Speeches for the Melee

First, the Comers are summoned together, and the rules are explained to them. They are divided into two teams, under captains A and B. They process to the two gates of the lists. A leads off first so as to arrive slightly before B.

Herald for A:

My honored and redoubted lords, the very high and powerful (rank of A) and my redoubted lord .......................my master, who is present as appellant, presents himself to you with all the noble baronage that you see, whom you have placed under his banner, very eager and ready to begin the tourney assigned today with my very redoubted lord ............................ and the noble baronage equally ready to fight under him; asking that it please you to prepare for him a place, so that the ladies who are present can see the entertainment.

Herald B:

My Master, ............................., and the Baronage under him, are equally ready and eager to take their parts in the tourney.

Chief Herald:

Very high and very redoubted lords, my lords the judges have heard and understood what your heralds have said for you; to which they answer that your presence is very pleasing, and they well perceive the great and high will for honor and desire for valor that is in you and the barons present under you, for which reason and because the tourney was proclaimed several days before, so that it could come to pass on good time and joyously, they assign there the place within the lists on that side to you my lord................... ........................, and that on the other to you my lord ......................... And you may enter in God's name when you like.

When they have entered:

High and powerful princes, lords, barons, knights and squires, each and every one of you, please raise your right hand on high, towards the saints, and all together, as you will in the future, promise and swear by the faith and promise of your body, and on your honor, that you will strike none of your company knowingly with the point of any weapon but the spear of peace, or below the knee, and that no one will attack or draw on anyone except when it is permitted, and also that if by chance someone's helm falls off, no one will touch him until he puts it back on, and you agree that if you knowingly do otherwise you will lose your arms and horses and be banished from the tourney; also to observe the orders of the judges in everything and everywhere as they order delinquents to be punished without argument: and also you swear and promise this by the faith and promise of your body and on your honor.

Everyone:

Yes, Yes.

Chief Herald:

Moreover, I advise you that when the trumpets have sounded the retreat...

(trumpeters demonstrate retreat)

...if you stay longer in the lists you may not win the prize. Now make yourselves ready.

(when they are ready)

Laissiez-les aller, Laissiez-les aller, Laissiez-les aller, now do your devoir right readily!

(when they have fought long enough)

Let the banner bearers ride out, leave the lists, and await the words of the heralds. Ride out! Ride out!

For Another Melee on the Same Day

When they are ready:

Chief Herald:

My lords the judges pray and require that none of you gentlemen tourneyers strike at another with the point of any weapon save the spear of peace, nor below the knee, as you have promised, nor strike nor draw except when it is permitted; and also that none of you attack anyone whose helm falls off until he has put it on again, and also that none of you beat anyone more than you should out of anger or malice.

Moreover, you know that when the trumpets have sounded the retreat and the barriers are open, if you stay any longer in the lists you will not win the prize.

Laissiez-les aller, Laissiez-les aller, Laissiez-les aller, let them do their devoir right readily.

When done:

Let the banner bearers ride out, leave the lists, and return to your lodgings: for you lords, princes, barons, knights and squires have so done your duty that henceforth you may go out and leave the lists in good time: for already the prizes is awarded, which will be given by the ladies to him who deserves it.

(If only one melee is fought that day, you may use the final paragraph above to end that instead.)

The Sources

These speeches follow very closely those given in King Rene's Tournament Book, translated by Elizabeth Bennett, a manual on running tournaments written in 1460. Aside from compressing the time between speeches and rearranging their order (the preparations for Rene's tournament stretch over several days), I have made the following changes:

In the original, the speech for Herald B exactly copies that of Herald A, except for the different name of his master. When the second team arrives very shortly after the first, this seemed repetitious.

While Rene's tournament is fought only with swords and clubs, many medieval tournaments began with a course of lances, so I have modified the text to allow for that. While Rene prohibits blow below the waist, a number of different target areas were allowed in different tournaments and deeds of arms. Some rules, like Rene's, only allowed blows above the waist, sometimes only blows to the head and torso were allowed, sometimes any place on the body could be struck. Our combatants are more used to blows on or below the knee being forbidden, so I used the target restrictions they were accustomed to. Rene also prohibits blows "de reverse". Since the meaning of this restriction was unclear, I omitted it.

The original prohibits striking "anyone more than anyone else". Since modern reenactors are often less well armored than Rene's combatants, and less cavalier about the risks of serious injury, I have rephrased this as a more explicit warning against excessive force.

Finally, the two teams of horsemen for Rene's tourney are drawn up behind ropes stretched across the tourney field on each side, and the signal to cut the cords, repeated three times, is the signal to start the tourney. For a melee on foot I thought it as least as appropriate to use some variation on a phrase, taken from the French and used to signal the start of combats from Spain to England: "Laissiez-les aller, Laissiez-les aller, pour fair leur devoir", or, as Chaucer has it "Do now your devoir, yonge knightes proude!". "Laissiez-les aller" means "let them go" and "devoir" has the sense of both "duty" and "exercise", so I have chosen to follow Chaucer's example and left it in that form.

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