ENTERTAINMENT IN THE MEDIEVAL TIME PERIOD
By Roman Predmore
Entertainment in the medieval time period was very strange and
interesting. They had games from juggling to jousting tournaments!
Some games you may know of like chess they played back then to.
You may have heard of this game, and many people still play it, it’s
chess. ‘Wikipedia’ writes “Chess originated from India, before the 6th
century AD. From India, chess spread to Persia. But when the Arabs
conquered Persia, the game was taken up by the Muslim world and
subsequently spread to Southern Europe”. According to ‘The United
States Chess Federation’ “Chess originated from the two-player Indian war
game, Chatarung, which dates back to 600 A.D. In 1000 A.D, chess spread to
Europe by Persian traders”.
Jesters were known as middle age clowns; their only job was to
entertain the nobles and kings. They used humor and entertainment to
make people laugh and keep them happy. They used storytelling,
juggling, acrobatics, music, and other entertaining skills to please their
audiences.
Juggling was one act that jesters used, and According
tojuggling.org, “The oldest known description of juggling was found in the
Beni-Hassan tombs from the middle-kingdom of the ancient Egyptian
civilization. These women jugglers were found amongst acrobats and
dancers in one of the crypt's wall paintings. The drawing itself was made
about 2000 years before the birth of Christ. After the Beni-Hassan tombs
there is a gap of about 1500 years before evidence of juggling reappears
in the art of the Greeks.”
Jousting was one of the favorite forms of entertainment during the
middle Ages. A joust is a fight between mounted knights wearing armor
and using lances. A lance is a long pole like weapon or spear used to
knock the opponent off their horse. Jousting contests took place in
medieval tournaments, which provided practice for the knights.
As you can tell there are many different forms of fun and entertainment
in the middle ages. (They can go from things we do today to almost
killing people.) (You can definitely tell the difference in games we do
today and the ones they did back then.)
Bibliography:
1)Related Historical Readings." The United States Chess Federation. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 10 May 2013.
2)"Jousting." Jousting. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2013.
3)"History of Chess." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 May 2013. Web.
07 May 2013.
4) "Jester." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Apr. 2013. Web. 08 May
2013
5)"Backgammon." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Mar. 2013. Web.
08 May 2013
6) "Lance." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 May 2013. Web. 14 May
2013.