Tournament Barding
Mistress Eleanor fitzPatrick
Period References
Tournament barding, or horse clothes, is depicted in a huge variety of styles, decoration, and construction. throughout Europe and over the entire tourneying time period. These four examples were all found in Tournaments by Barber and Barker and were chosen as examples of the elements I wanted to combine.
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Figure 1. Section of the melee with swords, from Rene d'Anjou's
treatise. (Bibliotheque Nationale, MS Fr 2692 f.67v-68) Example of owner's arms displayed as one large design
instead of many repeated small designs. |
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Figure 2. Scene from the joust at St. Inglevert from a fifteenth
century copy of Jean Froissart's Chronicles. (British Library, MS Harley 4379, ff.19) Example of full caparison barding that does not include a
hood or headpiece. |
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Figure 3. "Max Walther at a Shrovetide joust with attendants
apparently in fools' clothing." (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek MS Cgm 1930
ff.13v-14) Example of barding with scrolled wording as decoration. |
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Figure 4. From a 14th century manuscript of Jacques
Bretels's Le Tournoi de Chauvency. (Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Douce 308 f. 117) Example of 14th
century style of tourney barding. |
My interpretation
My original intent was to create a set of tourney barding in the style of those found in the 14th century such as Figure 4. Such a set would consist of two pieces, one that covered the hindquarters and one that covered the forequarters and extended over the neck and head. Possibly these two pieces were combined down the spine into one, but I doubt it. Speaking strictly from a practical standpoint, a two piece set could be made adjustable to fit a wider range of horse.
Unfortunately I was constrained in my design by the fact that it would be worn by a creature who never volunteered to participate in this experiment. As a responsible horse owner I felt required to place my horse's comfort above most considerations of "that's how they did it in period." While the remainder of my kit is from the Manesse Codex, this barding draws from much later sources.
My horse overheats easily in warm weather or during exercise, necessitating that his neck be uncovered to allow the large blood vessels running to and from the head to release as much heat as possible. Thus my choice of a cut that is hoodless, like Figure 2 above.
Unlike Figure 2, I choose to keep the length approximately at my horse's hocks and knees rather than dragging on the ground. Draped on the ground is fine when you will be running only in a straight line, such as in a tiltyard. In the range of equestrian games played in the SCA it is common to be executing tight turns at speed. Barding which extends much past the knees becomes a tripping hazard under those circumstances.
Since the cut of the piece was later period, I choose to
make the decoration somewhat later as well. I used my arms to decorate the hindquarters as seen in
Figure 1 above. And my motto to decorate the forequarters as in Figure 3 above.
Modern materials,
shortcuts
The barding is made from cotton. I used over 16 yards of fabric in the construction and my budget simply didn't stretch to cover that much linen.
The hindquarter and forequarter sections are attached under the saddle with thoroughly modern Velcro. This is a simple shortcut that allows me to lengthen or shorten the barding very easily when switching between horses.
The elastic loops on the sides of the hindquarter section are attached to the girth when worn. I have found that the hindquarter section tends to slip very badly on my horse, often falling off one side far enough to be stepped on. I have no idea if riders in period had this problem or how they solved it. I tried solving it with ties that went around the girth but they broke constantly. I gave up and switched to elastic loops.