The Westminster Tournament Challenge

The Westminster Tournament Challenge was the invitation to the 1511 Westminster Tournament, the joust held on 12 and 13 February 1511 in honour of the birth a son Prince Henry to Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII on New Year's Day.

Written in the form of an allegory, The Challenge begins by introducing the four challengers who have come from the realm of Cuere Noble to ‘accomplish certain feates of Armes. ’ in honour of the ‘byrthe of a yong prynce'. Each challenger is given an allegorical name: Sir William Courtenay as Bone voloyr, Sir Edward Neville as Joyous panser, Sir Thomas Knyvet as Vailliaunt desyre, and Henry VIII as Cuere loyall. This is followed by a description of the tournament's allegorical theme along with the rules and regulations to which the challengers and answerers will adhere. It concludes with the signatures of those who took part over the two days of the joust.

The Challenge, was commissioned by Henry VIII and produced by the workshop of Thomas Wriothesley. It is on a single piece of parchment, measuring 460 mm x 354 mm, held in the manuscript collection of the British Library (Cart. Harl. Antiq. 83 H 1). It is written in the chancery hand style; Sydney Anglo has produced a complete transcription of The Challenge's text

Edward Hall's Chronicle mentions the challenge as a "goodly table" displayed at the tournament on an artificial tree. Henry Ellis first published the text in 1827.

Signatures
The manuscript appears to have been displayed at the tournament and signed on two days. In the original spelling, for the first day: Henry R; Rychard de Gray; Thomas Cheyney; William Par; Robert Morton; Richard Blunt; Thomas Tyrell; Sir Rowland; Cristoffer Wyloughby (son of Christopher Willoughby, 10th Baron Willoughby de Eresby).

For the second day: Thomas Howard; Charles Brandon; Henry Stafford, erll of Whyllsyre; Lord Marquis; John Grey; Sir Thomas Boleyn; Henry Guildford; John Melton; Gryffyth Don; Edmund Howard; Leonard Graey; Ric. Tempest; Thomas Lucy.

Fabrics and costume featured the royal initials, "H" and "K". The costumes of some of these participants were described in Hall's Chronicle. The Marquess of Dorset and Sir Thomas Boleyn wore emblems of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. The Earl of Wiltshire wore cloth of silver and brought a tree of pomegranates, an emblem of Catherine of Aragon.