A Cultural History of Sport in the Medieval Age

Book excerpt: A cultural history of sport in the Medieval Age covers the period 600 to 450. Lacking any viable ancient models, sport evolved into two distinct forms, divided by class. Male and female artistocrats hunted and knights engaged in jousting and tournaments, transforming increasingly outdated modes of warfare into brilliant spectacle. Meanwhile, simpler sports provided recreational distraction from the dangerously unsettled conditions of everyday life. Running, jumping, wrestling, and many ball games - soccer, cricket, baseball, golf, and tennis - had their often violent beginnings in this period. A Cultural History of Sport presents the first extensive history from classical antiquity to today, covering all forms and aspects of sport. Chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six. The themes (and chapter titles) are: The purpose of sport; sporting time and sporting space; products, training and technology; rules and order; conflict and accommodation; inclusion, exclusion and segregation; minds, bodies and identities; representation.