Medieval Games

Medieval Games as amusement

In exploring the Medieval Games, we'll just find out that the people of those times were no different from us, as they were fond of public amusements and they did their best to make their time pass agreeably.

Equestrian Performance-13th Century

At village feasts not only wrestling matches took place, but also combats with sticks or birch boughs. Two men, blindfolded, each armed with a stick, and holding in his hand a rope fastened to a stake, entered the arena, and went round and round trying to strike at a fat goose or a pig which was also let loose with them.  Nothing amused our ancestors more than these blind encounters, and even kings took part at these burlesque representations.

Medieval Games of skill and strength

Besides the games engaged for the amusement of the spectators, there were Medieval Games in which the actors took greater pleasure than the spectators themselves.  These were especially the games of strength and skill, much in vogue among all classes.  Wrestling, running races, high and wide jumping, leap-frog, games of ball of all sorts, gymnastics, and all the other exercises strengthening the body and which were long in use among the youth of the nobility, became also the favorites of the bourgeois and villagers.

Playing Tennis

The Medieval Games, ancestors of the modern games

In the 14th Century, the game of billiards was in great repute. It resembled the modern one only in name, as it was played on a level piece of ground with wooden balls which were struck with hooked sticks and mallets.

Variations of Football, like la Soule or Soulette in France, or Calcio in Italy, were also popular. La Soule was played using a large ball of hay covered over with leather, the possession of which was contested by two opposing teams.

The Medieval Games of chance

The Medieval Games of chance were always popular, although they were forbidden both by ecclesiastical and royal authority. New laws were continually being enacted against them, especially against those in which dice were used, though with little avail. It appears more likely that dice were first forbidden by the Church, and then by civil authorities, on account of the fearful oaths uttered by those players who had a run of bad luck. It was very common for people to ruin themselves at this game, and, as a proof, the poems of troubadours are full of imprecations against the fatal chance of dice.

Playing Chess

The games of cards like Triomphe, Piquet, Trente-et-un were much in fashion in France, and as much forbidden as dice. However, they were played in taverns and even at the court. Loaded dice and false cards were not uncommon, as many were cheating for a living.

On the opposite side were the games requiring skill and calculation. Generally known as Tables, they comprised all the games played on a board, particularly chess, draughts, and backgammon.

In France, it was Charles V who first thought of giving a more serious and useful character to the Medieval Games, and who, in a celebrated edict forbidding the games of chance, encouraged the establishment of companies of archers and bowmen.  These companies, to which was subsequently added that of arquebusiers, still exists, especially in the French Northern provinces.