__NOTOC__ The () or passage of arms was a type of chivalric hastilude that evolved in the late 14th century and remained popular through the 15th century. It involved a knight or group of

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

s (' or "holders") who would stake out a traveled spot, such as a bridge or city gate, and let it be known that any other knight who wished to pass (' or "comers") must first fight, or be disgraced. If a traveling venan did not have weapons or horse to meet the challenge, one might be provided, and if the venan chose not to fight, he would leave his

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

s behind as a sign of humiliation. If a lady passed unescorted, she would leave behind a glove or scarf, to be rescued and returned to her by a future knight who passed that way. Orbigo Bridge

The origins of can be found in a number of factors. During the 14th and 15th centuries the chivalric idea of a noble knight clashed with new more deadly forms of warfare, as seen during the Hundred Years' War, when peasants armed with longbows could damage and wound knights anonymously from a distance, breaking traditional rules of chivalry; and cavalry charges could be broken by

pikemen A pike is a very long thrusting spear formerly used in European warfare from the Late Middle Ages and most of the Early Modern Period, and were wielded by foot soldiers deployed in pike square formation, until it was largely replaced by bayon ...

formations introduced by the Swiss. At the same time, the noble classes began to differentiate themselves, in many ways, including through reading courtly literature such as the very popular

chivalric romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalri ...

s of the 12th century. For the noble classes the line between reality and fiction blurred, the deeds they read about were real, while their deeds in reality were often deadly, if not comical, re-enactments of those they read about. This romanticised "Chivalric Revival" manifested itself in a number of ways, including the , round table and (or , enterprise, chivalrous adventure), and in increasingly elaborate rules of courtesy and heraldry. There are many thousands of accounts of during this period. One notable and special account is that of Suero de Quiñones, who in 1434 established the ("Pass geof Honour") at the Órbigo bridge in the Kingdom of León (today's Castile and León in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

). This road was used by pilgrims from all over Europe on the way to shrine at

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of S ...

. Suero and ten knights promised to "break 300 lances" before relinquishing the , jousting for over a month, as chronicled in great detail by town notary Don Luis Alonso Luengo, later published as . After 166 battles, de Quiñones and his men were so injured they could not continue and declared the mission complete. Suero de Quiñones became legendary, and was mentioned in ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

'', the 1605

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

on the notion of romantic chivalry out of touch with reality.

List of ''pas d'armes''

* (1428) * Suero de Quiñones' (Órbigo, 1434) * (

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

, 1443) * (1445) * (around 1445) * ( Nancy, 1445)Gabriel Bianciotto, ''Le roman de Troyle'', université de Rouen, 1994, p. 147. * (1446) * (

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audoma ...

, 1449) * (1449) * ( Chalon-sur-Saône, 1449–1450) * (

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

, 1454) * (1455) * (1463) * (

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

, (1463) *, (

, 1468) * (

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

, 1470)

Footnotes

Sources

*Odile Blanc,
Les stratégies de la parure dans le divertissement chevaleresque
'. In: Communications, 46, 1987. Parure pudeur étiquette, sous la direction de Olivier Burgelin, Philippe Perrot et Marie-Thérèse Basse. pp. 49–65. . * Sébastien Nadot, ''Joutes, emprises et pas d'armes en Bourgogne, Castille et France, 1428–1470'', thèse de doctorat soutenue à l'EHESS Paris en avril 2009. * Sébastien Nadot, ''Rompez les lances ! Chevaliers et tournois au Moyen Age'', Editions autrement, Paris, 2010. * Riquer, Martín de (1967). ''Caballeros andantes españoles''. Madrid: Editorial Espasa-Calpe.

External links

* Brian R. Price (1996)
What is ''Pas d'Armes''?Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts
(AEMMA), Toronto, Canada. Chivalry 15th century in Europe

List of ''pas d'armes''

See also

Footnotes

Sources

Further reading

External links