Sea jousting
Encyclopedia
Water jousting is a sport practised principally in France
and also Switzerland
and Germany
. It is a form of jousting
where the adversaries carrying a lance and protected only by a shield stand on a platform on the stern of a boat. The boat is propelled by oarsmen or, in some cases, a motor may be used. The aim of the sport is to send the adversary into the water whilst maintaining one's own balance on the platform.
The jousters stand on a wooden platform on their boats. As the two competing boats draw level with each other, each jouster, protected by their shield, uses their lance to push his opponent off the platform and into the water. The exact rules of the contest vary from region to region and country to country.
(2780 – 2380BC). It would seem however, that these relate more to a form of brawling than a leisure activity; given that the jousters are wearing no form of protection and carry gaffes armed with two points at their end.
Evidence of jousting is subsequently found in Ancient Greece
. The Greeks introduced the practice into Sicily where the Latins, great lovers of all kinds of spectacle, immediately adopted it. Indeed, there are countless signs of jousting in the Roman Empire
, especially during naumachia
(literally "naval combat"). The latter featured naval re-enactments and other water-sports that took place in arenas designed to be flooded for the purpose. In all likelihood, the Romans introduced these types of games throughout their empire. Evidence for this comes from the description of a fête held at Strasbourg
in 303 in honour of Emperor Diocletian
. Some historians argue, however, for an introduction of the games from the foundation of Massilia, a Greek colony founded in 570BC and later to become the French city of Marseille
.
on 2 June 1177, to commemorate the millennium of the Christian martyrs of Lyon and Vienna
. Another document tells us that "in 1270 in Aigues-Mortes
, crusaders, soldiers and sailors, awaiting embarkation for the Holy Land
with King Louis IX (Saint Louis), faced off in single combat mounted on small boats.
Documents both written and illustrated become more numerous in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, citing games in Sologne
, in Toulon
, and more generally throughout the Mediterranean coast. On the Languedoc
coast in Southern France, jousts have bee practised regularly since the seventeenth century. There is evidence that the inauguration of the port of Sete
in 1666 gave rise to a jousting tournament. In the Rhone-Alps region, it was reported 13 April 1507 that the fishermen of St Vincent (Lyon) jousted on the Saône
at St. Jean to entertain Queen Anne of Brittany
and her people. In 1536, a show of jousting is given by the sailors in Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert
(Loire), in honour of François I
. Games are also held on the Saône in 1548 for Henri II
and Catherine of Medici.
The nineteenth century was a watershed in the history of jousting on the Rhone with the creation of certain societies. The original object of these societies was not primarily concerned with the practice of jousting. Rather, they were societies of sailors who came together to bring relief to residents during the frequent floods of the Rhone. They practised jousting at local festivals, thus perpetuating the tradition passed down from generation to generation by these proud watermen.
In 1899, the Federal Union of French Societies of Swimming and Rescue was created. The Union will hold the first jousting championship in France in 1901 on the Tête d'or Lake in Lyon, albeit this was somewhat rudimentary. In 1905, the Union is replaced by the National Federation of Swimming and Rescue, which also holds regional championships.
A French postage stamp depicting water jousting was issued in 1958.
It was not until 1960 that the game was officially recognized as a sport by the government. The current federation (Federation of French Jousting and Water Rescue) was born in 1964 following a strong disagreement with the former federation, which did not sufficiently develop the game as a sport.
The sport is currently practised throughout France, notably in Languedoc, Provence
, the Rhone Valley, around Paris
and in Alsace
. Jousting festivals are also held in Cognac
, Accolay
, Merville
and in Brittany
. Each region has its own methods of jousting and its own rules of engagement.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and also Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It is a form of jousting
Jousting
Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two knights mounted on horses and using lances, often as part of a tournament.Jousting emerged in the High Middle Ages based on the military use of the lance by heavy cavalry. The first camels tournament was staged in 1066, but jousting itself did not...
where the adversaries carrying a lance and protected only by a shield stand on a platform on the stern of a boat. The boat is propelled by oarsmen or, in some cases, a motor may be used. The aim of the sport is to send the adversary into the water whilst maintaining one's own balance on the platform.
The jousters stand on a wooden platform on their boats. As the two competing boats draw level with each other, each jouster, protected by their shield, uses their lance to push his opponent off the platform and into the water. The exact rules of the contest vary from region to region and country to country.
