urnaments which were favourite diversions of kings
and nobles at this period is found in that held at Christmastide in
London in 1389. Richard II., his three uncles, and the greater barons
having heard of a famous tournament at Paris at the entry of Isabel,
Queen of France, resolved to hold one of equal splendour at London, in
which sixty English knights, conducted to the scene of action by sixty
ladies, should challenge all foreign knights. They therefore sent
heralds into all parts of England, Scotland, Germany, Italy, Flanders,
Brabant, Hainault, and France to proclaim the time, place, and other
circumstances of the proposed gathering, and to invite all valorous
knights and squires to honour it with their presence. This, says the
historian, excited a strong desire in the knights and squires of all
these countries to attend to see the manners and equipages of the
English, and others to tourney. The lists were prepared in Smithfield,
and chambers erected around them for the accommodation of the king,
queen, princes, lords, ladies, heralds, and other spectators. As the
time approached many important personages of both sexes, attended by
numerous retinues, arrived in London. On the first day of the
tournament (Sunday) sixty-five horses, richly furnished for the
jousts, issued one by one from the Tower, each conducted by a squire
of honour, and proceeded in a slow pace through the streets of London
to Smithfield, attended by a numerous band of trumpeters and other
minstrels. Immediately after, sixty young ladies, elegantly attired
and riding on palfreys, issued from the same place, and each lady
leading a knight completely armed by a silver chain, they proceeded
slowly to the field. When they arrived there the ladies were lifted
from the palfreys and conducted to the chambers provided for them; the
knights mounted their horses and began the jousts, in which they
exhibited such feats of valour and dexterity as won the admiration of
the spectators. When the approach of night put an end to the jousts
the company repaired to the palace of the Bishop of London, in St.
Paul's Street, where the king and queen then staying, the supper was
prepared. The ladies, knights, and heralds who had been appointed
judges awarded one of the prizes, a crown of gold, to the Earl of St.
Paul as the best performer among the foreign knights, and the other, a
rich girdle adorned with gold and precious stones, to the Earl of
Huntingdon as the best p