14. In the Middle Ages, peasants found imaginative ways to get round the ban on poor people jousting
Jousts and other knightly games were massively popular during the Middle Ages. However, they were the preserve of the rich. Indeed, there were strict rules dictating who could take part and who couldn’t – and the lowest rungs of society usually weren’t even allowed to watch the action, let alone take part. But that doesn’t mean that Europe’s peasants didn’t have some fun of their own. In fact, the records show that ‘water jousting’ was hugely popular right across the continent.
As the name suggests, water jousting was like an aquatic version of the knightly sport. Two teams would man small rowing boats. Each team would have one jouster, armed with a pole. The rest of the competitors would man the rows. The two boats would head towards one another and, when they were within range, the jousters would try and knock their opponent into the water. Not only was it fun – and far safer than the real version – but, for the peasants of the time, it was a risk-free way of poking fun at the pomposity and rigid rules of their ‘betters’.
Interestingly, some peasants did get to take part in real jousts. Each knight would have a peasant boy or man serving as his ‘kippa’. If the knight won a joust, he was entitled to his opponent’s weapon and armor. It was the kippa’s job to retrieve this – even if the fallen adversary was still conscious. Since armour and weapons were expensive, no knight wanted to give it up, so the kippa would often have to bash the defeated competitor around the head with a wooden club until he was unconscious. Only then could he collect the spoils for his master.