Jousting in Medieval and Renaissance Iberia

This book traces the rise and fall of the joust in Iberia, between the late fourteenth and late sixteenth centuries, when it was supplanted by the more innocuous cane game and the spectacle of the bull-run. It focuses on three jousting treatises 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. Noel Fallows is Professor of Spanish and Associate Dean, University of Georgia.