Pas d'armes

The origins of can be found in a number of factors. During the 14th and 15th centuries the chivalric idea of a noble knight clashed with new more deadly forms of warfare, as seen during the Hundred Years' War, when commoner yeomanry armed with longbows could attack noble knights anonymously from a distance, breaking traditional rules of chivalry, and cavalry charges by knights could be broken by the pikemen formations introduced by the Swiss. At the same time, the noble classes began to differentiate themselves, in many ways, including through reading courtly literature such as the very popular chivalric romances of the 12th century. For the noble classes the line between reality and fiction blurred, the deeds they read about were real, while their deeds in reality were often deadly, if not comical, re-enactments of those they read about. This romanticised "Chivalric Revival" manifested itself in a number of ways, including the , round table and (or , enterprise, chivalrous adventure), and in increasingly elaborate rules of courtesy and heraldry. ==Accounts==

There are many thousands of accounts of during this period. One notable and special account is that of Suero de Quiñones, who in 1434 established the ("Pass[age] of Honour") at the Órbigo bridge in the Kingdom of León (today's Castile and León in Spain). This road was used by pilgrims from all over Europe on the way to shrine at Santiago de Compostela. Suero and ten knights promised to "break 300 lances" before relinquishing the , jousting for over a month, as chronicled in great detail by town notary Don Luis Alonso Luengo, later published as . After 166 battles, de Quiñones and his men were so injured they could not continue and declared the mission complete. Suero de Quiñones became legendary, and was mentioned in Don Quixote, the 1605 satire on the notion of romantic chivalry out of touch with reality. ==List of ''pas d'armes''==

• (1428) • Suero de Quiñones' (Órbigo, 1434) • (Dijon, 1443) • (1445) • (around 1445) • (Nancy, 1445) • (1446) • (Saint-Omer, 1449) • (1449) • (Chalon-sur-Saône, 1449–1450) • (Lille, 1454) • (1455) • (1463) • (Bruges, (1463) • , (Bruges, 1468) • (Ghent, 1470) ==See also==