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The destrier is the best-known war horse of the medieval era. It carried knights in battles, tournaments, and jousts. It was described by contemporary sources as the Great Horse, due to its size and reputation. The term destrier is derived from the Vulgar Latin dextarius, meaning "right-sided" (the same root as our modern dexterous and dexterity). This may refer to the fact that it was led by the squire at the knight's right side (or led by the right hand) or to the horse's pacing (leading with the right). While highly prized by knights and men-at-arms, the destrier was actually not very common. Most knights and mounted men-at-arms rode other war horses, such as coursers and rounceys. These three types of horses were often referred to generically as chargers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Save your $$! This is a collection of FREE articles from Wikipedia
Alphascript Publishing is known for doing this. The "editors" gather together different articles on a given topic that are available for free on Wikipedia, and publish them as a "book" which they then sell at exhortitant prices. This one is a tiny, 112-page, paperback book - for $57?! You can find its entire contents on Wikipedia without paying a penny - just read Wiki's articles on "destrier", "war horse", "courser", "charger", "rouncey", "Percheron", "Friesian", and so on. ... Read more

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Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Jousting," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Jousting in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Jousting when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Jousting, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

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Chapters: Code Duello, European Dueling Sword, List of Duels, Burr-hamilton Duel, Tournament, Trial by Combat, Jousting, Holmgang, Les Mignons, Knife Fight, Truel, Battle of Valdevez, Battle of Egos, Delope, the Last Duel, Bladensburg Dueling Grounds, Randolph Outrage. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 132. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: As practised from the 11th to 20th centuries in Western societies, a duel is an engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with their combat doctrines. In the modern application, the term is applied to aerial warfare between fighter pilots. A battle between two warships is also referred to as a duel or a naval duel, especially in the Age of Sail when such encounters were more common. The Romantic depiction of mediaeval duels was based on either a pretext of defence of honour, usually accompanied by a trusted representative (who might themselves fight, often in contravention of the duelling conventions), or as a matter of challenge of the champion which developed out of the desire of one party (the challenger) to redress a perceived insult to his sovereign's honour. The goal of the honourable duel was often not so much to kill the opponent as to gain "satisfaction", that is, to restore one's honour by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it. Duels may be distinguished from trials by combat, in that duels were not used to determine guilt or innocence, nor were they official procedures. Indeed, from the early 17th century duels were often illegal in Europe, though in most societies where duelling was socially accepted, participants in a fair duel were not prosecuted, or if they were, were not convicted. Only gentlemen were considered to have honour, and duels were reserved for social equals. Commone...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=153833 ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from The Modern Language Review, published by Modern Humanities Research Association on April 1, 2008. The length of the article is 12266 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Jousting for the honour of Greece and 'a certain Miss Phrosyne': Baron Byron and Gally Knight clash over costume, correctness, and a princess.(Critical essay)
Author: Michael J. Franklin
Publication: The Modern Language Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2008
Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association
Volume: 103Issue: 2Page: 330(21)

