Medieval Games

Medieval games and pastimes didn't look all that different than the ones we engage in today. Where we might go out for dinner and a show, in medieval times inhabitants of a castle gathered for a good meal, then watched the antics of minstrels, jugglers, acrobats, or even trained dogs or monkeys. A storyteller might regale the crowd with stories of heroic deeds from past glory days or tantalizing descriptions of far-away marvels, and pause now and again to collect coins for his purse.

Medieval games included chess. Two knights are enjoying a chess match in this public domain image from "Livre des Echecs" (Libro de Ajedrez, dados y tables).

When professional entertainers were in short supply, gentlemen and ladies amused themselves by playing billiard or games similar to today's croquet, nine pins, and tennis. Adults were as likely as children to play blindman's buff, hot cockles, and ring-around-a-rosy. Certain dances resembled games. In the torch dance, for example, each participant carried a lighted candle and tried to prevent others from blowing it out.

Chess was popular and inspired elaborate matches that must have been phenomenal to witness. Gambling with dice could be justified by citing the Biblical casting of lots. Playing cards probably were introduced in the 13th-century but didn't come into common usage until after the development of mass printing techniques. The queens and knaves (jacks) on playing cards today still wear late 15th-century fashions.

The noblest of medieval games was the sport of hunting. Every year, eight bucks were killed in Windsor Forest and laid with ceremony on an altar in WesWindsor Forest and ceremonially laid on an altar in Westminster Abbey. Ladies joined the hunt, abandoning the sidesaddle to ride astride. The sport of hunting evolved over time into the form it retains today. Laws implemented to reserve hunting as an activity for the peerage created hardships for the poor. The killing of a deer could be severely punished, despite an abundance of the creatures ravaging food crops, and nobles pursuing a quarry might trample planted fields.

Hawking became a particular passion of the nobility. Knights and ladies carried hooded falcons about on their wrists and kept the trained birds nearby while they took meals. Bishops and abbots even officiated at church with their falcons strapped to the altar rail.

Knights sharpened their fencing and horsemanship skills with regular practice. They would also ride with spears against a quintain an armored and shielded manikin holding a sword and mounted to a post. A quintain might revolve on a pivot, spinning around to strike an unwary assailant.

Other horsemanship games included capturing a small ring on the point of spear. In more modern times this activity evolved, it is thought, into merry-go-rounds that contained a brass ring riders tried to catch in order to gain a free ride.

Knights honed their fighting skills during mock battles known as tourneys. These contests gained
popularity to counter the boredom of inactivity after the Crusades. Abuses occurred, and at one
tournament more than sixty knights died. Papal and royal regulations limited the number of fighters and required them to use blunted weapons. Armor grew heavier and more protective, and participants
fought to capture banners instead of one another. Ladies awarded prizes, and their presence at tournaments provided a leveling influence. The addition of feasts and dances made tournaments festive occasions.

Medieval games alleviated boredom, provided opportunities for social interaction, and helped fighters
stay fit. In modern times, we play games for the same purposes.

Source:

The Horizon Book of the Middle Ages, American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc. ©1968

About the Author

Escape into creative worlds of fiction with Janalyn Voigt, an author whose unique blend of adventure, romance, suspense, and fantasy creates breathtaking fictional worlds for readers.

Beginning with DawnSinger, Janalyn's epic fantasy series, Tales of Faeraven, carries readers into a land only imagined in dreams.

Janalyn is represented by Sarah Joy Freese of Wordserve Literary. Her memberships include ACFW and NCWA. When she's not writing, she loves to discover worlds of adventure in the great outdoors with her family.

The Medieval Code of Chivalry

The post is brought to you by Janalyn Voigt, a novelist who helps readers escape into worlds of beauty and danger. Be sure and read to the end to learn about the giveaway.

Once upon a time and far away, in an era almost forgotten, knights protected honor to the death, sustained the weak, and favored women. Ah yes! The romantic age that gave us the legends of King Arthur's Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table.

We still understand the concept of chivalry these days, but it's lost the grandeur of its origins, which lie in something larger than a man opening a car door for his wife.

Etymology

Chivalry evolved from the Old French chevalerie, which meant "noble knight" combined with the Medieval Latin caballarius, or "horseman." It originally applied only to knights.

History of Chivalry

In the 11th-Century "The Song of Roland," also known as Charlemagne's Code of Chivalry, described 8th-Century battles and also a knight's duties. Each knight was to fear God and remain faithful to the church, serve his liege lord, protect the weak, succour widows and orphans, avoid offending others, live with honor and for glory, eschew monetary reward, fight for all, obey authority, guard the integrity of his fellow-knights, reject iniquity, remain high-minded and honest, keep to his faith, always speak truth, persevere in all things, uphold the honor of women, never shrink from the challenge of an equal, and valiantly engage foes. The ceremonial pledges taken by knights soon melded with this code of conduct, and medieval bards idealized the concept of chivalry with poems, ballads, and literature. Tweet This!

There wasn't a single code of chivalry, but rather the sacred oaths varied by order of knighthood. Late in the 14th-Century the populous as a whole adopted the prevalent ideals in the chivalric codes as a moral system. In the 18th-Century, the Age of Chivalry took on the romanticized aspect familiar to us today.

The Oaths

The knight would swear allegiance to his liege lord in an oath of fealty that often involved the bestowing of land rights. The lord promised to protect his knight, and the knight pledged to remain loyal to his lord. The knight expected to suffer divine consequences should he falter in his duty.

Emphasis

Although the chivalric codes adhered to by knights weren't identical, they did align duties to three entities. Tweet this! Countrymen could expect mercy, fairness, and service from knights of the realm. Knights protected the weak and poor, to the death if necessary.

God could be served by providing protection to the innocent, faithfulness to the church, and generosity in all things. Knights were to champion good over evil and obey God. 

  

Women were to be treated with gentle graciousness, reverence, service, and courtly manners. A knight should never give evil counsel to a lady and must respectfully defend her.

The focus of the particular order of knights would determine the emphasis.

Chivalry Today

Gone are the days of knights and castles, but in a very real sense the chivalric code of honor, based as it was on Biblical concepts, remains alive today. As a writer of medieval epic fantasy novels that extol these virtues, I have noticed great interest from my readers in these concepts. I'm convinced that, despite the modern era in which we live, on a gut level people today still understand and crave chivalric virtues. Tweet This!

DawnSinger (Tales of Faeraven 1)

The High Queen is dying…

At the royal summons, Shae mounts a wingabeast and soars through the air to the high hold of Faeraven, where all is not as it seems. Visions warn her of danger, and a dark soul touches hers in the night. When she encounters an attractive but disturbing musician, her wayward heart awakens.

But then there is Kai, a guardian of Faeraven and of Shae. Secrets bind him to her, and her safety lies at the center of every decision he makes. On a desperate journey fraught with peril and the unknown, they battle warlike garns, waevens, ferocious raptors, and the wraiths of their own regrets. Yet, they must endure the campaign long enough to release the DawnKing—and the salvation he offers—into a divided land. To prevail, each must learn a valuable lesson:

Sometimes victory comes only through surrender. 

Learn more about DawnSinger.

I'm Janalyn Voigt, an author and speaker. DawnSinger, my debut novel and the first installment in the Tales of Faeraven epic fantasy series, released with Harbourlight Books in 2012. Wayfarer, book two in the series will release in 2013. My other projects include DawnKing, book three in my medieval epic fantasy series and a romantic suspense novel set in a castle.

My spare time activities include reading, gardening, and finding adventures with my family in the great outdoors.