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Tournament Gallery

Interactive map

Click on the interactive map below to explore the Tournament gallery. It may take a few moments to load.

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This gallery introduces some of the contests in which knights once competed, shows some of their fearsome weapons and the special armours they wore for protection. You will also discover some important historical characters too.

Some of the words used about tournaments can be quite difficult, if you find a word you don’t understand then please use our Glossary.

When you have learnt all about tournaments then why not try your hand at being a knight or test your knowledge, with games and quizzes in Tournament Fun.

Of course nothing beats actually seeing the real thing, so why not visit us and see our knights jousting and fighting it out in one of our tournaments.

Want to know more?

The related documents below are free articles from Henry VIII: Arms and the Man. This major publication can be purchased from our shop online.


To read PDF documents you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If you do not currently have it installed you can download Adobe Acrobat Reader here.


  • Published to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the accession of King Henry VIII to the English throne. This definitive publication illustrates and records over 90 Henrician treasures from the Royal Armouries own collections and from around the world.

Scary Horned Helmet

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360' tour of the Tournament gallery

HERITAGE OPEN DAYS

Special weekend activities

11 September

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Did you know?

First commericial steel melting

Benjamin Huntsman of Sheffield is widely credited with the first commercial melting of steel in around 1740, using his crucible process. However, the melting of steel had long been practiced in central Asia and India and was known as Damascus steel.

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