The Medieval sport of jousting is having a rebirth, and those attending last week's Grain Millers Harvest Showdown in the city had a chance to see why with daily performances by the Knights of Valour.
For those unfamiliar, jousting is a martial game between two horsemen using lances. "The primary aim is to strike the opponent with the lance while riding towards him at high speed, if possible breaking the lance on the opponent's shield or armour, or unhorsing him," explained Wikipedia.
"Jousting emerged in the High Middle Ages based on the military use of the lance by heavy cavalry. It transformed into a specialized sport during the Late Middle Ages, and remained popular with the nobility both in England and Germany throughout the whole of the 16th century (while in France, it was discontinued after the death of king Henry II in an accident in 1559). In England, jousting was the highlight of the Accession Day tilts of Elizabeth I and James I, and also was part of the festivities at the marriage of Charles I.[2]
"The medieval joust took place on an open field. Indeed the term joust meant "a meeting" and referred to arranged combat in general, not just the jousting with lances. At some point in the 14th century, a cloth barrier was introduced as an option to separate the contestants. This barrier was presumably known as tilt in Middle English (a term with an original meaning of "a cloth covering"). It became a wooden barrier or fence in the 15th century, now known as "tilt barrier", and "tilt" came to be used as a term for the joust itself by ca. 1510. The purpose of the tilt barrier was to prevent collisions and to keep the combatants at an optimal angle for breaking the lance. This greatly facilitated the control of the horse and allowed the rider to concentrate on aiming the lance. The introduction of the barrier seems to have originated in the south, as it only became a standard feature of jousting in Germany in the 16th century, and was there called the Italian or "welsch" mode
It is into this old discipline Ohioan Bob Noponen found himself drawn.
Noponen came to the sport of jousting at an age most are not looking to fall off a horse as part of their daily activity.
Noponen said he recalled seeing a theatrical joust back around 1998, adding "being into martial arts at the time," it was something that drew his interest.
But Noponen had a job, and the interest remained nothing more.
That was until a decade later.
"I got laid off from a welding job (in 2008)," said the now 48-year-old jouster, adding he ended up doing some work at a Renaissance Faire where they were again jousting.
Noponen said he laid down his hammer and went in search of Shane Adams who was in charge of the jousting.
"I wanted to tell him how interested I was," said Noponen.
Noponen said he found Adams cleaning stalls in the barn. He picked up a fork "and started cleaning stables with him."
It was the start of Noponen's journey into the sport of full contact jousting. He was 43.
"I was young at heart," he offered with a smile. "It's how you feel inside that makes the sport."
Noponen said jousting can be for anyone, adding there are competitors in their sixties.
It's a case of wanting to compete, said Noponen, adding that the best way to decide if you have a true interest is to give it a try.
"You'll know after you get hit the first time," he said.
In Noponen's case he came to jousting about as green as you can get in terms of taking on a new sport.
"I'd never been on a horse," he said. "Well a trail ride with my brother when I was nine-years-old, and the horse just followed the other horse."
Horsemanship is a huge part of jousting, especially the style of jousting the Knights of Valour do. It calls for the rider to drop the reins as they near the moment of impact with an opponent's lance, meaning they are controlling the horse with their legs, and trust in the horse knowing its role.
Knights of Valour use draft horses, bred to carry knights in armor, Percherons, Shires, Clydesdales and Belgians.
Smaller breeds could carry the weight of a knight in armour, but they don't have the same impact when galloping in a joust.
"A lot of them will actually throw their body into the hit with you," said Noponen.
And the horses are well cared for, as it has been since the earliest days of jousting when Noponen said hitting a horse with a lance would lose the knight all titles and lands.
As for being hit with a lance propelled by the power of a 2,000-pound horse, Noponen at least had his martial arts training to fall back on. He said the brain to muscle reaction connections were at least trained. "The mental synapses were there," he offered, suggesting that made it somewhat easier to get his body doing what was required to joust.
But it still took time to get used to the physicality of a sport where part of the training is to gallop a horse past someone swinging a bat loaded with lead balls at you.
"It was like a 20-pound sledge hammer full of shot," he said.
And there is training with the quintain. It is an apparatus where a jouster hits a target on a swinging arm. The opposite side of the arm beam is equipped with a heavy weight that if the rider does not pass quickly enough will swing and hit them in the back. Some sources suggest the quintain action is what led to the term 'watch your back'.
The quintain training is critical to heavy armor jousting as points for a hit with the lance are only scored it impacts a steel plate attached to the left shoulder used as a target, called 'gridded grand guard' by the Knights of Valor (translating the historical term gegitterte Tartsch).
Even wearing fitted full plate armor weight 120-170 pounds, impacts from a loaded bat, swinging quintain, or a horse-powered lance are felt.
Noponen takes off his tunic to show a massive bruise on his shoulder from a dismounting. His arm is spotted with purple bruises from the impact of his own lance handle.
The lances used are more than 11-feet-long, and 1.25-inches in diametre, although at times 1.5 inch models are used.
They are purchased by the hundreds through a Mississippi company.
As tough as learning the sport might have been, Noponen was hooked quickly.
Asked about his first actual joust he simply said "it was really cool."
After a smile, Noponen continued, "the adrenaline rush was intense It was scary, but man was it good."
Now a regular in heavy armor jousting events, Noponen has become something of a gypsy with other members of the Knights of Valour spreading the word on the sport they love and want to see grow.
"Last year I was on the road 11 months," he said, adding he enjoys it all, even the nights sleeping in a horse trailer. "It's meeting all the people. Seeing the different places."
And Noponen said he hopes all the months on the road, all the passes down the course lance in hand, will pay dividends for the sport.
"I want it to get to the point where we're recognized as athletes," he said. "That it's recognized there is a sport of heavy jousting out there."
The sport has gained greater prominence since Knights of Valour head Adams took the sport to television with the reality show Full Metal Jousting.
Full Metal Jousting is an American reality game show that debuted on the History Channel in February 2012. The show featured 16 contestants competing in full-contact competitive jousting. One by one, the contestants are eliminated until only one remained, receiving a $100,000 grand prize.
Noponen said the series has aired on two networks in Britain, and been popular in places as far afield as China and Japan.
Adams said there is actually a Canadian jousting team, which won the team competition at the last world championships, while he himself won the world title.
"It just shows you put a stick in a Canadian's hands they're going to kick some butt," he said.
