Falcons, polecats and swords: Arundel Castle International Joust Week in pictures

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

William Axtell reports from the sunny opening Tuesday of this year's skirmishes at Arundel Castle

Shining armour, swords and ladies in bright colours abounded on the first day of Arundel's International Joust Week.

The first event was a competition of hunting skill, MC'd by Lady Kate Vigurs with the assistance of Lady Kyle Van Dolah-Evans.

The competition involved unarmoured knights taking on a number of challenges such as catching rings on a lance and shooting arrows from horseback.

Callum the sack boy was loving the event until...

After a winner had been decided, it was time for the first session of jousting.


"First and Foremost, my job is to look magnificent," said last year's individual tournament champion, Andrew Deane, riding out as Knight Marshall. "My second job is to explain to you how magnificent I look."

He also had to attend to the small matter of refereeing the joust.

The first contest was between Darth Rimmer of England and Luc Petillot of France.

More than England v France, it was the dark side of The Force v the light as Darth and Luc fought it out. In a tight competition, Darth snatched victory by one point, scoring 18 to Luc's 17.

The jousting took a break as the first session of foot combat began on the American Ground.

The Kingdoms of France and Poland took each other on a series of one-to-one and melee scraps.

The highlight was when the Polish captain challenged the French captain to a duel with mighty two-handed great swords.

Living history exhibits in the Medieval Encampment contrasted the ring of swords and thunder of hooves so I visited some of the

A wealth of interesting displays included a weapons stands, complete with battle-weary soldiers happy to show the very real dents in their armour, an embroidery table and a field kitchen testing out ancient recipes - including, later in the week, Medieval pasta.

The kitchen was also responsible for looking after Podge, a polecat who would have been used either to flush out rabbits for bored Lords or to keep the pantries so clean of vermin any CV with "cat" in the title would have been tossed straight in the bin.

By now, falconry was taking place on the American Ground, with a selection of owls and raptors swooping over the fields.

Midge the kestrel performed superbly but Busby the barn owl had other ideas, frequently flying out of the field and at one point right into Arundel village.

As Busby was finally coaxed home, the day was coming to an end and I returned to the Lower Lawns for a final session of jousting.

It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

• The International Joust Week continues every day until its conclusion on Sunday, July 26. For more information see the Arundel Castle website.

Read Culture24's top ten re-enactments and living history events this summer.

Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/art532579-falcons-polecats-and-swords-arundel-castle-international-joust-week-in-pictures