Tournament Book of the Kraichgauer Knight Community

Courtly life in the Middle Ages was defined by festivities and sporting events. Knights’ tournaments were the biggest highlight among such events. In order to justify one’s participation at a tournament, one had to be able to verify a pure bloodline. This normally happened with the help of tournament books that documented the festive knights’ tournaments and also presented the aristocratic heritage of the participants. The Kraichgauer Tournament Book is an especially charming example. The 44 enclosed pen and ink drawings in watercolors illustrate 15 knightly contests in the time period from 938 to 1481.

The Noble Province of Kraichgau

In the Middle Ages a high-ranking noble family lived in the small location of Kraichgau in southwestern Germany. The male family members and their descendants regularly took part in knights’ tournaments, at the center of which stood the supreme discipline of the joust. In jousting, two knights in full armor and with blunted lances ride to left and right of a barrier, respectively, in order to unhorse their opponent through an aimed thrust with the lance, or at least to land a blow on the shield or helmet of the opponent. The privileged knights from Kraichgau were envisaged in the tournament book and the miniatures show the knights fully-armored and on their tournament horses.

Baroque Illustrations

The tournament book describes the historical events of 15 celebrated tournaments in the finest detail. The beholder is given a glimpse into the legendary contests by the outstanding miniatures, in which weapons, horses, and armor are represented. Before the description of each tournament one finds full-page portraits of the tournament organizers. These are followed by the coat of arms of the tournament’s judge. Finally the participating knights from Kraichgau are presented in colored, baroque miniatures. The illustrations, lovingly adorned in the finest detail, show various entities of heraldry and armor, which attest to the aristocratic heritage of the knights.