A Brief History of Jousting, Knights & their Bone-Crushing Injuries 

When I woke up today I didn't know it was Christmas, but here's another thehistorysquad video, so it must be

“Hi, my name is Kevin Hicks”…my favorite words to hear on RU-vid - you know a great video is coming your way…

It’s not just the rate of speed it’s also the mass to factor into the impact. Henry II Of France is the jousting accident I’m most familiar with, but from a medical perspective. Henry II was first attended to by the royal surgeon Ambroise Paré, then joined by renowned physician Andreas Versalius of Brussels. As you mentioned, the tip of the lance splintered piercing the through the eye socket. They successfully removed the splinter and at first the prognosis was good. Henry would lose the eye but survive. I would assume the tip of a lance to be pretty dirty, causing the infection to start. After many discussions with other colleagues the consensus was…The infection had migrated to the back of poor Henry’s head, to the rear of the right cerebral hemisphere forming an abscess. He would have already had increased cranial pressure due to brain swelling from the initial impact and the abscess, as it worsened, would have added to that pressure. If that pressure isn’t relieved, the only place for the brain to expand is down the spinal column. I’m sure the doctor tried their best but with a CT scan or even an x-ray, they had little chance of finding the abscess. I really enjoyed this video because it’s a subject I know little about, and I’m always grateful when someone takes the time to teach me something, so thank you very much, Sincerely Doc

I can't believe that William Marshall rose from the Melee and tilt yard to become the most famous knight in the world

Recently visited the Royal Armoury Museum in Leeds, there’s rooms full of armour, lances, history on jousting and the Tourny and it’s free to visit! Highly recommend it!

Another brilliant appraisal Kevin. Youve done more to keep real history alive in the UK than most of your peers. You deserve your own Knighthood for services to our heritage. I tip my lance Sir Knight.

Great video like always! Probably the most frequent fatal injury in jousting was breaking the neck, when falling off a horse. There is a clear development in mideval helm making to prevent this. The "Frogmouth" is a good example. It´s back part was made of one plate, which would prevent the knight´s neck from overbending, if thrown off the horse (not only in tournaments). Another method was fixating the helmet with a metal frame, so that the sensitive part of the neck would stay in a rather stiff position.

'A Knight's Tale', one of my top 10 films. 'A medieval teenager's dream', beautifully filmed near Prague & a testament to Czech riding skills - amidst all the splintered wood & full-on lunacy! : )

As a historian of the family, my mother, sister and I love watching these on the TV and loved the joust topic (and the gruesome injuries!) Thank you :)

Always a great day when The History Squad posts a video!! As an American, it’s especially fascinating to hear English medieval history because, since the USA is so (relatively) young, recountings like this ARE our history! Anything prior to 1776 is shared!

Very interesting as usual, thanks again Kevin ! But the death of king Henry II didn't quite happen like you told us... this tragedy was very well documented (of course, because it was the king !) and in fact it was all about bad luck. That day, the king, riding a horse whose name was "Malheureux" (which means now unhappy in french, but meant then unlucky -yes !) already fought two jousts. Then came the third and last of the day, against Gabriel de Montgomery, captain of the king's Scottish guard. Henry had a strong reputation as a jouster, but Montgomery was also a tough guy. And off they go... the shock was impressive, the two men both broke their lances (and we know why, because you told us lances were made for that, a fact many people don't know), but none of them fell from his horse. Draw, end of the game ? For Henry, impossible, though a new fight was against the rules. But he was a proud king and couldn't be satisfied with a draw, and, maybe more, some people said Diane de Poitiers, his mistress, had a crush on Montgomery, so it was more than a matter of honor. He ordered the young officer to fight again. Montgomery was of course reluctant, but how could he disobey his king ? So they fought again, and again they broke their lances. But there was a small problem which had dire consequences : king Henry's squire didn't lock well the helmet's visor (because it was a helmet with a visor, Kevin...), and when the lance broke, the broken part slipped on the king's armor breast plate, lifted the visor and penetrated Henry's eye socket. The end of the story, you told us. But did you know it has been said that queen Catherine's astrologer warned her a fe days before to avoid a third fight ? True or not, it was anyway a tragedy...

Its always a good day when Kevin drops a video

I love the History Squad!!

Heavy duty contact sport Kevin. As usual a brilliant informative piece . Has anybody mentioned your a hell of a story teller. Take care

Whoops I "accidentally" killed the guy I hate in a fake battle with real blades. Makes you wonder how often that happened.

Thankyou for another video Kevin. I've never really considered this before but I'm glad I have a chance to learn more about this subject with you. 😁👍🏻

not really a big guy on jousting history but this video had me hooked.

Jousting is one of my favourite parts of that era. I was always fascinated with it when I was a kid going to medieval times. That's horrifying for someone to live for a year with a pole in their head. Great video Kevin.

So strange RU-vid gives me this at 3AM, but I can’t be disappointed!

