Full name: Tournaments: Jousts, Chivalry and Pageants in the Middle Ages

Authors: Richard Barber, Juliet Barker Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Amazon Goodreads ISBNs: 9781555844004 1555844006

This is probably the definitive book about medieval tournaments. The authors provide a thorough coverage of the origins of the tournaments/jousts in many regions of Europe, and follow their evolution over time. I appreciated the wide focus of the book in that it didn't just focus on England and France, but covered all the major regions. Complete with many illustrations, there was much to learn in this book. I really enjoyed how the authors showed how the relationships between tournaments and religion, politics, and society. I was surprised to learn that the church was strongly opposed to tournaments for several centuries, even going so far as to excommunicate knights who participated. There were some humorous anecdotes, but for the most part the prose was informative, and a little repetitive at times. It wasn't the most enjoyable book to read, but the sheer amount of information that I learned made up for the reading. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about medieval tournaments or chivalry.