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Armored Combat Heroes: Jaques de Lalaing, |
Modern tournament fighters should know their history, and the legends of our own sport. Not knowing Jacques de Lalaing, the Knight of Tears, would be like a modern MMA fighter not knowing who Royce Gracie is. He was, supposedly, the greatest tournament knight ever to fight in the list. He was tough, skilled, and noble to his legions of defeated opponents. When looking for inspiration while training, look to The Knight of Tears. |
 Jacques de Lalaing: Credited with giving start to the famous Feats of Arms. This was a pre-arranged series of ‘friendly’ duels fought in full armor with live steel. |
Jacques was a French knight from Burgundy, born to an upstanding noble family, and by twenty years old he had set himself apart by distinguishing himself at a dozen tournaments. He became a knight-errant, and traveled the world with his men-at-arms, looking for other knights who might test his skills. This eventually brought him to Scotland, where he, his uncle, and his squire fought a combat against three members of the Douglas clan. Sound familiar?
They fought three on three until one side was hurled bodily to the ground, yielded, or the royalty watching stopped the combat. Jacques was victorious in the melee, defeating the opponent he lined up with and then teaming up with his uncle to drive the others, back.
They fought three on three until one side was hurled bodily to the ground, yielded, or the royalty watching stopped the combat. Jacques was victorious in the melee, defeating the opponent he lined up with and then teaming up with his uncle to drive the others, back.
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Later, in Bruges, he fought an English squire, named Thomas, with pole-arms. The squire had brought a pole-arm he favored, but the judges were reluctant to let him use it. It was heavy, larger than most, and wickedly sharp. Thomas whined that it was unfair, and he would be at a disadvantage using a weapon he was unfamiliar with. Jacques couldn’t be bothered to care. He allowed Thomas to use the illegal weapon, and they started the match. |
The squire swung at him with the back-spike, impaling Jacque’s wrist, but it barely slowed the knight down. He beat the squire senseless, blood dripping from his mangled wrist. Even Thomas’ illegally sharp and heavy pole-arm couldn’t save him from the skill and savage tenacity of Jacques de Lalaing.
Approaching thirty years of age, Jacques looked to take on a new challenge. He set up a Passage of Arms in France, near a fountain wrought in the shape of a weeping woman. Donning a surcoat patterned with blue tears, he dubbed himself the Knight of Tears, and sought to fight thirty men before his thirtieth year on earth. No one had the guts to challenge him for three whole months, but finally challengers began to arrive, and soon he had seven challengers from across Europe. He smashed all comers with lance, sword, or pole-arm, and came away from the event undefeated. This got him invited into the legendary Order of the Golden Fleece, a chivalric organization that the king consulted on all his martial endeavors. |
 Jacques de Lalaing: Order of the Golden Fleece |
The Revolt of Ghent on July 3, 1453
Unmatched man-to-man his entire life, Jacques finally fell to cannon-fire during the Revolt of Ghent on July 3, 1453, fighting for Philip the Good.
Assumably his foes were too terrified to come within sword-range of him, so they just shot at him with cannons until they succeeded in putting him down.
Phillip the Good, so enraged over Jacques’ death, executed everyone in the castle that Jacques died attacking.
Thus ended the life of a true champion, and the model for every modern armored combat warrior.
Assumably his foes were too terrified to come within sword-range of him, so they just shot at him with cannons until they succeeded in putting him down.
Phillip the Good, so enraged over Jacques’ death, executed everyone in the castle that Jacques died attacking.
Thus ended the life of a true champion, and the model for every modern armored combat warrior.
