Jousting was one of the most admired sports in the Medieval period. It started as a "melee" which was an endless, bloody, war taking place all day and into the night (Medieval ). Jousting eventually began to emerge into a sophisticated and classy sport that gave honour to those who participated (Steele 48). In the Medieval era, jousting served many useful purposes to the knights. Purposes that jousting provided was: it prevented sieges on castles, it kept the knights in shape, and it had great rewards.
Jousting tournaments were very valuable in preventing sieges on castles. There were many battles back in the Medieval time period, but the jousting tournaments eliminated quite a few wars. Sieges, which were the cutting off of castles by enemy armies happened very much in the Medieval era, and no one liked to take part in them (Steele 61). Most of the time, instead of settling disputes through war they would often be settled by jousting against one another and fight for one's armor and horse. The sport of jousting was so much better than having an endless number of people dying. Even though people the knights sometimes died while jousting, it only happened every so often so it was not affecting the death rate as much as wars were. Jousting saved many lives and not only reduced deaths, but brought entertainment to the people. Jousting certainly showed that it was a sport that could eliminate wars, which were so dreadful (Dersin 72). .
Another constructive use of jousting was keeping the knights in shape and ready for any battle they would face in the future. The knights would train to become the best that they could be because they wanted to win tournaments and receive rewards and show that they were good competitors in the sport (Steele 48). The knights knew they had to work for it if they wanted to become the best. One of the techniques they would practice for endless hours was charging a quintain that was set up as a target.
