Largest tournament (military contest)

The largest medieval tournament was held at Lagny-sur-Marne in November 1179 to mark the coronation of King Phillip II of France. According to accounts published in the years after the event, there were as many as 3,000 knights taking part in the event.

The primary source of information on this tournament is the biography of William Marshal (Guillaume de Marechal), a veteran tournament fighter and mentor to Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England. His biography was commissioned after his death in 1219, but includes many details about the size of knightly retinues, events and the heraldry of those present, which has led scholars to believe that the writer had access to some kind of "roll of honour" or official report on the event.

While the figure of 3,000 is likely an exaggeration, it is plausible that this would have been a tournament of exceptional size. The diplomatic importantance of the event would have drawn noblemen from across Europe, and it is known that the four most enthusiastic tournament patrons of the period -- Henry the Young King of England; Phillip, Count of Flanders; Balwin V of Hainault; and Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy -- were all present. Young Henry's retinue alone comprised some 200 knights.

Although the later Field of the Cloth of Gold (held in the same region in 1520 to celebrate a peace treaty between England and France) was a larger spectacle, with tens of thousands of people involved, the actual tournament was quite small. The total number of particpants is thought to have been somewhere between 220 and 300 men.