A friend of mine who jousts on horseback was hit in the eye by a lance splinter through his visor. He nearly lost an eye and took ages to recover, so its absolutely true these freak accidents at tournaments did occur and still do today despite modern precautions and safety methods.

I remember attending a joust in the mid 80's outside of London. The spectacle of it was something that you have to see to really appreciate it, especially with the hidden dangers of it. One of the knights unfortunately had his horse rear and fall on him. He turned out to be fine after being examined at the hospital (very, very lucky on his part) but it was interesting seeing the 20th century meet the Middle Ages as an armoured knight was hauled away in an ambulance.

Thanks for the quick lesson, Kev! Btw “A Knight’s Tale” is one of my all time favorite movies. “How did nobles become noble in the first place? They took it. With the tip of a lance.”

when we were kids, we would do jousts on bicycles and broom sticks, in a large Mormon parking lot when it was empty. We had alot of fun with it, cause someone would always chicken out and turn away at the last moment - until we had a direct collision and busted our front wheels, twisted the handlebars, and got some pretty bad bruising and some cracked ribs. We stopped doing it after that. The neighbors thought it was a great show!

LOVE IT AS USUAL KEVIN!!! YOU ARE THE MAN HOMIE! There is a video on youtube with a girl creating a crossbow and arrows out of bamboo, I found it fascinating. It's called "Full video: Survive Alone Against Iguanas, Wolves, Wild Boars and Dangers in the Rain Forest" and the crossbow is made about 1 hour 28 minutes in. I thought this is right up Mr. Hicks alley! Looking forward to your next videos as always, Jules

So little beauty in Medievals Periods. So much Suffering!

About 40 years ago, I watched a joust at Stokes Bay. The lances were made from rolled cardboard tubing. It remains the most exciting sporting event that I have ever witnessed. There were numerous 'bouts?', and the impact from the lances was tangible to we spectators. I remember at least one rider being lifted clean off his horse and taking a mighty tumble to the ground. He left the field on a stretcher. The crowd went wild for it, becoming intensely partisan. The competitors were not faking the violence; they really sought Victory. I haven't ever seen a joust since that day; I imagine that they've been sanitized by the H & S zealots.

I’m too old to admit but love it

The Legal Profession suffered an overall decline in Ethics when Trial By Combat was discontinued.

Thank you Kevin. Another great video for sure. This is history nobody wants to research. Your models are the greatest.

You have impeccable timing as usual Kev. I've just gotten back my buhurt practice, shed my 55 pounds of armor and put my gambeson up to dry. I keep telling myself I'm going to give it a proper wash once I find the time but everyone's gambeson smells like a locker room and as long as its not actually trying to crawl away from you, no one really cares. But I digress. I have been jousting before and beside the obvious danger of essentially playing chicken with spears, horses are notorious for not wanting to do what they're told, even the best trained horse can have a bad day, I've been thrown off more than a few times, one time the horse decided he really didn't like me and tried to stomp me when I was on the ground, only thing that saved me from having shattered bones was that I was full armored and had enough training to be able to move in it fast enough to get out of the way. Death and maiming aside, my favorite story of jousting is in 1227, Ulrich von Liechtenstein write himself as the protagonist in Frauendienst, where he travels from Vienna to Venice dressed in the arms of Venus challenging anyone to a joust, if his opponent won he would give them a ring and if Ulrich won they would have to bow to the four corners of the world in honor of his lady. Though by the end of it he's broken 307 lances and given away 270 rings, and his lady wrote to him saying she was surprised he still had all his fingers where he promptly cuts one off and sends it to her. The things we do for love...

Great video, thankyou. I suffered migraine for 50 years, often 4 or5 a month. Even with modern drugs it was awful, i can imagine how terrible it would be, and yes, mood changing, with no effective treatment available.

I had wrote this before I had watched the whole video hahahaha! You've already watched it it's awesome! If you haven't seen the movie, "A knights tale". You really should, It's a really good movie how they kind of explain the prestige and everything with a modern twist, but it's still a good movie!

A comedian once asked, "How do you miss your opponent in a joust? The other day, I was driving home from the hardware store with a couple 2x4s sticking the passenger side window of my hatchback. Sometimes you can joust stuff without even trying." By the way, I'm really enjoying your content. Keep up the awesome work. S

Kevin back again! The man! The myth!! The legend!!!!!

ah wicked, always wanted to see you do a vid on this. nice one.

Some historians think henrys head injury is why he was so brutal

IAM sat watching tales of the unexpected and as im a channel creator too (sol-cutta) I was scrolling thru latest posts for content targets...and spotted this..I don't think I saw this on release so it's off with the tales and on with this...again , just to let u know how high a position your content sits in my life...my tales unexpected is one of my favourite watches so swooping over to watch your video turning off tales is quite a feat, I was just thinking about it...and wanted to share it with you, everyone deserves encouragement esp professionals such as yourself. I know you get much as a great channel ..thanks for these videos...they are brilliant...I always enjoy them.

