Running at the ring, riding at the ring or tilting at the ring is an equestrian tournament activity originally practiced at European royal courts and likely derived from other lance games like quintain. It gained new popularity at Natural Chimneys near Mount Solon, Virginia, possibly as early as the 1820s,Andrew Jenner, 'The Fading Glory of America’s (Allegedly) Oldest Sporting Event', Modern Farmer, 9 October 2014 and since 1962, has been the state sport of Maryland.Robert Shosteck, Weekend Getaways Around Washington (Pelican, 2004), p. 440: James Chambers, Holidays Around the World: Sith Edition (Infobase, 2018), no. 1537: Helmut Nickel, 'Hunting, Gaming, and Sports', The Secular Spirit: Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages (New York: Dutton, 1975), pp. 207-208: A similar contest, the corrida de sortija, is held in Argentina where it is considered a gaucho sport derived from the Spanish tradition of medieval tournaments.
Description
Participants rode at full speed to thrust the point of the lance through a ring or to hook a ring and carry it off. A performer was allowed three attempts.Alan Young, Tudor and Jacobean Tournaments (London, 1987), 28–29. The French author and riding master Antoine de Pluvinel published descriptions and the rules. The lance was shorter than those used for jousting, and had no protective vamplate.Robert Clephan, Medieval Tournament (London, 1919), 7.
Costumed court festival This version of a lance game or quintain could be played in teams, and the riders sometimes dressed in exotic fancy costume as a spectacle at weddings or other court festivals. Costumes for a 1570 tournament in Prague were designed by Giuseppe Arcimboldo.Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, Arcimboldo: Visual Jokes, Natural History, and Still-Life Painting (University of Chicago, 2009), p. 66. At Munich in February 1568, at a match held at the wedding of Renata of Lorraine and William V, Duke of Bavaria, the spectators were entertained by the costumed aristocratic riders and professional Italian comedians.M. A. Katritzky, The Art of Commedia: A Study in the Commedia Dell'Arte 1560–1620 (Rodopi, 2006), pp. 46–48, 101. Henry of Navarre bought steel rings and painted lances for a masquerade in 1576.Paul Raymond, "Notes Extraites des Comptes de Jeanne D'Albret", Revue d'Aquitaine et des Pyrénées, 11 (1867), p. 393 There are many records of running at the ring at the Scottish and Tudor courts. At court, the prize was often a diamond ring presented by a lady.Clare McManus, Women on the Renaissance Stage: Anna of Denmark and Female Masquing in the Stuart Court 1590–1618 (Manchester, 2002), p. 85: David Bergeron, 'Are we turned Turks? English Pageants and the Stuart Court', Comparative Drama, 44: 3 (Fall 2010), pp. 259-260: The Plays of Philip Massinger, 1 (New York, 1831), p. 109 fn.
Present day sport A tournament of tilting at the ring continues to be held in Denmark at Sønderborg annually in July and the Ringridermuseet is dedicated to the sport. It is also a tradition to have variations of this game at summer get-togethers in small Danish villages. Here they will often use anything but a horse, such as bike, lawnmower, tractor or even other people.Tilting at the Ring: Visit Sønderjylland Modern ring tilting tournaments have also been held in Croatian Istria since at least the 1970s.. It is also practised in the province of Zeeland, The Netherlands.
Running at the ring, usually referred to as a ring tournament, ring jousting, or simply as jousting, has been practiced in parts of the American South since at least the 1840s. Ring tournaments are still held in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, but most frequently in Maryland, which made this form of jousting its state sport in 1962.
Tudor tournaments Costume fabrics for Henry VIII of England to run at the ring at Greenwich Palace in January and February 1516 included velvets, damasks, satins, and sarcenets.J. S. Brewer, 'The King's Book of Payments, 1516', Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, 1515-1516, volume 2 (London, 1864), p. 1469. He performed at Richmond Palace for the Venetian ambassador in May 1517.Rawdon Brown, Calendar of State Papers Venice, vol. 2 (London, 1867), p. 395 no. 911. It was said that Anne Boleyn was frightened when Henry fell from his horse while running at the ring, and this caused her miscarriage.William Douglas Hamilton, A Chronicle of England During the Reigns of the Tudors, 1 (Camden Society, 1875), p. 33.
In February 1547, English soldiers at Boulogne held a tournament to celebrate the coronation of Edward VI. Instead of tilting, they held courses of running at the ring. One team of six were dressed "like Turks".William B. Turnbull, Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Edward VI (London, 1861), pp. 308-310 no. 47. John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland wagered and lost a valuable velvet cap to Jakes Granado, running at the ring at Westminster Palace on 6 June 1550.Henry Thomas Riley, 'Inventory of John, Viscount Lisle', HMC 2nd Report (London, 1870), p. 102. Jacques Granado and his brother Bernardine were Squires of the Stable to Edward VI.Craven Ord, 'Edward Waldegrave's Account of the Burial of Edward VI', Archaeologia, vol. 12 (London, 1796), p. 382.
Edward VI took part in April and May 1551, riding against Edward Seymour, the King's team wore black silk coats "pulled out" with white, the challengers wore yellow taffeta.William K. Jordan, Chronicle and political papers of Edweard VI (Cornell University Press: New York, 1966), p. 61.John Gough Nichols, Diary of Henry Machyn (London: Camden Society, 1848), p. 5 Edward VI rode again at Greenwich in 1552. Roger Ascham wrote that to "run fair at the tilt or ring" was one of the necessary skills "for a courtier to use".Sydney Anglo, Spectacle Pageantry, and Early Tudor Policy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), p. 299: John Gough Williams, Literary Remains of King Edward the Sixth, 1 (London, 1857), pp. lxi, xlix, ccxx, ccxviii: Journal of King Edward's Reign (Clarendon Historical Society, 1884), p. 34.
