Court Celebrations: Catherine of Lancaster and the Joust

As traced in Chapter 3 , royal events were often depicted with celebrationsCelebration which were staged like pageants. Along with royal marriages, royal births and their anniversaries were typically celebrated by the whole court and marked with jousts, mummingMumming, tableaux, and a range of performativePerformancePerformative activitiesPerformanceMumming; Pageant. Catherine of Lancaster attended many jousts, including one held in Portugal to celebrate Philippa of Lancaster's wedding and one to celebrate her own nuptials. She belonged to the Order of the Garter.  She understood chivalry well. The jibing dezir (PN1-286),written by Ferrán Manuel de Lando, has some qualities in common with the Jousting letters (Edinburgh University MS 183, 'Royal Letter Book').  The Jousting Letters record how knights were invited to the joust and reveal the disguisings and theatricality jousts entailed at the court of Edward III.