Man snatches sword from jousting event and is caught by medieval wench

The incident happened at the Colorado Renaissance Fair

The man was tackled by a woman dressed in medieval costume

Oh, how one longs for the days of yore, when men were honourable and there was none of this knavish nonsense to hand.

So too, must the police in Colorado, who were called to deal with an apparently drunk spectator at the state's Renaissance Festival, who gate-crashed a jousting contest and allegedly made off with a sword.

But the would-be swordsman did not get far, police said. Rather, he was tackled by a medieval wench, or at least a woman dressed like one. She held him down until police arrived.

Connor Ward

“I thought they were playing until she took him down in a headlock,” Steve Chapman, a freelance photographer who witnessed the event, told the Denver Post.

Sgt Rich Hanavan, a spokeswoman for the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, told The Independent 22-year-old Connor Ward was arrested on suspicion of theft and attempted assault on a police officer, after he allegedly resisted while being handcuffed.

"He jumped over and grabbed the sword," he said. "Someone there stopped him."

Ms Sherman said it appeared that Mr Ward was drunk. She said a police report noted that Mr Ward’s friend stopped him from running away, but Mr Chapman said he saw the woman dressed in period costume bring him down. Indeed, there are photographs to show it.