TJ Duquette says being a knight is more than having a “sir” in front of your name.
The 35-year-old who lives in Hamilton, Ont. decided he wanted to be a full-fledged knight when he was in Grade 4. The idea of chivalry and living with a code of honour appealed to him. He said he tries to live up to those ideals every day of his life.
“Paul McCartney and those guys, I don’t really consider them real knights,” he said.
“The combat side is more of a reflection in a sense in how you conduct yourself. If you can go against someone, someone you consider a friend and brother and beat the living snot out of them in an honourable and respectful way then that kind of speaks to a certain level of honour between people.”
Duquette, who is a member of the Knights of Valour, was in the city for Fort William Historical Park’s Celtic Festival. The three-day festival, which started on Friday, featured a number of events including traditional foods, fireworks and live performances big named musicians like Canadian Blues rocker Colin James.
But the live jousting brought in a huge crowd Saturday.
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Hundreds watched as knights in full armor galloped on their horses with lances in hand. The goal of jousting is to strike the opponent with the lance and either breaking the lance, hit the armour or knock the opponent off their horse.
Duquette compared being hit by a lance on horseback to being in a head-on car crash going 60 kilometres an hour.
Duquette, who was sitting on the sidelines because of a shoulder injury, said in order to train for the medieval sport you first need to learn how to ride a horse.
“It takes a lot of work and control,” he said. “It’s very much a partnership. Controlling the lance and actually hitting a guy is probably maybe three or five per cent of what we do. It’s a rush like anything. People go skydiving but I personally wouldn’t jump out of a perfectly good plane but I would put on a suit of armour and beat on other guys.”
The troupe was also featured heavily in the History Channel show Full Metal Jousting. Duquette, who was one of the coaches on the show, said all the horses at the Old Fort were featured in the jousting competitions on the show.
Duquette added audiences are becoming bored with contemporary sports and are looking for something new and different.
Fort William Historical Park general manager Sergio Buonocore the Celtic Fair also is celebrating the fort’s 40th anniversary.
“We really wanted to make a very special event,” he said. “We offer a wonderful living history program, one of the best in North America, we’re one of the top 10 sites in Canada. We’re innovative -- we have the RV park, we have a wilderness island. We’ve diversified and refreshed the program year after year. I think that’s the key to success. You can’t do the same old same old all the time.”
The event wraps up on Sunday around 5 p.m. For more information about events, visit the Fort William Historical Park website.
