Chapter 13: The Tournament Begins
Lienz was bustling with activity. At least, it was today.
Taverns, weapon shops, and smithies were overflowing with people. Knights bearing various square banners and dressed in colorful attire, nobles, noblewomen, and even more numerous servants, crowded the small city.
Lothar's party temporarily settled into an inn. Moder crouched by the fireplace, drying everyone's clothes, which had been soaked by the continuous drizzle. Ryan had perfectly completed his mission, bringing back the lances and shields Lothar and Hans needed. He was now in the backyard, supervising the blacksmith's assistants as they shoed the two newly acquired Hungarian horses.
Lothar held a bowl of steaming porridge, sipping it slowly. Hans was wiping down his newly acquired lance, his expression clearly a little tense. Like Lothar, he had previously only been a squire and had never truly been on a battlefield. So, although his stats indicated his skills were quite good, they hadn't been tested, which naturally led to a lack of confidence.
The specific start time for the tournament hadn't been announced, but when, in the afternoon, almost the entire city began to flock towards the hunting grounds outside the city walls, they naturally knew the tournament was about to begin.
The hunting grounds were for the private use of the lord. Hunting privately was a criminal act, the severity of which could vary; harsh lords might even execute commoners who poached on their lands. Many lords viewed commoners as mere livestock fit only to eat grain, believing only nobles, the meat-eaters, deserved to be called human.
Lothar's group followed the crowd to the hunting grounds. The place was already packed. In the very center of the grounds, a wooden grandstand had been erected around the tournament field, possessing a grandeur somewhat reminiscent of an ancient imperial coliseum.
Count Leopold's seat was at the highest point. There, from left to right, hung the eagle escutcheon of the Great Germania Empire and the red-and-white escutcheon of the Babenberg family. Tiered, wrap-around stands flanked both sides, descending from top to bottom. For the Middle Ages, when most tournament venues were still very rudimentary, this was practically equivalent to a large modern stadium capable of holding tens of thousands of people.
Lothar remarked with some emotion, "This Count Leopold is an ambitious man indeed."
"It is said," Ryan added, "that this Count Leopold also intends to participate in this round of the Crusade to the East, but due to deference to His Majesty the Emperor, he is still in the preparatory stages."
In previous years, the Emperor and the Pope had been fiercely at odds. The struggle between imperial and papal authority had almost reached a boiling point. The Emperor, coveting the immense wealth of the clergy, sought to curtail their power. The Pope, for his part, wished he could rally a host of princes loyal to divine authority and declare war on the Hohenstaufen dynasty. Although various factors prevented an actual war, the Pope did excommunicate the Emperor. Even now, though both sides showed signs of reconciliation, some minor and middling feudal lords still dared not act presumptuously until the Pope formally reinstated the Emperor.
Although Great Germania was loosely structured, the Emperor still held authority. After all, as the head of the Hohenstaufen family, Emperor Henry possessed the Swabian territory, one of the Empire's four original stem duchies (namely Swabia, Saxony, Franconia, and Bavaria), and his power was substantial. The Emperor was both the Imperial Emperor and, simultaneously, the most powerful feudal lord within the Empire. Of course, strictly speaking, Bohemia was the strongest state within the Empire, but Bohemia was primarily inhabited by Slavs and had always been peripheral to the Empire's center of power.
Lothar said Count Leopold was ambitious, and the scale of the tournament he was hosting was a clear indication. In reality, most knightly tournaments offered no prizes. The champion would gain fame and honor, and that was the greatest reward. The victor of each bout, however, could demand ransom from the loser, or receive their opponent's armor and horse as a prize, just as in a real war. Therefore, hosting a knightly tournament was often a beneficial and inexpensive affair for a lord.
Knights, too, could display their personal valor, whether to attract a lord's attention and rise from a landless knight to an enfeoffed one, or to gain renown, make a name for themselves, and then wait for the highest bidder – all were good outcomes. One could say that a knightly tournament was a large-scale recruitment fair, a grand event that almost every knight had participated in.
Unfortunately, Lothar's father, Count Werner of Aargau, was simply too poor. He couldn't support more knights, so he had never considered hosting a tournament to recruit them. Thus, to date, Lothar had never actually participated in this recreational activity so popular among medieval noble knights.
