Were There Medieval Sports?

If you collect medieval costumes, you may have noticed that many of them do not lend themselves to what we now know as sports. Can you imagine trying to play soccer in our Archeress dress? Or having a round of golf in our Bowman Tunic? It seems like medieval costumes were not meant for the types of sports we play today. It may surprise you to learn that people during the medieval ages did play sports.

Many sports during the medieval period were aimed at young men with the intention of strengthening their fighting skills. One of the big tournaments during the medieval period was the joust. We’ve all seen movies where knights participate in jousts, and these depictions are certainly true to life. Another sport typically associated with the medieval period is archery. Archery wasn’t so much popular as it was required by law to be practiced by men in the lower class – due to its prevalence in battle, archery laws were passed to prepare young men for potential battles.

Other than these two battle-oriented sports, there were sports that resembled those of today. There was a game called colf, which was a forerunner of golf, gameball, an early version of football, and hurling or shinty, precursors to today’s hockey.

Tell Us What You Think

If you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!