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112 - Concerning some who jousted in that place
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2024
Summary
The count returned to the vanguard, the army regained the formation in which it had been marching before, and they pitched camp on the road between Salamanca and Ledesma.
Here, it is important for you to know that among the foreigners who were along the border in alliance with the King of Castile, there were some who knew a number of the duke's men, having eaten and drunk with them when jousts were held. They were well supplied with good equipment for such a sport. When they came to a joust, they brought along wagons loaded with bread, wine, mutton and other foodstuffs, and the Englishmen gladly accepted their invitation to eat and drink with them.
So it was that Sir John Holland, the duke's constable, and Sir Renaud de Roye, a knight of the King of France, challenged each other to joust several courses on horseback. Sir John made himself ready to face him. Sir Renaud arrived, a very handsome knight, more accomplished than Sir John. He and his horse were both accoutred in smooth red velvet; his small shield bore a legend in gold letters, in the fashion of a sword belt, which read: ‘Belle’. He seemed to be more confident and agile than Sir John at that sport. At the first encounter, Sir John was struck, and he fell heavily, though clear of his horse. He leaped up at once, so furious that it seemed he would fight the Frenchman with his fists if he had him there. Then he remounted, and they went at it again. Sir John hit the other so low, his lance not being well couched in the rest, that he wounded his horse in the neck causing its death. For this reason they did not go on to the third course.
Another good bout happened there between a Frenchman and an Englishman, duelling on foot with battleaxes. The Frenchman went into the attack, raising his axe to strike; thinking that he had his foe close to him, he went so far short of the Englishman that, as mighty a blow as he thought he was giving him, so mightily he cast himself and the axe onto the ground, falling outstretched before his opponent's feet.
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- The Chronicles of Fernão LopesVolume 4. The Chronicle of King João i of Portugal, Part II, pp. 252 - 253Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023