Mike2220 t1_iugqcfy wrote on October 31, 2022 at 4:57 AM

Reply to comment by Fortune_Silver in ELI5 How did knights participate in tournaments like jousting without killing themselves? by QuantumHamster

>Accidents happened

"Accidents" as well

TonyR600 t1_iuh2xsl wrote on October 31, 2022 at 7:59 AM

That were my thoughts. What stops me from putting my wooden stick to his head, killing him and claiming it was an accident

ShalmaneserIII t1_iuhounz wrote on October 31, 2022 at 12:40 PM

> What stops me from putting my wooden stick to his head, killing him and claiming it was an accident

His equally well-armed and armored friends, probably.

These were a bit of a rowdy bunch. Think biker gangs getting riled up and you can imagine how your "oops" is going to get you killed anyhow.

Elcondivido t1_iuhdhuf wrote on October 31, 2022 at 10:37 AM

I'm sure that something like that could have happened, but is pretty hard to hide the fact that you are pointing your very lon sticks way too high in front of an hundred of people.

Jousting stick are long, you can't really change the direction at the last moment to be sneaky.

mecha_face t1_iuh9up9 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 9:47 AM

Depending on if you were a commoner or a noble? For a commoner, the fact that killing a noble for any reason was a death sentence. For a noble? Oh no, you damaged someone else's property, pay a fine.

vorpal8 t1_iuhhldq wrote on October 31, 2022 at 11:27 AM

Commoners didn't get to participate in the first place.