Turkey: A Knightly tournament in Constantinople as described by Sir John Mandeville, c. 1371.

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, written in 1356/7, became a very popular text, surpassing even the exploits of Marco Polo. The Travels described a journey to Constantinople, Palestine, and Egypt and further routes to Asia Minor, ending at the Great Khan of China. Pictured here is a knightly tournament held in Constantinople. Tournaments were chivalrous competitions based on the melée, a general combat where knights formed two competing sides and charged at each other. In the foreground we see a joust, a single contest between two knights. They are clothed in full armor and bearing weapons and shields. The competitor on the left is trying to unseat his opponent with his lance.