The Joust

           The Joust was an amazing spectacle that I’ve seen several times before but had never realized how much these events were tied into thoughts of actual battle and war. “You had to strike down your opponent with a lance or sword. You must not hesitate or draw back. It was a question of honour. The joust offered a taste of warfare, also, and the new king surrounded himself with young lords who enjoyed a good fight.”(Ackroyd 3) When looking at these games I took the perspective of a Social Scientist and a Mathematician. At the beginning of the games everyone stopped to give thanks to the Queen and country, although she was not present they all had to acknowledge her status and pay their respects. The men in the joust also were held in high regard for their great efforts in battle which furthered their status in the courts. 

Kneeling in respect of Queen

Each jouster represented a different country and with this country brought on the characteristics of what people thought of these countries. For example the Scotsman was violent and cruel while the Italian was suave and cocky.  While watching these games you were completely immersed in the frivolity of the people during this era who excitedly watched this game unfold before them where sometimes people actually lost their lives. We were witnessing a “Joust to The Death” so we were automatically attempting to figure out who would be the victor overall and placed bets. 

In participating in this I began to judge the knights abilities. Some had fast horses, better marksmanship with their lance, and others were masters of the swords. In our own subtle ways we were utilizing Game Theory to determine who would be the winner. Not realizing that this process was something that there had been a theory created around, we were thinking like mathematicians without knowing. 

Yellow Knight flaunting his talents