Article Type: Critical essay

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Westchester County Business Journal, published by Westfair Communications, Inc. on June 2, 2003. The length of the article is 1050 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The world according to Bill Clinton: 'it's the economy' again, plus jesting and jousting by the former president. (Fly on the Wall).(The Westchester County Association Inc. seminar)
Publication: Westchester County Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 2, 2003
Publisher: Westfair Communications, Inc.
Volume: 42Issue: 22Page: 51(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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Jousting was for some 500 years the major spectator sport in western Europe. And yet, despite its enormous popularity in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, very little is known about its practicalities. How was the score determined and kept? How and why did jousting armour evolve, how effective was it, and how did it differ from the field armour worn by knights in battle? What constituted technical virtuosity in the lists? And why did jousting die out? This book uses previously untapped Iberian source material to provide answers to such questions. It focuses on three jousting manuals, written by practising champions at the time: Ponc de Menaguerra's Lo Cavaller (`The Knight', 1493); Juan Quijada de Reayo's Doctrina del arte de la cavalleria (`Doctrine of the Art of Chivalry', 1548); and Luiz Zapata's Del Justador (`Of the Jouster', c.1589-93). It presents editions, with the first English translation, of these important texts, together with introductions and analytical study; there are also chapters on the arms and armour of the joust. It is richly illustrated with nearly 200 colour and black and white illustrations, many never previously published, which illuminate the sometimes complex technical terminology used by these authors, and provide further evidence of how weapons and armour were actually used. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Ohio Renaissance Festival is an annual event that takes place on weekends from late August through October. This Renaissance festival is held in Harveysburg, Ohio. It is set in a 16th century English village, during the reign of Elizabeth I. The fairgrounds are 30 acres (120,000 m2) in area, and include shops, stages, and regularly scheduled simulated jousting and fencing tournaments as well as a mud show. The queen and her parade make a circuit through the fairgrounds a couple times a day. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Tug of war, also known as tug o' war, tug war or rope pulling, is a sport that directly puts two teams against each other in a test of strength. The term may also be used as a metaphor to describe a demonstration of brute strength by two opposing groups, such as a rivalry between two departments of a company. In this scenario, there is a third party who is often considered the "rope" in the tug of war. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Texas Renaissance Festival, in Plantersville, Texas, is the world's largest renaissance fair. The Texas Renaissance Festival started in 1974 on the location of an old strip mining site. A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire, or Renaissance festival is an outdoor weekend gathering, usually held in the United States, open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which emulates a historic period for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent theme parks, others are short-term events in fairgrounds or other large public or private spaces. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Scarborough Renaissance Festival, more commonly known as Scarborough Faire, is a renaissance fair in Waxahachie, Texas. Scarborough Faire's first run was in 1981. The festival is open Saturdays and Sundays from the first weekend in April until Memorial Day Monday. The festival is historically based in the year 1533, under the reign of King Henry VIII. The festival is 35 acres in size, taking place on a 165 acre site. There are 21 stages with more than 200 performances. Three jousting shows take place each day. There are about 150 cast members that make up the characters in Scarborough Faire. Almost all of the cast members are volunteers. ... Read more

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October, 1195. High-spirited young knights, drunken squires, pickpockets, and horse thieves are pouring into Exeter for a one-day jousting tournament. Not even the discovery of a naked corpse in the River Exe can spoil the excitement. During the tournament, there is a serious altercation between Hugo Peverel, a manor lord from Tiverton, and a Frenchman by the name of Reginald de Charterai. When, two days later, Sir Hugo’s blood-soaked body is found in a barn on his estate, de Charterai would seem the obvious culprit. But there’s no shortage of people who wished the despised Hugo dead. All three of his brothers have a motive, as do his stepmother and his attractive young widow. And just what is the connection between Sir Hugo’s murder and the battered body in the River Exe? With so many suspects from which to choose, Sir John is confronted with one of the most difficult cases of his distinguished career.

Medieval England is powerfully evoked in these gritty forensic investigations, with Sir John de Wolfe, Devon’s first county coroner, at the heart of each riveting tale. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Another great trip to the past
#9 Crowner John historical mystery set in 1190's Devon. Lots of upheavals in the Crowner's life as the new Sheriff, who displaced his treacherous brother-in-law, begins dispensing the law. While honest, he's rather plodding and lazy and tends to let John handle most things. John's wife Matilda, an extremely socially conscious woman concerned with the neighbors' opinions and her diminishing status, seems to have developed a drinking problem after the fall of her brother from the highly lucrative Sheriff's position.

And it's tournament season--jousting and melee are just beginning to gain popularity, and John is asked to referee at a joust to be held during the Exeter fair, given his battle experience as a knight of the realm. One of the knights, a local manor lord, behaves very badly after losing his joust (which meant losing his horse, armor and often a good chunk of money to the winning knight) and John publicly chastises him for his unchivalrous behavior. The coroner later meets up with Hugo Peverel a second time when he's found stabbed several times in the back in one of his barns on the manor. Soon his death is tied to two other previous deaths and the Crowner must figure out which of the man's friends or family killed the odious man--not an easy task with a wealth of suspects at hand, and it's further complicated when his brother-in-law Richard, a friend and neighbor of the family, throws in his support for them.

I like this series a lot; the books seem to be well-researched and the author always has some interesting notes to read, too.Despite John's crabbiness, I like him and his secondary characters. The one thing that bothers me (and I know I've mentioned this before) is the constant use ofthe same verbs, often "animal sounds" attributed to the characters as they're speaking. For example, the Crowner, who is a rather gruff, curmudgeonly fellow, often snaps, growls or barks. His dandified brother-in-law frequently brays. If it wasn't for this, I would tend to rate the books higher, but at times it happens very frequently and is distracting enough to pull me right out of the story.I still look forward to the next one, though.

History and Mystery
For a pathologist, he is an excellent writer.It is story and history combined and melds well with the subsequent century that Michael Jecks writes about regarding "Crowners and bailiffs."I regard both as good writers, which is an understatement.

