey Baker)

When asked what led him to focus on the 14th century style of jousting for Harcourt Park 2015, Callum responded:

"I have always loved the 14th century and have always wanted to run my events as 14th century ones, and now is the right time to narrow our event’s focus. There are a lot of very good jousters out there who joust exclusively in 14th century armour and costume who are now excluded from many events which were previously ‘open’ but are now limited to 15th or 16th century armours. I wanted to balance the scales a bit and give the 14th century guys and girls a place of their own to play.

"All the big events that I run in New Zealand from now on will be 14th Century ones, and my goal is to make New Zealand the home of the 14th Century joust!" – Callum Forbes

Jousters from around the world have either dusted off or created new sets of 14th century style armour and clothing in order to compete in this year's Harcourt Park joust. Jouster and armourer Rod Walker of Full Tilt, also known from the tv show Full Metal Jousting, has done a great job of creating photo documentation (with commentary alongside certain photographs) of his process of research and development for his new 14th Century kit. A couple of photographs of the finished armour and accessories are shown below. To see the complete set of photographs and commentary, check out Rod's "14thC Harness and Clothing" photo album.

Rod Walker displays his new 14th century armour and accoutrements standing (photos by Michelle Walker)

Rod Walker displays his new 14th century armour and accoutrements mounted (photos by Michelle Walker)

Rod Walker displays his new 14th century armour and accoutrements both standing and mounted (photos by Michelle Walker)

In addition to Rod Walker(who has competed in all but one Harcourt Park Tournament), other jousters who will be competing this year are:

Gunnar Cederberg from Sweden, who will be competing at Harcourt Park for the first time
Anders Fernstedt from Sweden, who will be competing at Harcourt Park for the FIFTH time
Sarah Hay from Australia
John King of New Zealand
Andrew McKinnon from Australia
Vikki Subritzky of New Zealand
L Dale Walter from the USA, who will be competing at Harcourt Park for the first time

However, one person that Callum was hoping would someday joust in one of his tournaments will not be there. This year's Grail of Chivalry joust will be dedicated to the memory of Callum's friend, Paul Kirk.

"Paul Kirk was one of the major players in the New Zealand medieval re-enactment scene from the mid 90’s, and he trained with Order of the Boar for a number of years in the mid 2000’s with the intention of becoming a jouster. Unfortunately, a change in employment circumstances forced him to relocate elsewhere in New Zealand. However, before this happened he was able to compete in the mounted skill-at arms at Harcourt Park 2005.

"In the year prior to his death, he was travelling regularly four hours a weekend to train with the Order of the Boar’s foot combat team that studies Western Martial Arts – particularly Fiore. He was planning to resume his joust training with us as well, with the intention to joust at our next big international event in early 2016.

"Paul was a larger than life character whose purpose in life was to help others. He was also involved with martial arts, motor bikes and the Church. He was a highly fit individual who was struck down by a sudden brain aneurysm that killed him instantly. He was 41 years old, with two young daughters, a step-son and a fiancé. After his death, his help for others continued as he was also an organ donor. This enabled medical staff to save three lives using body parts donated by Paul." -- Callum Forbes