Since its earliest incarnation among ancient warring tribal nations, the concept of the "war game" or "demonstration of arms" has been inextricably tied to human societal consciousness. Martial displays have long been an important part of public life; the first Olympiads began as a means by which Greek warriors could compete against one another to test their mettle for their own pleasure and the pleasure of gathered spectators.

      This trend continued down through the ages, eventually developing into such deadly theatrical pageantry as the gruesome gladiatorial combats staged by the Imperial Romans, and ultimately becoming the forerunner of many modern sporting events which have continued to exist in modern times. Similarly, the evolution of medieval jousting from deadly combat into carefully choreographed equestrian spectacle was simply a continuation of this trend from the Middle Ages to the present day.

      There can be no argument that such obviously martial sports as modern competitive fencing are martial "arts," because their mastery, like any performance art form, inspires the admiration and respect of those who practice them as well as any who find them of interest, either in the competitive sense or as pure entertainment. The same can be said of any of the formal martial arts presently being practiced in salles, dojos and training centers throughout the world. It is only when the competitive element is removed from the equation and replaced with the element of demonstration that the line between sport and entertainment begins to blur.

      Whether or not the practice of a martially-derived skill set is a form of combat, a competitive sport, or an artistic simulation might best be determined by studying the motivation behind the activity in question, i.e. its intended purpose. In fact, such motivation may be the only real signpost available to us in making such a classification, since, as is the case in modern equestrian combat jousting, often the necessary skills being performed are virtually identical be they practiced in combat, as a friendly competitive endeavor, or purely as a form of entertainment.

      Historically, almost since the birth of the medieval tournament the line between combatant and entertainer has been indistinct. Medieval knights competed against one another to display their jousting prowess for their own personal satisfaction, for the admiration and exultation of their ladies, and for the entertainment and elucidation of whatever viewing audience happened to be in attendance. The quest for personal glory is not a solitary endeavor; and chivalric glory, by its very nature, can only be generated by demonstrating one's knightly puissance before an audience of one's peers.

      As early as the late 13th century, the chivalric tournament, once a rough and tumble bohort or series of chaotic melee combats, began to make a transition toward the highly structured tournament of the late Middle Ages. With this development came new rules of order and precedence designed to safeguard the lives of the participants while maximizing the visual and emotional effect of the various combats on those who viewed them.

      These new customs gradually converted what had originally been essentially a miniature war into a (relatively) friendly sporting competition. In time the enjoyment of the viewing audience gradually began to supercede the personal motives of the actual tournament participants, especially when combined with the political intrigues of the day and the daily pursuit of pleasure which was feudal court life. Jousting had become sport, and the sport had become a popular form of entertainment. The introduction of the pas d'armes (or "passage of armaments") was the next logical step in elevating the new martial "art" of jousting to high entertainment as equestrian spectacle.

      The medieval pas d'armes was a martial display theatrically staged for the entertainment of its participants as well as an audience. Just how regulated were the martial elements of these displays varied according to the preference and intentions of those involved; often the accompanying theatrical pageantry which marked such events was minimal, relegated to simply providing an attractive backdrop against which actual competition would occur. In a few rare cases much, if not all, of the action was apparently staged to enforce a preordained outcome in accordance with a prearranged script. The original format of the pas d'armes was based upon the declaration of a person, item, or place which a knight or selected group of knights pledged to defend against all comers. Often this was a symbolic location such as a bridge, across which none could cross unless they first took part in a joust, or a small area such as a crossroads or clearing in the woods whose defenders were obliged to hold against all comers. The central object of a pas d'armes could even be so simple a thing as a tree, around which challengers would array themselves to fight. As the pas d'armes evolved, the object being defended became more fanciful and fantastic; it could be a lady who symbolized a mythological or historic personage, or a particular virtue. Large artificial castle gates and faux wooden keeps were built as the centerpieces of some such events, solely for the purpose of being defended at the pas d'armes.

      Similar to the pas d'armes was another medieval tournament variation known as the Tabula Rotunda, or "Round Table." Based either wholly or in part upon the mythical brotherhood of heroic knights depicted in the legends of King Arthur, such Round Tables consisted of contemporary reenactments of behavior and occurrences similar to those detailed in the Vulgate cycle of Arthurian legend (and later as depicted in Malory's Le Mort Darthur). Typically the participants, both attending ladies and knight combatants, would take part in such events under the assumed guise of some fictional character derived from Arthurian tales. They would then act out intricate scenarios at feast or in a tournament setting to better emulate their heroes. Such Arthurian elements were the central theme at numerous tournaments. Despite the combative elements of the program, they were essentially a popular form of what we would today call interactive theater; one of the most notable of such gatherings took place at Le Hem in 1278, and included such elaborate stage props as actual lions and a great wheeled ship. A massive round wooden table, fancifully painted with the names of Arthur's most famous knights, can today be seen on display at Winchester castle. It was commissioned in the late-1200's by Edward I and is believed to have been constructed as the centerpiece for such events.

