ÿþ <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <title>Order of the Boar::Jousting NZ</title> <meta name="keywords" content="Medieval, Knight, Jousting," /> <meta name="description" content="Order of the Boar - Medieval Jousting" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="print.css" type="text/css" media="print" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="Content.css" type="text/css" media="screen" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/prototype.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/scriptaculous.js?load=effects,builder"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/lightbox.js"></script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/lightbox.css" type="text/css" media="screen" /> </head> <body class="home"> <div id="container"> <div id="background"></div> <div id="TopNav"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="100%"> <tr height="206" valign="bottom"> <td width="65"> &nbsp; </td> <td><img src="hdg_1.gif"></td> <td><img src="hdg_2.gif"></td> <td><img src="hdg_3.gif"></td> <td width="160"> &nbsp; </td> <td width="380"> <table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr > <td> &nbsp; </td> </tr> <tr > <td> <ul> <li><a href="index.aspx" id="committee">Home: Order of the Boar</a></li> <li><a href="jousting.html" id="committee">Jousting</a></li> <li><a href="joustschool.html" id="current">Training for the Joust</a></li> <li><a href="about_us.html" id="committee">A Perspective: Historical Re-Enactments</a></li> <li><a href="gallery.html" id="committee">The Gallery</a></li> <li><a href="events.html" id="committee">Events</a></li> </ul> </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td width="50"> &nbsp; </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div id="tagline">THE HOME OF CAVALRY RE-ENACTMENT IN NEW ZEALAND</div> <div id="SubNav"> <span id="SubNavHeading">Joust School</span> <ul> <li><a href="foot_weapons.html" id="committee">Historical Sword Fighting</a></li> <li><a href="melee.html" id="current">The Melee</a></li> </ul> </div> <div id="contentcontainer"> <table cellspacing="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0" border="0" id="contenttable"> <tr valign="top"> <td width="60"> &nbsp; </td> <td width="588"> <div id="content"> <hr /> <h1>The Melee</h1> <p class="LeadPara">T<p>his activity is derived from the very early medieval tournaments or  behourds . These were mock battles between teams of mounted and foot combatants rather than individual contests between knights which evolved later. <p> We train our horses and riders to engage in close-in melee combat with swords, axes and other medieval hand weapons. These require a great deal of skill as the unpredictable nature of combat means that each combatant must also be aware of where everybody else is at the same time so that a mistimed blow does not strike a horse. <p> We can also add in foot fighters to the melee to make it even more dramatic and interesting. Not only are the foot fighters trying to capture "knights" for ransom but they are also fighting among themselves. <p> Because of the very real risk of a horse being accidentally struck by a weapon, foot fighters must be trained by us before we allow them to participate in this activity. <a href="images/melee_prisoners.jpg" rel="lightbox[AAK1]" title=""><img src="images/melee_prisoners.png" style=float:right;></a> </div> </td> <td width="316"> <div id="content"> <div id="events"> <h1>Close-quarters</h1> <a href="images/melee.jpg" rel="lightbox[AAK1]" title=""><img src="images/melee_t.jpg"></a> <a href="images/melee2.jpg" rel="lightbox[AAK1]" title=""><img src="images/melee2_t.jpg"></a> <a href="images/sword_1.jpg" rel="lightbox[AAK1]" title=""><img src="images/sword_1_t.jpg"></a> <a href="images/sword_2.jpg" rel="lightbox[AAK1]" title=""><img src="images/sword_2_t.jpg"></a> <a href="images/sword_3.jpg" rel="lightbox[AAK1]" title=""><img src="images/sword_3_t.jpg"></a> </div> </div> </td> <td> &nbsp; </td> </tr> </table> <table cellspacing="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0" border="0" id="footer"> <tr> <td align="right" id="copyright"> <em>All Content Copyright &copy; Site by <A href="http://www.ironhorse.net.nz" target="_blank">IronHorse</em></a>&nbsp;</td> <td id="logo"> <OBJECT classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0" WIDTH="30" HEIGHT="30" id="BannerEffects" ALIGN=""> <PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="ironhorse_banner.swf"> <PARAM NAME=quality VALUE=high> <PARAM NAME=wmode VALUE=transparent> <PARAM NAME=bgcolor VALUE=#AFADA1> <EMBED src="ironhorse_banner.swf" quality=high wmode=transparent bgcolor=#333 WIDTH="30" HEIGHT="30" NAME="BannerEffects" ALIGN="" TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash" PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></EMBED> </OBJECT> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? 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