That was ,yet again ,an extremely interesting description of such horrendous wounds,.... Thank you Kevin.

Love the diorama! Great video as always!

This was really interesting, I didn't know there was so much more to jousting. Like lances made to shatter and special armour.

Not sure which is more impressive, you collection of historical artifacts or you model making. Both are incredible. Good on you mate!

Entertaining and illuminating, as always. One wonders how the saxons and others proved themselves off the battlefield before the Normans arrived? Running at each other with axes, divided by a wicker fence?

Being of medieval German ancestry... Our last name is Fruechtenicht.... These subjects are the only thing that come close to interesting me as much as the ice age paleo-indians of my stomping ground in the eastern Kentucky Cumberland plateau. Keep em coming !

Kev , you make the best history content on youtube ! 😎

Another smashing video Kevin! Thank you.

Another wonderfully informative and entertaining video! Thank you, Kevin!

This is one of my favorite RU-vidrs channel

Theres nothing quite like a new video from The History Squad!

Thanks Kev!

Very much enjoyed this, loving listening to your story telling and the injuries around Jousting. Just incredible! Thank you so much for this :)

Another great and fun episode Kevin!

You are an incredible educator sir. Thank you for making these videos. My young daughter doesn’t like watching things with me, besides your videos! Thank you for all that you do truly.

Always a good tale. Thank you.

This is a great channel.

Fantastic well done m8

I just discovered your channel, and you earned a new subscriber! I love your videos, they are really well explained :)

I’ve always enjoyed history there’s always something new to learn

Great vid

I serve 15 yars in nato but i still cant understand how brave and bad ass whre all these people in time with no modern medicine. Real heros .. deep respect to all of them!!!

Yet another great bit of history. Your models and reconstructions are truly amazing.

Very nice modeling, as well as a very interesting history lesson!

Another great video. I like the props.

I was having a great Friday and it just got a lot better. Thanks for the new film! 😁

I love your videos, they're really great and fascinating, keep it up!🥰

What a fantastic video. I enjoyed ever minute of it!

Great video! Thanks for making it.

Awesome Kevin.

Those poor horses! Great video, as always. Many Thanks XXX

Fantastic

Absolutely splendid video, mate!

Thank you for your videos, I really enjoy your work

I'm so happy to see your subscribers are almost 300,000. That's awesome ! Keep going Kev! Thanks for sharing !

Nice one Kev

I love this dude, he is knowledgeable and has one of the best of the British accents.

Another good one…great history Ty

As ever, excellent video sir! Nothing beats watching the Joust LIVE - the Royal Armouries tournaments are phenomenal!

I love these so much. It just hits so many buttons. Medical stuff, history stuff ,warrior stuff they add so much perspective to life. Thank you for the post

Thanks for the great video

This channel is brilliant, you explain things so well, love the models too!

That model looks incredible. So glad I found this channel!

Another one hit for six Mr Hicks, straight out of the pavilion. The medical history and so forth seems to be a very popular topic.

Thank you for sharing these stories.....so interesting!

🙌🏽 really good watch Kevin! Amazing video. Well done!

Another awesome video from a master storyteller.

Very interesting and as always informative.

Thanks for another wonderful lesson Kevin. As usual, I learned something new today. It always seemed to me that just getting unhorsed would be a disabling injury, but obviously there are many more ways to get injured or killed. Cheers from Texas.

It’s wild that such a brutal sport was practiced for so long and they tried to make it safe, when that was impossible.

I'm new to your channel and I'm so glad I found you. I look forward everyday to seeing new videos, they're informative and very entertaining. Thanks Kevin!

Once again an awesome video! Thank you for including Gregor Baci ❤

Thank you!

As always, a great film.

I just stumbled upon your channel a week ago or so and must say your content is absolutely amazing. Some of the better historical videos available today. Will definitely be binge watching all of your content over the next few weeks.

Brilliant story and what Amazing part of are history, Im glad it's documented and sometimes painted, so will never lose it. You are a great history teacher and you really bring life to the storys. All the best to you. ⚔️

yo Kev, great channel you got going, glad I found it!

Brother Kevin, another good one, today being Medieval Health and Safety. Have a good weekend.

Kevin is just the best

Fascinating history lesson and well put over.

The guy with a lance going from side to side through his head: I wish to have this victorious moment recorded so my descendants can behold my glorious portrait for the eons to come. The painter: My lord, it would be a pleasure for me to record this moment for you, but there's a minute little detail I strongly suggest you solve first. Kebbob guy: Excuse me! do you value your head over your shoulders? you insolent peasant! The Painter: Right away my lord!

Another great video Kev, you can imagine King Henry’s surgeon saying, if you keep blinking Sire, it’ll work it’s way out 😂😂😂😂🤘🏹

Kevin have you seen the jousting sequence in the movie "Jabberwocky?" It is amazing! Highly recommend. And funny outcome as well!