      Even in the more seriously competitive pas d'armes, participants often took part disguised as a fictional character from popular romances of the day or as a metaphorical personification of some ideal or trait such as Chastity, Justice, Mercy, Prowess, Courtesy, etc. There are many contemporary references to knights who competed at pas d'armes disguised as nuns, monks, and even in one recorded instance as the Heavenly Father (God) himself. Similarly, another competitor dressed himself as the Virgin Mary to joust against seven opponents, each costumed to represent one of the Seven Deadly Sins. The outcome in such instances was probably choreographed, even if that choreography consisted merely of a willingness on the part of the appointed challengers to quickly yield to the presumed greater prowess of the Heavenly Father or Holy Virgin, whom we are assured defeated all opponents with ease. Had the end results been otherwise, such affairs might have proven disastrous for those who sponsored and planned them.

      As the Middle Ages waned with the arrival of the Renaissance, form became almost as important as substance in regard to how such events were staged; one does not design an allegorical pageant without making provisions beforehand to ensure that the allegory will play out as intended.

      At the famed pas d'armes de la bergiere in 1449, the mistress of King Rene of Naples portrayed a shepherdess who sat amidst a flock of sheep at a "cottage" constructed near the center of the festivities. All the while, two knights, dressed as shepherds, fought on her behalf-- one rode with a black shield and represented tristesse or "discontent," the other knight riding with a white shield to represent liesse, or "happiness."

      This trend became a popular staple at tournament events. By combining the fictional elements of contemporary romance literature with rules designed to eliminate the risk of personal injury from the proceedings, tournaments evolved into a form of live-action role-playing, in which the participants could pretend to be their favorite fictional heroes or the physical embodiments of various ethical ideals and concepts.

      In later times, the Germans (who continued to competitively joust long after the practice had lost much of its popularity among those of other nationalities) developed specific (and quite ingenious) theatrical techniques and properties designed to enhance the visual spectacle of their joust combats. A mechanical shield was devised which would break apart upon impact to great visual effect. Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and noted patron of jousting, had a hand in inventing a breastplate which flew apart in much the same way, to make spectacularly evident to viewers when a lance hit was correctly struck. The implications are telling; even in the most earnest of such competitive endeavors, some provision would be made for the enjoyment of those who would witness it. Otherwise, the expected audience might not bother to attend in sufficient number, and the cheering throng of spectators (required to turn such an event into a means to achieve chivalric glory) might not react in a positive enough manner to what they saw.

      During even the most serious of medieval tournaments, ground combats were often limited to a set number of blows to be struck by both combatants, or even to certain sequences of blows which would be attempted by one combatant against another. In such instances, the two combatants were prescribed to take turns acting as attacker and defender, practicing a somewhat primitive form of formalized "right of way" as exists in modern foil fencing today. One participant would attack his opponent until a predetermined number of blows had been successfully landed, after which his opponent would assume the offensive and attempt to make the same number of successful strikes against his fellow competitor (who would understandably concentrate solely on defense). And so on. The apparent reason for such structured rules in what was typically a brutal martial duel was two-fold: firstly to minimize the chances that a combatant would be seriously injured, and secondly to ensure that the bout would be easier to referee. Plus, it made sense that the action be easily understood by the casual viewer, even a non-expert such as would be found watching from the reviewing stands.

      As the element of competition was gradually superceded by the requirements of public entertainment, flourishes of theatricality began to replace the raw (if sometimes monotonous and visually repetitive) clash of competitive combat to determine victor versus vanquished. And without fully unbridled competition amongst competitors, though the participants may be practicing and demonstrating an identical set of skills to that required by martial competition, the end result became something other than a simple attempt at martial conquest. Yet as an entertaining demonstration of those skills, it must by definition be regarded as a form of martial "art," as defined above.

      The laurel of victory which determined the final identity of the medieval Tournament Champion was often awarded according to the preference of the spectators (usually the ladies), and this awarding was habitually based specifically upon how appealing a "showing" was made by the various participants. This fact alone makes clear how important it was to the competitors that the audience enjoyed and appreciated the spectacle before them.

