Aftermaths

Textual commemorations

Pas d'armes were at once spectacular and ephemeral events in terms of how they were commemorated. Whilst shields with the competitors' coats of arms were sometimes taken away once the combats were over to be displayed in buildings such as a castle, a church or a hospital, no statues commemorating these feats have survived and no medals were struck.

The Livre des faits de messire Jacques de Lalaing was compiled from various sources by an unnamed author, but the frontispiece depicts him as the Burgundian King of Arms, Golden Fleece (Jean Lefèvre de Saint-Rémy at the time of the event) whose record of the Pas de la Fontaine des Pleurs, at which he had been a judge, was incorporated into it. Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum 114, fol. 1r. Photo: Getty.

By far the most durable form of commemoration of a pas d'armes was therefore the written text, whether a narrative account (in prose or verse) or a financial record. Many authors of these narratives were heralds who had been involved in publicising the event, such as Orléans Herald who explicitly names himself as the author of the account of the Pas des armes de Sandricourt (1493). Others do not give their names but were most likely responsible for commemorating the Pas du Perron Fée (1463) and the Pas of Carignano (1504). Heralds were probably involved in writing up other types of narrative text too, such as the chivalric biography known as the Livre des faits de messire Jacques de Lalaing (early 1470s), which has an account of the Pas de la Fontaine des Pleurs (1449-50). Heralds' reports of pas d'armes could also serve as the basis for chroniclers to write up their own versions, as Olivier de La Marche, the prolific Burgundian historiographer, freely acknowledges. Finally, and most unusually, the account of the Pas de la Bergère (1449) was composed by Louis de Beauvau, a knight from Anjou who had actually jousted at the event himself. As he himself says, he could not resist the temptation to mention how he had performed in the lists as this was all in the interests of telling the complete truth about this particular pas d'armes...

Authorial priorities

Contrary to what we might perhaps expect, the authors of pas d'armes narratives were not exclusively concerned with noting the winners of a specific event. Their primary focus was on using their record of it as a means of teaching their readers about chivalry through recounting the fine martial deeds performed by those knights who had recently competed at a pas d'armes. Their accounts were therefore meant to be both commemorative and prescriptive so that the readers followed these knights' good example in their own lives.

Some pas d'armes authors often dealt quite briefly with the actual scoring aspect of these events, noting the number of lances broken, how many blows or strokes with sword or pollaxe were exchanged, who had dropped his weapon and who had fallen to the ground, etc. Others went into far greater detail, more in the manner of a modern sports commentary, explaining who had performed particularly well and given the entrepreneur a real run for his money or who had failed to make his mark. They also noted rare instances of unsporting conduct, such as when a defeated challenger refused to pay a forfeit that the judges had imposed on him or when a man had injured or even killed his opponent's horse.

Knights competing in the 'Tenebrous Crossroads' event at the Pas des armes de Sandricourt. Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, 3958 Réserve, fol. 9v. Photo: Arsenal.

Of particular interest to many of these authors was the spectacle of the pas d'armes. They therefore paid a lot of attention to how each competitor entered the lists, which high-ranking figures accompanied him, how lavishly he - and his horse - were dressed (e.g. in silk, satin, velvet, cloth of gold, and with jewels and gold ornaments ), what the crest on top of his helm was made of (e.g. egret plumes, expensive veils, etc.), and even how many times an entrepreneur changed his outfits in the course of a multi-day event.

Patrons and readers of narrative accounts

Whilst many pas d'armes narratives survive in a sole manuscript lacking any decoration, others have been preserved in single or even multiple lavishly illustrated copies. The people who commissioned or owned these deluxe manuscripts often did so for the purpose of memorialisation, that is to enhance their own memory or that of past members of their own families.

Page from an unillustrated manuscript of the Livre des faits de messire Jacques de Lalaing. Rijksarchief Kortrijk, Verzameling Jacques Goethals-Vercruysse, 325, fol. 8r. Photo: Rijksarchief.

The most heavily illustrated pas d'armes manuscript, that of the Pas de la Joyeuse Garde/Pas de Saumur (Saint Petersburg, National Library of Russia, fr. F. p. XIV, 4), which has nearly 90 miniatures, was probably commissioned by one of the daughters of the event's entrepreneur, René of Anjou. This is most likely to have been Yolande of Anjou, who was married to Ferry II de Vaudémont-Lorraine, the winner of the pas, as a way of preserving her husband's memory for posterity.

The Livre des faits de messire Jacques de Lalaing, which records the hero's deeds as entrepreneur of the Pas de la Fontaine des Pleurs, survives in at least twelve copies, three of them illustrated with 18 images apiece. These were mostly owned by later members of the Lalaing dynasty who saw them as monuments to their family's history and often included other narratives or documents recounting their famous ancestors' exploits, such as the Pas du Perron Fée defended by Philippe, brother of Jacques.

The Pas des armes de Sandricourt is the first pas d'armes narrative to appear in early printed book form (1490s). Whilst cheaper paper copies without illustrations would have appealed to a broad readership, more expensive illuminated copies on vellum (calf-skin) were also produced, probably for those like the chief entrepreneur, Louis de Hédouville, and other high-ranking competitors, who wanted their own permanent and luxurious souvenir of the event.

Page from the illuminated early printed book copy on vellum of the Pas des armes de Sandricourt: text and image (painted by hand) were purposely designed to look like an expensive manuscript. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Vélins 1033, fol. B3v. Photo: BnF.