When the French ambassador, Gilles de Noailles, came to see Elizabeth I at West Horsley Place in Surrey in August 1559,John Nichols, Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, 1 (London, 1823), pp. 75, 291. they watched Robert Dudley, Master of the Horse,Susan Doran, Elizabeth I and Her Circle (Oxford, 2015), p. 119. and other courtiers running at the ring from a window: Noailles wrote:d'alla asseoir prés d'une fenestre, au devant de laquelle son Grand Escuyer, et dix ou onze autres Gentilshommes se tenoient prestz pour luy donner du plaisir à voir courre la BagueWe sat near a window, below which, nearby, her Great Squire [Dudley], and ten or twelve other courtiers ran at the ring for her pleasure.Estelle Paranque, Elizabeth I of England through Valois Eyes (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), pp. 42–43.
In 1655 Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester, included an artificial "ring horse" for running at the ring in his Century of Inventions.Harleian Miscellany, vol. 4 (London, 1745), p. 499 no. 91.
Scottish records Mary, Queen of Scots Mary of Guise, the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, had a son by her first marriage to the Duke of Longueville, François III d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville. François wrote to Mary of Guise from the Palace of Fontainebleau in January 1548, mentioning his exercises wearing armour and running at the ring, courir la bague. He hoped that by learning these martial skills he would be able to help his mother against her enemies.Marguerite Wood, Balcarres Papers, 1 (Edinburgh: SHS, 1923), pp. 176–177.
In December 1561, René II de Lorraine, Marquis d'Elbeuf, with John Stewart, Commendator of Coldingham, Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney,Peter Anderson, Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney Lord of Shetland (Edinburgh, 1982), p. 43. and others, performed in tournaments on the sands of Leith, probably to celebrate the birthday of Mary, Queen of Scots.John Guy, My Heart is My Own: Mary, Queen of Scots (London, 2004), p. 154: Antonia Fraser, Mary Queen of Scots (Phoenix, 2002), p. 232.John Parker Lawson, History of Scotland by Robert Keith, 2 (Edinburgh, 1845), pp. 123, 125Retha Warnicke, Mary Queen of Scots (Routledge, 2006), p. 75. There was running at the ring, with two teams of six men including the French diplomat Paul de Foix, one team dressed as women, the other as exotic foreigners in strange masquing garments.Michael Bath, Emblems in Scotland: Motifs and Meanings (Brill, 2018), pp. 94, 96: Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 576, 579: Clare McManus, Women on the Renaissance stage: Anna of Denmark and Female Masquing in the Stuart Court, 1590-1619 (Manchester, 2002), p. 83. The events, attended by the diplomats Thomas Randolph,John Parker Lawson, History of Scotland by Robert Keith, 2 (Edinburgh, 1845), pp. 125–6 were perhaps the first ring tournaments as equestrian masques in Scotland.John Guy, Mary Queen of Scots: My Heart is My Own (Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 154. Randolph wrote of his conversation with Paul de Foix about the first event:Robert Keith, History of the affairs of church and state in Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1844), pp. 119–120we sett in talke of the pastymes that was Sunday before, where he, Lord Robert, Lord John and others rane at the ringe, 6 against 6, dysguised and appareled th'one half lyke women, and th'other lyke strayngers, in straynge maskinge garmentes. The Marquis that day did verie well, but the women whose part the Lord Roberte dyd sustayne wane the rynge. The Queen herself behylde it and as many others as lyste.Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 576, 579: British Library Cotton Caligula, B. X. fol. 201r.
The Count of Moretta attended the "mirth and pastimes" at the second event at Leith on 6 December 1561.John Hungerford Pollen,Queen Mary's Letter to the Duke of Guise (Edinburgh: SHS, 1904), p. xxxviii: Robert Keith, History of the affairs of church and state in Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1844), p. 125. Thomas Randolph saw Mary, Queen of Scots, watching running at the ring at the sands of Leith again in March 1565.Morgan Ring, So High A Blood: The Life of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (Bloomsbury, 2017), p. 193.Puttick & Simpson, Catalogue of a Very Important Collection of Royal Letters (London, 1859) pp. 12–13 no. 38.Andrew Lang, "New Light on Mary Queen of Scots", Blackwood's Magazine, clxxxii (1907) p. 21 The contestants included Lord Darnley and Lord Robert.Katharine P. Frescoln, 'A Letter from Thomas Randolph to the Earl of Leicester', Huntington Library Quarterly, 37:1 (November 1973), pp. 83-88 at 87 from National Library of Scotland MS 3657. An entertainment written by George Buchanan for the wedding of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Henry, Lord Darnley, the Pompae Equestres, involved the arrival of teams of exotic knights, and may have provided themes for a tournament.Joseph Robertson, Inventaires de la Royne Descosse (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. lxxxiv–lxxxv.
According to Anthony Standen, Lord Darnley organised a tournament of running at the ring to celebrate the birth of Prince James on 19 June 1566. Standen, who was Darnley's Master of Horse, won the prize of a jewel.M. S. Giuseppi, HMC Calendar of the Manuscripts of Marquess of Salisbury, Hatfield, 16 (London, 1933), p. 18.
In May 1567, following his wedding to Mary, Queen of Scots, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, then known as the Duke of Orkney, ran at the ring at a court festival at the Water of Leith or beside the Firth of Forth.John Guy, My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots (Fourth Estate, 2009), pp. 334, 336. According to William Drury, "there was a triumph upon the water before the Queen and the Duke. The Duke ran at the ring, and the soldiers made some show after the manner of a skirmish".Allan J. Crosby, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1566–1568 (London, 1871), p. 237 nos. 1232.
James VI