The quintain, also known as pavo, may have included a number of lance games, often used as a training aid for jousting, where the competitor would attempt to strike a stationary object with a lance. The common object was a shield or board on a pole, although a mannequin was sometimes used. It was not unknown for a seated armoured knight to act as the target.
Tilting on horseback at a replica quintain on Offham Green, Kent 1976
A modern take on the quintain: Golden Gate Renaissance fair, San Francisco, California (2008)
Illustration by Hasted of Quintain on Offham Green, Kent 1798
Quintain on Offham Green with crocuses 2006
Jousting is a medieval and renaissance martial game or hastilude between two combatants either on horse or on foot. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism.
Renaissance-era depiction of a joust in traditional or "high" armour, based on then-historical late medieval armour (Paulus Hector Mair, De arte athletica, 1540s)
Depiction of a late 13th-century joust in the Codex Manesse. Joust by Walther von Klingen.
Depiction of a standing joust in an Alsatian manuscript of ca. 1420 (CPG 359); protection for the legs of the riders is integrated into the horse armour.
The Stechzeug of John the Constant (c. 1500). The shield strapped to his left shoulder is called an ecranche.
