What are some event knights might participate in during a tournament?

Answer 1

When someone says"medieval tournament," most people think of a jousting tournament. But a not as well known tournament (which is just called a tournament and therefore is what you are asking about) is where a huge group of knights splits into two teams and has a sham battle (although it's not much different from a real battle) over a large area, like an entire countryside. People have said that the battles could cause great destruction where it happened, but it may be exaggerated. It may also not be exaggerated, for it was banned entirely except by royal permission. In addition, churches would not bury knights that died in tournaments. (See also: Why did knights have tournaments?)

But you may be asking about a jousting tournament. In a joust, two knights on horses faced each other on either sides of an approximately 50-yard field. There was a fence in the middle of the field the that ran almost the entire length. The knights ran their horses along this fence at each other. One knight was on one side of the fence and the other knight on the other side. They were armed with lances and small shields. The lances were dulled to prevent anyone from being killed (it didn't always work). The knights then tried to unseat each other with the lances. The contest rules were usually single-elimination. That means that the losing knight was disqualified. The winning knight fought another winning knight and so on until there was one knight left, who was the winner. The jousting tournament may have also been used to decide fights between two armies without a real battle.