Tobias Capwell continues his history of jousting through surviving artefacts at the Royal Armouries. He reveals how the jousts and tournaments of the Renaissance transported knightly combat into a performance art, with demonstrations of aristocratic skill, superhuman strength and cutting-edge equipment.

The Renaissance is best known as an age of artists – Michelangelo, da Vinci, Titian and Holbein – but it is also the age of the noble patrons who challenged their painters and sculptors to create great art. These patrons were knights, military leaders and jousters. They played a central role in the story of another great Renaissance story, that of the armourer. Here, Tobias Capwell continues his history of jousting seen through surviving artefacts in the collection of 7786. He reveals how the jousts and tournaments of the Renaissance transported knightly combat into a kind of performance art, with demonstrations of aristocratic skill and nerve, of superhuman strength and superlative horsemanship – and of cutting-edge equipment.