Crown John's Patience is Tested
Bernard Knight's books are always a good read and well researched and authentic without overpowering the reader with information he either does not need to know or is not interested in anyway.

This case for Crowner John revolves around the tournament scene. These events took place regularly, but not always with the blessing of the King (Richard the Lionheart) and other later Kings, who quite rightly thought that a large gathering of heavily armed men was not always conducive the their own health and their grip on the throne.

Crowner John is called from the inauguration of the new sheriffand preparations for the tournament that is about to take place to an unidentified body. The death is not accidental, but a brutal murder and Sir John has to start tracking down who the man is before he can set about finding his killer or killers.

His inquiries lead him towards a well known family in the County the Peverals. Hugo who has already disgraced himself in the tournament is now head of the family after his father William was killed in somewhat strange circumstances at a tournament held earlier in the year.

Hugo has an older brother,who has been overlooked as Lord of the Manor because of the fallingsickness, and Hugo has greedily taken the title. He also has two younger brothers, one of them Ralph is also well known on the tournament circuit.

The family do everything they can to block Sir John's inquiries and the relationship becomes so bad between them that it could have serious consequences for the Crowner . . . ... Read more

Product Description
This epic adventure begins in England in the twelfth century. It covers several traumatic months in the life of Winston Tabor, a young nobleman, who is well known in his village for being an irresponsible drunkard.When his father is murdered and he is framed for the crime, Winston's world is turned upside down. His life becomes a whirlwind of action and adventure as he seeks to prove his innocence and avenge the murder of his father.To fulfill his goal, he duels with swordsmen, battles on horseback, and earns the honor of knighthood. At the same time he must find a way to come to grips with his unrelenting desire for ale, which has controlled him for most of his life.Last of all, he is compelled to prove to a beautiful young peasant girl, who comes to own his heart, that he is worthy of her love.Will he succeed in his quest, or will he die with his last breath reeking of ale? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

A fun twist
A great tale of redemption. Although at times, the plot was predictable, the characters are likable and the flow of the story is involving. We follow Winston, a disgraced former knight-in-training as he tries to clear his name, while at the same time dealing with alcoholism. He encounters others along this path, and is taught valuable lessons in sobriety, chivalry, responsibility, honesty, loyalty and forgiveness. This story is well written and very much worth the read.

AA for Knights
This was an entertaining book. Scamfer writes well in the first person narrative style.

I did feel like it went on a bit overlong in some parts. However, this feeling may be more a product of it being one of the first I've read on my Kindle. Those tiny pages made feel like I "flipped" pages more than the actual text.

My biggest complaint, however, is an oddity. I think the people ate too sloppily for those in the lower nobility of this medieval rendition of England. Silly, huh? I don't think it's because they might very well have been such slobs dining-wise, but I think Otto dwelt too long on their messiness. Everyone is constantly dribbling food and drink. After awhile it began to annoy me.

That's not much reason for not liking the book. Otherwise, it's a solid but predictable tale.

I'm glad that Winston sobered up and hope it's for the rest of his life. He certainly went through a lot to get to the point of understanding his weakness for drink.

I would give this only 3 stars since I liked it but wasn't blown away. However, I'll add a star for the message of sobriety done in a non-preachy way.

Overall, a good job.

A fun read.
I received this book as a Member Giveaway on Library Thing and was thoroughly entertained. While at times, I found the story a bit naive and predictable, I found these added to the charm of the story. Drinkwater has elements of adventure,revenge and redemption supported by the tutelage of an older,reformed mentor, gallant friends and romance in a boy finds girl, boy loses girl and boy gets girl back in a thrilling blaze of glory, happily ever after kind of way, without being tiresome.

The character of Winston is fallible yet endearing. When he failed, I felt sympathy for him. When he succeeded and overcame adversity, I cheered him on.

I am grateful I had the opportunity to read this! I was entertained.

Drinkwater a terrific read!
I could not stop reading Drinkwater, finally putting the book down at 2am when I could no longer focus on the words. The book is written in the first person and is told by the main character, Winston Tabor. The first person narrative takes some getting used to, but it helps flesh out Winston's character. Imagine how hard it is to overcome alcoholism, then imagine doing it in a time when water was often unhealthy to drink! That's what Winston is battling, along with being framed for his father's murder. The story goes from one adventure to another while Winston comes to terms with his alcoholism and the difficulty of sobriety.

Whether you like Medieval fiction or adventures, I think you will find this an enjoyable book. I am looking forward to more books from Otto Scamfer.