      The end result of these trends can be seen in the choreographed equestrian "carrousels" performed during the latter part of the 16th century, when much of the combat demonstration was replaced by the "maneige."

      The term carrousel comes from the Spanish word carossela, meaning "little war," whereas the word maneige derives from the Italian maneggiare, meaning "to control or train," referring in this case to the control of horses in a visually attractive display of equestrian skill. Elizabeth I was a great fan of the carrousel. One of the equestrian events which she sponsored, the tournament of the Four Foster Children of Desire, was scripted by Sir Philip Sidney and held to celebrate the arrival of one of Elizabeth's many marital suitors, the Duke de Alencon, in 1581. In it, the queen herself took an active role and was central to the proceedings, presiding as the mistress of a "Fortress of Perfect Beauty." As part of the spectacle she was "besieged" from without by the four knights after whom the event was named, one of whom was Sidney himself.

      Elizabeth often utilized such staged extravaganzas to influence both public and private perception of her and her court, and the tournaments of her reign were often liberally laced with veiled political statements concerning the current state of English affairs, both at home and abroad. In a sense, such manipulations were a means of highly effective subliminal programming, designed, under the guise of entertainment, to foster in her subjects acquiescence to her royal policies. This was not a new idea; her father, Henry VIII, had done much the same thing at Calais in 1520, employing the spectacle of the magnificent tournament of the Field of Cloth of Gold to similar political effect.

      Theatrical conventions in English tournaments rose to new heights under the Tudors. Normally these events were staged at one of the royal palaces such as Hampton Court or Whitehall. The tournament fields included many elements which are clearly recognizable as forerunners of the fittings of a modern day theater. These included private box seats for the nobility (commoners were relegated to bleacher seating) as well as overhanging awnings to protect spectators from the hot sun, wind, and rain. Some of England's greatest contemporary architects had a hand in designing these medieval sports stadiums, additionally inventing many other fantastical elements of theatrical scenery for these public displays.

      In 1606 at the Paris Louvre four teams of knights representing the four elements -- earth, wind, fire and water -- jousted against one another in a ritualized tournament setting. The accompanying theatrical display was lavishly produced, and while equestrian jousting was a central element of the entertainment, any real competition among the participants was minimal at best, defaulting mostly to non-combative skills such as running at the ring. In later years such practices as striking the quintain and spearing at ring targets, formerly relegated to simple training exercises to prepare for horse-to-horse lance combat, assumed new precedence. Antoine Pluvenil, considered one of the progenitors of classical riding and dressage, devoted a large portion of his 1623 riding manual "Maneige Royal" to the instruction of non-combative activities such as ring jousting. What had been, in earlier centuries, a simple training exercise or pure test of martial talent against an opponent had now become a highly ritualized display of equestrian skill between mutual partners for the entertainment of the attending onlookers.

      The theatrical reenactment of medieval tournaments continued sporadically in the centuries which followed. One such was held in England at Eglington in 1839, with over 100,000 spectators in attendance. In 1905 a similar event was staged in Brussels, designed to simulate a classic pas d'armes of around 1452, and the Earl's Court Triumph, held in London in 1912, emulated an Elizabethan tourney of around 1580. In each case, great effort was invested to ensure these theatrical reenactments were true to historical descriptions of actual medieval tournaments, though it also need be said that a great deal of necessary artistic license was taken. In all three of the events mentioned above, the quality of the actual competition (which was somewhat lacking) seemed less important than the beauty and majesty of the simulation, and its effect upon the viewing audience.

      After attending the Eglington tournament, Louisa Stuart, daughter of Lord Stuart de Rothesay wrote: "The ball and the banquet one could easily have dispensed with, but the procession to the lists and the tilting, the melee, were such beautiful sights as one can never expect to see again."

      Just as there are today dedicated individuals who actively joust against one another in a competitive sport setting as well as equestrians who regularly engage in the game of "running at the ring" as an equestrian sport, so too are there individuals who continue to practice the modern theatrical equivalent of the medieval Round Table -- the emulation of historical tournament combat portraying a fictional or historical cast of characters, which follows a minutely choreographed script of events designed to entertain an audience of spectators.

      Like carefully prearranged demonstration displays of other historical martial arts, the fact that the intention is not to cause harm or to competitively eliminate or vanquish its participants does not alter the set of skills required to successfully accomplish it. And like other forms of jousting being practiced today, such displays as theatrical jousting and modern tournament reenactments undisputedly owe their pedigree to the development of themed combats such as the pas d'armes and the resulting evolution of the medieval tournament as an entertaining public spectacle.