Eglinton Tournament

At the time views were mixed Whatever opinion may be formed of the success of the Tournament, as an imitation of ancient manners and customs, we heard only one feeling of admiration expressed at the gorgeousness of the whole scene, considered only as a pageant.

Even on Wednesday, when the procession was seen to the greatest possible disadvantage, the dullest eye glistened with delight as the lengthy and stately train swept into the marshalled lists.

[6] Gothic novels, such as The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole (1717–1797) and the many works of Sir Walter Scott popularised the idea of passionate romanticism and praise of chivalric ideals.

"[10][11] In 1838 Whig Prime Minister Lord Melbourne announced that the coronation of Queen Victoria would not include the traditional medieval-style banquet in Westminster Hall.

Seeking to disempower the monarchy in particular and romantic ideology and politics in general was a normal activity for the Whig party, so, in the face of recession, the more obviously anachronistic parts of the coronation celebrations would be considered an extravagance.

Furthermore, memories of embarrassing mishap at George IV's Westminster Hall banquet were still fresh;[12] uproar having resulted when, at the end of the proceedings, people tried to obtain valuable tableware as souvenirs.

[13] Although there was some popular support for government refusal to hold the traditional event, there were "many complaints and various public struggles, as well as on the part of the antiquaries, as on that of the tradesmen of the metropolis".

[15] However, it was not just the ancient Great Feast itself which had been cancelled but also other rituals which traditionally were not paid for by the state anyway such as the throwing down of the gauntlet by the Queen's Champion, and his symbolic presentation to her of two falcons.

Lord Eglinton's own stepfather, Sir Charles Lamb, as Knight Marshal of the Royal Household, would have led his horse into the Great Hall of Westminster as part of one of these colourful and widely loved rituals.

On 4 August 1838, the "Court Journal" printed a rumour that the Earl of Eglinton, was going to host a great jousting tournament at his castle in Scotland.

[18] At first the suggestion was that mediaeval games would be held at the next private race meeting at Eglinton, including the ceremony of the challenge carried out by a knight clad in armour.

[23] The dress rehearsals were held in London at a garden behind the Eyre Arms, St John's Wood,[24] a tavern close to Regent's Park,[25] the last one on Saturday 13 July 1839.

[27] With only two months to live, Lady Flora Hastings wrote in 1839 to her mother on the subject of the upcoming Eglinton Tournament, expressing her concern that one of the knights might be killed in the violent sport.

[28] On the other hand, the Whigs, the social reformers, and the Utilitarians expressed outrage at such a fantasy at a time when the economy was in a shambles, when poverty was rampant and many workers were starving.

Whatever Eglinton's original intent, the tournament was symbolic of romantic defiance in the face of the spirit of revolution that was frightening so much of old guard Europe during the second quarter of the 19th century.

[31] With a turnout two orders of magnitude greater than expected (the final estimate was a crowd of one hundred thousand),[32] area transportation and lodgings were overwhelmed.

[34] The new railway from Ayr to Irvine had just opened to the public on 5 August 1839, and it now charged thrice the normal fee; people fought for the tickets, as it was the only transport guaranteed to deposit them only a few miles from the castle.

Dismounting thence, we changed after a time into divers coaches and cars, and turning into a romantic and wooded road, passed close by the lodge of the Castle of the Lord of the Tourney."

After looking round the busy preparations, he returned to Irvine and found lodgings in a private house across the street from Seagate Castle, then next morning made his way to the tournament.

[37] The tournament was held near Eglinton Castle, eight miles from the west coast of Scotland in Ayrshire, an imitation Gothic, an 18th-century Georgian mansion with battlements and turrets added.

Just at the moment when the parade was finally arranged — just as Lady Somerset, the Queen of Beauty, was heralded by trumpets — there was a flash of lightning, a great crash of thunder, and the black clouds of Ayrshire let loose with a sudden and violent rainstorm.

[44] Lord Eglinton immediately ordered the ladies into carriages,[45] but the knights and their entourages, soon soaked in the squall and covered in mud, marched into the lists down a parade route lined by the umbrella bearing audience.

[47] Pratt's grandstand roof, was a work of art in splendid scarlet, but, after days of rain and now in a new rainstorm of freak severity, it started to leak badly.

Astley's Amphitheatre in London used it to promote their own medieval reenactment, which was a commercial success, and the tournament was parodied in a pantomime at Covent Garden.

Panoramas illustrated the tournament, using long strips of painted canvas wound round a tube and slowly unwound to give a view of the event.

[59] As 1989 was the 150th anniversary of the tournament, the staff of the newly opened Eglinton Country Park organised a re-enactment which ran over a period of three days in August of that year.

In May 2011 East Ayrshire Council held an exhibition entitled 1839 a Gothic adventure at the Dick Institute, Kilmarnock and published a book with that title.