Medieval Reading Pleasure
Drinkwater is a tale of medieval times. About a young man who is a drunkard. Befallen by a soundrel who attempts to take over his birthright by first murdering his father and making it appear to be him that perpetrated the deed, to the "accidental" death of his mother. It is a tale of friendship. Of love. And of a boy, turned man, who struggles to bring himself back from the brink of alcoholism. Insisting on drinking nothing stronger than water, he becomes known as "Drinkwater".

I found the writer starting off a bit naively. His writing raw and unskilled. But by the half-way point of the text, he had matured greatly, and his skill was becoming apparent!

I was highly impressed with the writer's dialogue. His written conversations among the characters were some of the most realistic I have ever encountered. And his use of detail in not only the description of medieval life, but of tasks, and especially of sword play, was remarkably well done.[Does Scamfer harbor a talent for swordmanship? Hmmm]

By the end of the book, I was wanting more!

I would rate this book a 5-star. And I look forward to reading more from this talented author.

... Read more

Product Description
Far away from our land, on the other side of the world, lies a group of islands which form the kingdom of Japan. The word "Japan" means the "Land of the Rising Sun," and it is certainly a good name for a country of the Far East, the land of sunrise.
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"AINSI A VOUS, MADAME, A MA TRÈS HAULTE ET TRÈS NOBLE DAME, A QUI J'AYME A DEVOIR ATTACHEMENT ET OBÉISSANCE,
J'ENVOYE CE LIVRET."
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Customer Reviews (2)

What is Chivalry?
A young Cabell weaves tales (annotated by authorities (?) of the era) spinning tales of some of the descendants (lineal and "spiritual")(and their consequences)that enrich the History of Dom Manuel of Poictesme. And outlines one of the characteristic approaches taken by the male in his inevitable pursuit of "Domnei".

A gentleman will always serve God, his honor and his lady
These ten stories are attributed to Nicolas de Caen who wrote them in 1470 while serving as the priest and secretary to Philippe, Duke of Burgundy. The stories begin in the 13th century and end in the early years of the15th. During this time the English Kings are struggling to retain theirFrench possessions.In the "Sestina" chapter, Alianora ofProvence, the wife of King Henry III, enlists the aid of Osmund Heleigh tohelp her secure the escape of her son Prince Edward whom the barons haveimprisoned.The bookish Osmund helps her with disasterous consequences tohimself. In the "Tenson" chapter, Prince Edward defeats thebarons at the Battle of Evesham, after which he goes to Spain to get hiswife Ellinor who he married ten years earlier. Several try to get him toset aside his claim to her with dire consequences for his opponents. In the"Rat-Trap" chapter, Prince Edward, now Edward I, arranged tomarry Blanch, daughter of King Philippe of France.When he goes to France,King Philippe has second thoughts about the marriage and arranges to haveEdward assassinated. Edward discovers the plot and humiliates the Frenchking then departs France with a wife but her name is not Blanch.In"Choices," Queen Ysabeau spends a holiday toying with Sir GregoryDarrell and Rosamund Eastney. In "Housewife," Queen Phillipa,wife of Edward III thwarts a conspiracy against him and inspires theEnglish army to defeat the Scottish forces invading England. In"Satraps," Dame Anne of Bohemia, wife to Richard II, preventsRichard's uncles from placing his brother Edward Maudlain on the throne byhaving Edward M. leave the court and go into hiding. In"Heritage," Edward Maudlain with the help of Richard II's 11 yearold wife, Isobel Valois, takes his brother's place in prison and is slain,after which Henry of Derby becomes King Henry IV.In "Scabbard,"the deposed Richard II changes his surname to Holland and makes a long tourof the continent. On his return to England, he has a chance to recover hisusurped throne but opts to settle in Wales at Caer Idion, marry a peasantgirl named Branwen and become a shepherd.In the "Navarrese,"Antoine Riczi remains loyal to Princess Jehane de Navarre.In the"Fox-Brush," King Henry V traveling incognito in France as AlainMaquedonnieux the Irish harpist, kills a fox near the Convent of Chartresand has a chance meeting with Lady Katherine the Fair.He falls in lovewith her, and after an angst-filled courtship they become betrothed in theCathedral of Troyes. In his "Epilogue," Nicolas de Caen gives theauthorities for his tales and apologizesfor being unable to confirmsolidly the facts of the first three tales. As the events in the talestake place, the Hundred Years War blossoms and the seeds for the War of theRoses are sown. ... Read more