Ancient world
The oldest representations of water jousting have been found on bas-reliefs dating from the Ancient Egyptian EmpireAncient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
(2780 – 2380BC). It would seem however, that these relate more to a form of brawling than a leisure activity; given that the jousters are wearing no form of protection and carry gaffes armed with two points at their end.
Evidence of jousting is subsequently found in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
. The Greeks introduced the practice into Sicily where the Latins, great lovers of all kinds of spectacle, immediately adopted it. Indeed, there are countless signs of jousting in the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, especially during naumachia
Naumachia
The naumachia in the Ancient Roman world referred to both the re-enactment of naval battles and the basin in which this took place....
(literally "naval combat"). The latter featured naval re-enactments and other water-sports that took place in arenas designed to be flooded for the purpose. In all likelihood, the Romans introduced these types of games throughout their empire. Evidence for this comes from the description of a fête held at Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
in 303 in honour of Emperor Diocletian
Diocletian
Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244 – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....
. Some historians argue, however, for an introduction of the games from the foundation of Massilia, a Greek colony founded in 570BC and later to become the French city of Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
.
Development in France
After Roman times, there is no record of water jousting until the twelfth century. It is possible that the sport survived during the intervening period in communities close to water, but it is not mentioned anywhere. The oldest document dating from the post Roman period in France refers to a jousting tournament in LyonLyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
on 2 June 1177, to commemorate the millennium of the Christian martyrs of Lyon and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Another document tells us that "in 1270 in Aigues-Mortes
Aigues-Mortes
Aigues-Mortes is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.The medieval city walls surrounding the city are well preserved.-History:...
, crusaders, soldiers and sailors, awaiting embarkation for the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
with King Louis IX (Saint Louis), faced off in single combat mounted on small boats.
Documents both written and illustrated become more numerous in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, citing games in Sologne
Sologne
Sologne , a region of north-central France extending over portions of the départements of Loiret, Loir-et-Cher and Cher...
, in Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
, and more generally throughout the Mediterranean coast. On the Languedoc
Languedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
coast in Southern France, jousts have bee practised regularly since the seventeenth century. There is evidence that the inauguration of the port of Sete
Sète
Sète is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France. Its inhabitants are called Sétois....
in 1666 gave rise to a jousting tournament. In the Rhone-Alps region, it was reported 13 April 1507 that the fishermen of St Vincent (Lyon) jousted on the Saône
Saône
The Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....
at St. Jean to entertain Queen Anne of Brittany
Anne of Brittany
Anne, Duchess of Brittany , also known as Anna of Brittany , was a Breton ruler, who was to become queen to two successive French kings. She was born in Nantes, Brittany, and was the daughter of Francis II, Duke of Brittany and Margaret of Foix. Her maternal grandparents were Queen Eleanor of...
and her people. In 1536, a show of jousting is given by the sailors in Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert
Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert
Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert is a commune in the Loire department in central France.-References:*...
(Loire), in honour of François I
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
. Games are also held on the Saône in 1548 for Henri II
Henry II of France
Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
and Catherine of Medici.
The nineteenth century was a watershed in the history of jousting on the Rhone with the creation of certain societies. The original object of these societies was not primarily concerned with the practice of jousting. Rather, they were societies of sailors who came together to bring relief to residents during the frequent floods of the Rhone. They practised jousting at local festivals, thus perpetuating the tradition passed down from generation to generation by these proud watermen.
In 1899, the Federal Union of French Societies of Swimming and Rescue was created. The Union will hold the first jousting championship in France in 1901 on the Tête d'or Lake in Lyon, albeit this was somewhat rudimentary. In 1905, the Union is replaced by the National Federation of Swimming and Rescue, which also holds regional championships.
A French postage stamp depicting water jousting was issued in 1958.
It was not until 1960 that the game was officially recognized as a sport by the government. The current federation (Federation of French Jousting and Water Rescue) was born in 1964 following a strong disagreement with the former federation, which did not sufficiently develop the game as a sport.
The sport is currently practised throughout France, notably in Languedoc, Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
, the Rhone Valley, around Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and in Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
. Jousting festivals are also held in Cognac
Cognac
Cognac is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:Cognac is situated on the river Charente between the towns of Angoulême and Saintes. The majority of the town has been built on the river's left bank, with the smaller right...
, Accolay
Accolay, Yonne
Accolay is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France....
, Merville
Merville
Merville is the name or part of the name of several communes in France:* Merville, in the Haute-Garonne département* Merville, in the Nord département* Merville-Franceville-Plage, in the Calvados département...
and in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. Each region has its own methods of jousting and its own rules of engagement.