Codex Manesse: a picture of mêlée at a tournament

Melee (from the French mêlée IPA: [mɛle]) generally refers to disorganized close combat involving a group of fighters. A melee ensues when groups become locked together in combat with no regard to group tactics or fighting as an organized unit; each participant fights as an individual. Melée generally means hand-to-hand combat or mano-a-mano. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (654x822, 332 KB) Codex Manesse, fo. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (654x822, 332 KB) Codex Manesse, fo. ... Folio 371r shows Johannes Hadlaub Folio 124r shows Walther von der Vogelweide The Manesse Codex or Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg Library, Cod. ... For other uses, see Close combat (disambiguation). ...

Origin of the term

The French term is the feminine past participle of the verb mêler "to mix". Nominalized, it refers to any confused tangle or agitated scramble, in particular unordered combat. The term descends from Old French meslede, from Vulgar Latin misculāta "mixed", from Latin miscēre "to mix"; compare mélange, milieu. Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300. ... Not to be confused with Latin profanity. ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... In geologic context, mélange is a large scale breccia formed in the accretionary wedge above a subduction zone. ... An environment is a complex of external factors that acts on a system and determines its course and form of existence. ...

Like many other foreign-derived terms used in common English, the word is typically written in American English with the accents omitted, appearing as just "melee" and pronounced (IPA: /ˈmɛleɪ, ˈmeɪleɪ/.

Historical use

During the Middle Ages, tournaments often contained a mêlée consisting of knights fighting one another on foot or while mounted, either divided into two sides or fighting as a free-for-all. The object was to capture opposing knights so that they could be ransomed, and this could be a very profitable business for such skilled knights as William Marshal. There was a tournament ground covering several square miles in northern France to which knights came from all over Europe to prove themselves in quite real combat. This was, in fact, the original form of tournaments and the most popular between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries—jousting being a later development, and one that did not completely displace the mêlée until many more centuries had passed. The original melee was engaged with normal weapons and fraught with as much danger as a normal battle. Rules slowly tempered the danger, but at all times the melee was more dangerous than the joust. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... A Tournament, or tourney (from Old French torneiement, tornei[1]) is the name popularly given to chivalrous competitions or mock fights of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (12th to 16th centuries). ... Jousting is the most well-known use of horses during the medieval era, but was seen in tournaments more than actual battle. ... William Marshal was the greatest jouster of his age. ... Joust redirects here. ...

Modern use

The term melee has been extended to refer to other forms of combat such as a naval or armor battle that is fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. The Battle of Trafalgar became a mêlée when the British ships broke the French and Spanish line, precipitating a ship-to-ship battle. In this instance, the mêlée was planned; Admiral Nelson used the superior fighting qualities of his crews to offset the greater French and Spanish numbers. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is a military vehicle, protected by armour and armed with weapons. ... Combatants United Kingdom First French Empire Kingdom of Spain Commanders Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson † Pierre Charles Silvestre de Villeneuve Strength 27 ships of the line and 6 others. ... Lord Nelson Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (September 29, 1758 – October 21, 1805) was a British admiral who won fame as a leading naval commander. ...

Melee is occasionally used to describe disorganized groups of people and vehicles, such as mobs, mosh pits, and traffic jams. The Trikke is a Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) Automobiles are among the most commonly used engine powered vehicles. ... A throng of people returning from a show of fireworks spill in to the street stopping traffic at the intersection of Fulton Street and Gold Street in Lower Manhattan. ... This article or section should be merged with mosh. ... Traffic jams are common in heavily populated areas. ...

It is also used in sport. For example, the Australian Football League has an official (and somewhat controversial) melee rule which is used to fine players involved in on-field brawls, regardless of whether they throw punches or are simply pulling their teammates away from the fight. This article is about the national league in Australian rules football. ... Brawling (probably connected with Ger. ...

Use in gameplay

"Melee" (IPA: [meɪleɪ]) has been adopted and popularized as a gaming term to encompass all close-quarter fighting. For instance, gamers will refer to "melee attacks" as opposed to "ranged attacks" in the context of first person shooter, real-time tactics, computer role-playing games, and paper RPGs. Basically the term is used to describe directly striking an opponent at ranges generally less than a few feet with fists, feet, knives, swords, hammers, maces, the butt of a rifle or any other sharp or blunt instrument with the intention of causing harm. This article is about gamers - people who play games. ... A first-person shooter (FPS) is a computer or video game where the players on-screen view of the game world simulates that of the character, and there is some element of shooting involved. ... A destroyer patrols local space around its attached carrier in Nexus: The Jupiter Incident. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about games in which one plays the role of a character. ...

There is a term deathmatch that, in computer gaming, means (basically) the same as melee meant in historical era - a FFA fight against all other participants. Deathmatch (abbreviated DM) is a widely-used gameplay mode very well integrated into first-person shooter computer games. ... A Free For All link page (FFA) is a web page set up to ostensibly improving the search engine placement of a particular web site. ...

See also

• Mêlée weapon
• List of mêlée weapons
• Mêlée (band)
• Mêlée Island
• Hastilude
• Hand-to-hand combat
• Close Quarters Battle