Conquest — Season 1, Episode 1: Tournament
Documentary • 30 min • 2 seasons, 28 episodes • ★ 7.0/10
Episode synopsis
One of the quintessential images of medieval life, the tournament lasted well into Tudor times. Actor and fight master Peter Woodward investigates the purpose of these extraordinary and colorful events and how its many forms--the foot tourney, joust on horseback, the melee--developed from the ancient trial of combat. Our team experiments with weapons and armor designed for tournament, examines the rules of combat and the notion of chivalry, and joins a medieval tournament team for a joust on horseback! TV PG
About Conquest
Conquest is a TV show on the History Channel hosted by Peter Woodward. In each 30 minute episode, Woodward teaches his small group of assistants a particular type of weapon, or a set of weapons from a particular time period, while demonstrating their function, describing their comparative advantages and disadvantages, and discussing their history. Episodes have ranged widely across history, from "Stone-Age Weapons" to "Air Combat" and even including "Unarmed Combat". As examples of the broad spectrum, Roman weapons and tactics, SWAT tactics and ninjutsu have all featured.