Tallage: Taxes imposed upon the serfs or villeins of an estate by the lord to secure an income. Originally the tallage could be any amount, though during the 12th century this become more formalized and the lords gradually lost their ability for ‘tallage at will.’
Templar, Knights (Knights of the Temple): Founded in the Holy Land in 1119 to guard the site of the Temple of Solomon and to protect pilgrims en route to visit the site. Because many of the Crusaders returned home after the first crusade and the capture of Jerusalem in 1099, there was a shortage of soldiers to provide this steady stream of pilgrims who where harassed and ambushed by brigands and by Muslim irregular forces. Hugh de Payns and Godefroi de Saint Omer, two knights, swore an oath to defend the pilgrims, taking an oath of poverty, chastity, obedience, stylizing themselves as knights but in the tradition of the monasteries. These were the first ‘monks of the sword,’ men whose devotion to faith as soldiers of Christ bore the full fruit of the church efforts to ‘civilize’ the early knights.
In 1130, Bernard of Clairvaux drew up the rules for the order in the Praise of New Knighthood. Bernard set up the order with two main classes of knighthood, the knights and sergeants or serving brethren. Sergeants or serving brothers wore a black or brown mantle to show their lower status, while the Knights wore a red cross granted by Pope Eugenius III. Married men who joined the order could only join as sergeants, their property coming into the possession of the Order rather than to their wives upon their death.
The Knights Templar were amazingly successful, attracting men of all stations to serve in their illustrious ranks. Famous knights from all over England took up the mantle of the Templars, even William Marshal took a kind of associate membership, being buried in Templar silk. The Templars received lavish gifts both from knights who joined their ranks and from men wanting to increase their fame by demonstrating their largesse, to the point where the Templars set up a huge banking industry and were perhaps the richest single entity, next to the Church, at the point when they were brought down.
This amazing story culminated in 1308 when king Philip IV of France, charged their leader with witchcraft and heresy, seizing the Temple assets for fear of their immense power. Persecution followed this instance, the popular notion of ‘poor knights’ operating a large, successful international banking operation and possessing huge, luxurious estates feeding jealousy and making the irony obvious for everyone. The Templars were destroyed at this point, though some popular legend has them going underground.
Another similar order, the Hospitallers, survived and still exist today.
Tenans: The defenders in a pas d’armes; those who sponsor the passage, set up the pavilions, provide the refreshments, and some tokens of recognition to those who come to challenge them, who are known as the venans. See also Chronique: The Journal of Chivalry #4.
Tenans of Noble Folly: An SCA tournament team with members in Wisconsin, Minnesota and California working with the Grand Company of the Peacocks to bring the René-style of tournament to the Middle Kingdom. They are known by their distinctive blue and white {semmayed} with counterchanged {spots}. A late 14th / early 15th century company, the Tenans have put forth a great deal of effort to bring an interest in chivalric display and authentic appearance to their region.
Teutonic Knights (Teutonic Knights of the Hospital of the Blessed Virgin): A military-religious order of knights that restricted membership to Germans. They were part of the original Hospitallers, but under Hermann von Salza they split from the main branch and founded their own order, taking on a very distinctive white cloak bearing a stark black cross on the left shoulder. Upon the fall of Acre in 1291 they retired to Venice where Emperor Frederick II commissioned them to convert the heathens in Prussia, Lithuania, and Estonia, becoming a very successful order headquartered in Marienburg from 1309-1509.
Three-day’s tournament: A romantic literary device where the knightly champion could appear at a tournament for three successive days in different colored armour, all incognito, winning renown by his deeds of prowess rather than through his already established reputation. Such literary usages gave rise to similar formats in the medieval tournament as a festival, where different forms of combat were done on different days. See especially King René’s style of tournament. Such ‘three day’s tournaments’ were found in Cliges, Richard Coeur de Lion, and Sir Gowther.
Thrust: The technique of pushing with the end of a weapon to pierce with the tip, usually based on speed and surprise, as well as position. Used in war during the Middle Ages, but scorned in tournament (see Estoc). As fencing became more popular, the thrust became the primary attack of the sword, appropriate when the armour of the defender was reduced because of the impact of gunpowder.
Tierce: Third canonical hour, approximately 9 am.
Tilt: A term used to determine both jousts done over a barrier and to describe the barrier itself, common from the early 15th century onwards. See also à la toille.
Tiptof, Sir John, Tournament Rules: {}
Tirant lo Blanc: {}
Tithe: Literally a "tenth", a medieval form of tax often owed to the liege lord or to the church as rent on land. Sometimes the tithe could be as much as thirty percent, but ten or fifteen was normal. When tithes were collected no other taxes were normally due on the property, and the tithe seems to have been a percent of production, not value.
Torchlight Tournament: See pas noire.
Tournament (Tournoi): The broad term describing a whole range of martial activities from the hastilude, pas d’armes, round table, pageant, emprise, and a host of others. The tournament began as a training for war, and was gradually more regulated and specialized. During the 14th century the tournament proper, the hastilude, was gradually supplanted by the jousts and foot combats described in pas d’armes and round tables. Knights would compete against one another under the watchful eyes of the heralds and ladies of the gallery, earning renown and fame while they demonstrated their prowess. See Period Tournament Formats for SCA Combat.
It is the spirit of the tournament that has given strength to the tournament companies, modern groups of re-enactors who see the tourney as a testing ground for knightly virtue. See also THE BOOK OF THE TOURNAMENT.
