Knighthood, Chivalry & Tournament
Glossary of Terms
R
Ramparts: A broad earthwork around a fortification upon which walls or parapets were built.
Ransom: The idea that a knight would be captured rather than killed if defeated. In war, this generally meant the payment of a large capital sum, while in tourney it often meant forfeiture of armour and horse. See also Armour, as insurance.
Ransom Tournament: A modern format of tournament growing in popularity in the Society for Creative Anachronism, frequently called William Marshal tournaments after the greatest tourneyer of the ransom-tourney age. In these tournaments men entered the lists at their own risk--if they were ‘defeated’ their horse and armour was forfeit to the capturing knight. This was a popular way for younger sons of knights and nobles to earn a living and to earn renown. In the SCA form of the tourney, combatants enter the lists worth a certain number of tokens or coins or a point value ranking according to their rank within the Society. If they are ‘killed’, they must accompany their captor without hindrance to their recess, where they must surrender their ransom or tally their point value to the captor’s total. These tourneys have proven to be excellent fund-raisers; the Company of Saint George first tried such a tourney as a fund-raiser for the kingdom newsletter, the Page, and the Company of the Angels held another such tourney two years later, donating their proceeds to the Tomb of William Marshal in London. See Chronique: The Journal of Chivalry #9 and the Tournament Formats for SCA Combat monograph.
Recess: A safe area in an early tourney, where horsemen could gather and rest without fear of capture.
Recet: See Recess.
Reign: The duration of rule by a king, prince or noble, taking the form ‘...In the fourth year of the reign of king Stephan....’ In an SCA context, the reign of a king lasts for approximately six months, except in the West kingdom, where reigns are four months in length.
Relic: A holy object or portion of a holy object that maintained a mystical connection with the holy. There were many false relics pawned during the Middle Ages, forgeries no different from the art fakes now sold. Relics were often used to swear upon, perhaps the bones of a saint, a portion of the True Cross, or some such was touched in the impromptu ceremony of an oath. Relics were also incorporated into other objects with the hope that the connection with the holy would transmit something of that holy character to the larger artifact. Swords sometimes worked relics into the pommels and in churches, altars were contained some object thought to be a relic.
Renown: The reputation of a combatant based upon the virtues that others perceive in him from his word, thoughts and deeds. See also the essay concerning Errants & the Company of Saint George. I have called renown the ‘coin of the tourneyer’, the only thing a combatant takes to the field, and the only thing he takes home from it.
René-style Tournament: In the context of the SCA, several groups have attempted to stage tournaments in the tradition of King René d’Anjou as detailed in his tournament book. Such tourneys generally have something of the festival about them, several activities tied together into a general theme. The Tenans of Noble Folly, Grand Company of the Peacocks, and Company of Saint Michael have all experimented with the format, based on an English translation done by Dr. Elizabeth Bennett. This tournament style is a fictional ‘perfect tournament’ as envisioned by René as it might have been done during the 15th century. See especially Chronique: The Journal of Chivalry #15.
Rhodes, knights of: See Hospitallers.
Richard I’s Tournament Decree (1194): Richard licensed five places in England where tournaments could be held: Between Salisbury and Wilton, Warwick and Kenilworth, Stamford and Warinford, Brackley and Mixbury, and Blyth and Tickhill. Those who wished to tourney there had to obtain a license and issue payment for the privilege, and foreign knights were prohibited from tourneying in England. This is perhaps the first secular regulation of a tournament, done for the dual purpose of encouraging the sport and reducing the potential for it to be used as a gathering point for disloyal opposition.
"The famous king Richard, observing that the extra training and instruction of the French has made them correspondingly fierce in war, wished that the knights of his kingdom should train in their own lands, so that they could learn from tourneying the art of war and so that the French could not insult the English knights for being crude and less skilled."
Ritter: German for ‘knight.’
Roi de Arms: Fr. for King of Arms.
Roll of Arms: Manuscript rolls or books that kept listings of armorial bearings either painted or described.
Romances: Works written concerning knights and chivalry, originating during the 12th century, expanding to England, Spain, Italy and Germany. The works originally were built by the Troubadors, weaving the tenets of courtly love with the actions of knights. The romances were one vehicle of expression that changed forever the popular perception of what a knight should be--driving the rough-hewn warrior ‘knight’ towards the more refined gentleman that would emerge. The romances put their vision of what knights should be alongside the church's perception, the reality of what knights became being a fusion of all three influences--the knights themselves, influenced in turn by the court and the church.
Ronçevalles, Battle of: 15 August 778, when the Basques attacked and slaughtered Charlemagne’s rear guard defended by Count Roland, detailed in a chanson de geste that insured Roland’s enduring renown in the Song of Roland.
Round Table: A kind of tournament that was more structured than a hastilude or pas d’armes, where knights played the roles of historical or romantic characters, usually involving the Arthurian mythos. Modern tournament formats like the Seven Sins tourney are examples of highly effective and entertaining round tables. Ladies often enjoyed a prominent role in these festivals, and the pageantry was often very striking.
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