The Violent Medieval History Behind the Carousel Ride

If you’ve ridden a mechanized carousel horse, then you’ve felt the nostalgia bygone entertainment can bring. But the carousel isn’t just a souvenir of the age of steam; it carries echoes of medieval war games. Over centuries, combat training shifted from battlefield drills to crowd-pleasing displays, and the carousel eventually sprang from these knightly traditions.

The tournaments from which carousel games emerged began around 1100, when knights started wielding underarm lances instead of spears, according to Alan V. Murray, a professor of medieval European history at the University of Leeds. A block of knights armed with these weapons could be devastating, but charging together took practice. To prepare for the rigors of combat, they started training through mock battles, with mobs of armored and mounted knights charging at each other across miles of countryside.

Starting around 1200, the nature of these events began to shift. Jousts—one-on-one contests between knights—gained popularity as a chance to show off skills as riders and warriors. Jousters galloped down the narrow confines of the tiltyard, an enclosed area designed for tournaments, instead of roaming freely across battlefields.

Tournaments moved from rural locations to cities, drawing crowds of thousands and transforming into grand public spectacles. They also became opportunities for political maneuvering. “Monarchs could use these things as a way of projecting power and authority, but also develop bonds with their own subjects,” says Murray. These events could function as a political display, such as a tournament at Smithfield, London in 1390, when King Richard II of England presided over a contest that included former adversaries—an event symbolizing reconciliation.

Tournaments closely mirrored battles, requiring the same mastery of horsemanship and weaponry. Though they didn’t have standardized rules, they did put limits on violence. One knight might beat another to the ground, but he wouldn’t finish him off with a dagger through gaps in his armor, as would likely happen in true battle. While the potential for injury and royal status initially kept monarchs from participating in jousting, the advent of plate armor significantly reduced those risks. Deaths in tournaments, such as that of King Henry II of France in 1559, came by accident, not design.

While skill was essential, knights were often driven by a mix of money and pride. “One feature of early tournaments is that after you best another knight by capturing him, he has to pay a ransom for himself, his weapons, his armor and even his horse,” explains Jacob H. Deacon, an expert in late medieval and early modern martial culture. As jousting and single combat became more popular, the practice of ransoming faded. Still, participation remained costly. Knights trained hard in hopes of earning glory and prestige, rewards that could elevate their social standing and justify the expense.

Tournaments also offered more than just physical training—they provided crucial psychological preparation for war. Knights grew accustomed to the chaos and discomforts of battle, from weapons hammering against their helmets to being flung off a horse. They also bonded by fighting alongside and against local opponents, building camaraderie for war. “You’ve fought alongside these people, you know what they can do, you trust them, and you’re less likely to abandon them in a real fight," says Deacon.

While tournaments bankrupted some knights, they made others famous. A team led by William Marshal, one of the most celebrated knights of the medieval era, reportedly captured over 100 opponents in a single tournament season. His prowess elevated him to national renown and eventually made him regent of England during the minority reign of King Henry III.

"As tournaments went on, they would often be interspersed with different entertainments,” says Murray. “In between the jousting you’d get people acting out pageants and plays.” This evolved in the 15^th century into its most elaborate form, the pas d’armes, which combined combat with theatrical spectacle. As these events became more about showmanship than the realities of war, a pas d’armes could feature anything from trumpeters dressed as bears to shields that exploded when struck, all to add to the drama.

In the 16^th and 17^th centuries, firearms made knightly skills less central to warfare, but war games continued. King Henry VIII of England spent fortunes on tournaments and the equipment to fight in them. These events took place in Europe under the title of “carousel,” with a growing emphasis on spectacle over combat. They included colorful costumes and crests, and some activities drew inspiration from Turkish and Arab horseback games. Knights might charge targets called quintains or catch dangling rings on lances while galloping at full speed; a practice called "running the ring." These exercises became public displays for less warlike knights.

But as tournaments became more spectacular, they also became more expensive. “People would spend huge amounts of money,” says Murray, “not only on the equipment they needed, the armor and horses and so on, but the whole infrastructure that went with it, setting up the pavilions and the grandstands.” According to Deacon, by 1610, noblemen were spending £1000 each to take part in a tournament—enough to pay for 20,000 days’ wages for a skilled tradesman. The horsemanship that won jousts was still useful, but not as vital as it had been, and costs increasingly outweighed benefits.

By the 17^th century, jousts were coming to an end. England saw its last royal tournament in 1625. Because of gunpowder and mass warfare, heavily armored knights weren’t part of military formations anymore. Yet the legacy of these martial spectacles did not vanish. The village of Offham in Kent, England, for example, maintained a quintain used for centuries and still celebrates during May Day festivals. It remains a local landmark in the 21^st century, though riders now tilt at a replica during celebrations. “This part of jousting history lasts longer than the tournament itself,” Deacon says.

From the late 18th century onward, a new form of entertainment emerged: the mechanical carousel. This spinning amusement ride, featuring elaborately decorated horses, borrowed its name and many of the visual aspects of tournament traditions. Crowds once again cheered as riders caught brass rings at a gallop. The high stakes of warfare were gone, but excitement and spectacle were revived for the modern world.