Tournament books:
Tournament declaration: The challenge and set of rules generally circulated to stir excitement for a tournament or pas d’armes. Generally in the form of an introduction (that tells who the defenders--the tenans--are), a time and place, the rules to be followed, whether weapons and armour will be provided, and what prizes or penalties might be incurred or expected from victory. Modern tournament companies have begun using the declaration for the same purpose; see the Company of Saint George tournament declarations in the Knighthood, Chivalry & Tournaments Resource Library. Another example from the 15th century can be found in Chronique: The Journal of Chivalry #16.
Tournaments, first recorded instances: Though many chroniclers attached the term ‘tourney’ to some very early endeavors, even biblical ones, the first recorded instances appear to be:
Tournaments, Rules for: In the earliest records relating to tournaments, it is clear that these engagements were not what we might now think of as tournaments, with their color and pageantry, but were rather all but real battles, ‘simulacra of battle’, as they have been called, where opposing groups of knights used weapons of war in a test engagement to hone the skills required for coordinated cavalry actions and close-order charges. Indeed, some of the early records have footmen and in one instance even crossbowmen present at the ‘tourney’. All too often these vaguely friendly events trampled fields, caused injury to bystanders, and occasionally broke down to full-scale warfare, as in the Little Battle of Châlons, where Edward I almost fell in a tourney where more than seventy knights were killed. It was events such as these, and the tendency of the English barons to use the ‘tournament’ as an excuse for gathering to plot against their king, that the first rules came into being. These rules at first limited only where tournaments could take place (Richard I’s licensing), but later came to become more and more restrictive. Few of these rules were published; specific rules were often apparent in the tournament declaration, but there are many references that indicate that the unwritten ‘laws of war’ covered tournaments as well. The church attempted to restrict the tournament as well, at first through the Peace and Truces of God, and later by outright ban on all ‘tournamentum’ activities. Though ultimately unsuccessful, these efforts did cause the form of the tournament to be modified, which, together with the increasing presence of spectators, changed forever how tournaments were fought.
Tournament Society: Because of the rising cost and logistical difficulties involved in sponsoring a tournament, during the early and mid 14th century groups of knights in the Bavarian region of Germany banded themselves into small groups for the purposes of sponsoring and participating in tournaments. Barber and Barker (1989) put forth a theory that it was because of these societies that the tournament was more common in Germany than in France or England, and the tournament companies were responsible for their proliferation.
For one of these societies, the tournament was to act as an annual assembly, whose members wore the same livery and held a court at the same tournament, to which they were to bring their wives and daughters in order to ‘bring honor to the society,’ during which they were to conduct their annual business. All members are to attend, or were fined. A council of four was named to oversee the membership, and members were to help one another in times of war. They founded a chapel in Freising. All members were to own war-horses if they were able. Some German societies elected a king to oversee their members. According to Barker and Barber, "...the society was intended to offer a suitable atmosphere in which chivalric culture could flourish." We have definite records of societies in existence from 1387 to the 1430s, but it is likely that they existed both before and after this.
Within the SCA, the Tournament Societies and the Monarchical knightly orders (the Garter and Star, for example) proved the direct inspiration for the formation of the tournament companies, groups of knights, men-at-arms, and ladies dedicated to particular aspects of the tournament experience.
Unfortunately, very little research has been done on the historical tournament societies; presumably some of their documentation lies buried in the German records, to be found by an enterprising scholar.
Tournament Teams: Within the SCA, the names given to permanent conroi of knights and men-at-arms who come together with the aim of a more uniform, heraldic flavor to their field appearance, a concern for the quality and authenticity of their equipment, and a focus on knightly behavior. In the Middle Kingdom, these teams have also done a great deal of work towards promulgating the more authentic format of tournament, where teams of knights compete for the prize. The Tenans of Noble Folly in the SCA region of Northshield were the first such team, followed by the Grand Company of the Peacocks. See also Chronique: The Journal of Chivalry #10.
Tournamentum: A general term used for all manner of knightly sports during the middle ages that involved combat either singly or in groups. Such might have included behourds, vespers tourneys, jousts, emprises, pas d’armes, hastiludes, round tables, and a wide variety of other more specific games. This term is found most often in records by the church where they attempt to ban tournaments or where they are refusing sacred ground for the burial of someone slain in a tournament.
Tournois: Fr. for Tournament.
Traicté de la Forme et la Devise d’Ung Tournoi: See the Book on the Form and the Devising of a Tournament and René d’Anjou.
Tree of Battles: Bible of Wiglaf Wilfridding, the treatise on the laws of war written in the 14th century by Honoret Bonet.
Tree of Shields: The place where several colored shields are hung for a pas d’armes, where knights may choose the kind of combat they desire. Generally, this is done by smartly smacking a sword against the shield, stating your challenge, and then offering this challenge to one of the defenders arrayed opposite the field. In the Company of Saint George combats, four options are generally offered: Combats of Counted Blows; Combats at the Barrier; Combats in the Field; and the mêlée.
Trial by Battle or Combat: A form of trial often open to gentles of the knightly class, generally to fend off a charge of treason or dishonorable conduct. Generally fought to the death; the defeated opponent was generally removed from the lists and executed. See also judicial duel.
Triumph: A 16th century tournament where martial activities were secondary to the pageantry, the display of fantastic costumes and elaborate props predominating.
Trou-de-loup: Fr. ‘wolf traps’. Defensive potholes dug in front of Flemish lines at the Battle of Courtai to break up the French cavalry charge.
Trouvere: {}
Truce of God: See Peace of God.
Turnierbuch: A German book of tournaments dating from 1530, written by Georg Ruexner, describing supposedly ancient tournaments.
Two-Sword: An SCA fighting style where two-broadswords are used instead of a sword and shield. See also flourentine.