Of course, knightly tournaments were also very dangerous. Fatalities and injuries were common in every tournament. Even when using brittle white beechwood lances and blunted sword tips, once the fighting began, injuries and lifelong disabilities could easily occur. This was especially true for impoverished knights with incomplete or ancient, heirloom armor that was practically an antique. Often, in the first pass, a weakness in their armor would be found by an opponent, leading to a fatal blow. Yet, they still flocked to these events, hoping to be noticed by a liege lord and recruited as a knight with a fief.
Moder said enthusiastically, "Milord, I heard that squires like us who fight on foot can also participate in the tournament."
Lothar shook his head. "It's best not to. Only a knight can kill a knight. If you were to accidentally kill a knight, you might have to pay with your life." This remark immediately threw a bucket of cold water on Moder's enthusiasm.
Just then, a melodious song drifted from the crowd. A bard from northern Albion (Great Britain), cradling a lute, sang and danced. These Celtic people, inhabitants of the islands, seemed to be natural-born singers and dancers. They sang timeless, famous tunes and occasionally improvised.
One bard, spotting the veiled Banu, had his eyes light up. He strummed his lute and began to dance beside them: " Hear ye, hear ye, all who gather near! A song of true hearts I shall declare, of a dark-haired beauty and her valiant knight, whose love shines ever so bright!"
As he sang, he wore an ingratiating smile and extended his hand towards Lothar.
Lothar smiled helplessly and gestured for Ryan to place some coins in the man's hand. Banu watched this scene without expression; she was a master of emotional control. Looking only at her eyes, one could not discern the slightest psychological ripple.
A gigantic long table was laden with delicacies: roast pheasant, peacock, even swan, all sorts of game, along with large flagons of fine wine, free for the guests to take. It strongly resembled a modern buffet. Some knights and their companions were already roaring drunk, having run down to the area below the stands, dancing wildly to the bards' music.
Below the Count's grandstand, in the center of the tournament field, was a long tilt barrier, separated by simple wooden fences. When the tournament began, knights would enter from either side of the barrier and then joust, a measure to prevent horses from colliding and causing irreparable injury.
In the grandstands, many noblewomen had already arrived. They whispered amongst themselves, sizing up the knights appearing on the field. Some ladies made no secret of their favor for certain knights in the arena, throwing them coquettish glances and flower garlands.
Many noble couples, brought together by political marriages, rarely restricted each other's behavior, allowing both parties, though married, to indulge in amorous pursuits. If these noblewomen took a liking to a particular knight, it was said they would not only take him as a lover but also sponsor him with a sum of money to purchase equipment, sometimes even developing long-term relationships.
Ahead, a knight with brightly painted bird feathers stuck in his helmet, resembling a peacock diligently displaying its tail in courtship, was waving at the grandstand. His handsome features and fair skin instantly drew a wave of shrieks from the noblewomen. Participating in the tournament to win the favor of the noblewomen and young ladies in the stands—thereby gaining sponsorship or even amorous rewards—was also a pursuit of the knights.
Lothar keenly noticed a knight in worn-out armor exchange a glance with a young lady in the stands. The young lady's eyes were filled with worry, while the knight's face was resolute. Clearly, this was a love story between a down-on-his-luck knight and a noble lady. If the knight could win the tournament, or at least distinguish himself and win favor, he would have a hope of being considered a suitable match and marrying this noble lady.
But Lothar didn't think his chances were very high. A suit of fine armor allowed a knight like Lothar to fight one against ten Magyar nomad cavalrymen. Armored versus unarmored, fine armor versus old armor—these were entirely different concepts.
"Tournaments in this era are truly interesting," Lothar remarked. "Hans, have you participated in similar events?"
Hans shook his head. "In our era, tournaments had already transformed into social performances. Knights would dress up gaudily, like pheasants. There was no need for actual combat." He too was dazzled by the scene, his heart surging with excitement, already beginning to fantasize about effortlessly defeating opponents in such an arena and winning thunderous applause.
"Look, the Count has arrived!" someone shouted excitedly.
The crowd instantly erupted. In an age lacking entertainment, they were immensely grateful to this generous Count for spending such a large sum of money to provide them with such a lively spectacle.