:format(jpeg):quality(70)/https://media.topito.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/moyenage.jpg "Having a Blast in Medieval Times: The Top 12 Entertainment Sources Known to Yore")
We often say “yeah it was better before” when speaking with nostalgia of a time that we did not necessarily know or that we tend to idealize. But if we go back really far in this “before”, we can arrive at the time of the Middle Ages where the sources of entertainment were not necessarily as elaborate as ours. Cinemas were street theatres, video games were wooden toys, barbecues were bonfires and escape games were cold prisons where you mainly ate your excrement. Now that I have enlarged the line in this intro, I invite you to see the real sources of entertainment from this beautiful era.
Strategy games
Already it must be said that the ancestor of board games and video games were strategy games such as chess (which even the richest kids were taught, the poor being too busy picking up their fallen lungs because of their repeated coughing fits). No need to introduce you in more detail to this ancestral game that made your brain work, you probably know it. At that time, we knew how to think.
Games of chance: dice
Dice games were on the rise at the time, as was the game of checkers or pawns. That said, it didn’t please everyone, and I’m not saying that in the sense that it could possibly piss off the loser, it was especially the Church that didn’t like games of chance and money. Inevitably, the Church having a much greater power at the time, some of these games were reserved for taverns or the streets, others were viewed with a very bad eye and others were simply tolerated. In those days, we knew how to laugh.
Children’s toys: recycled
Rag dolls, small wooden figurines and other dead rabbits could serve as comforters for the youngest toddlers. For those who were starting to want to play with others, we had the timeless game of knucklebones that had to be thrown on the ground, chestnuts or even balloons. Overall it was resourcefulness and we made our own toys. In those days, we knew how to have fun.
The palm game (or ball games)
Contrary to popular belief, the goal of this game was not to show the palm of the hand until you starve, it was rather to return a ball with the palm of the hand. A sort of ancestor of pelota, it evolved over time to be played with rackets. Other ball games made of wood or with the stomachs or bladders of animals also existed. In those days, we knew what to do with a pig’s bladder that was left in the pantry.
card games
We will have to wait a long time to see the first card games arrive since it is in the fourteenth century that they will begin to become more democratic. They will however remain quite rare at first, since printing was an expensive and uncommon process, but they will eventually become serious competitors to the famous dice games as time goes on. At that time, we rarely went on vacation so we had to keep busy.
Banquets and balls
We can’t really say that at the time we could go to a nightclub to get drunk, instead there were festivities like banquets and balls. This could range from village festivals to religious festivals, including the balls of the big rich like the lords or those organized by the lords for the peasants (after the harvest period, for example). At that time, we knew how to water our throats.
Live shows (theater and dance)
Performances of live shows could be played both in the streets and indoors depending on the audience for which they were intended. The actors and dancers could then be professionals or amateurs. You could see comic plays (farces) and religious plays, ballets, jugglers and other circus artists. At that time, we knew how to dance the soca dance (to be checked at the level of the dates).
The fairs
The fairs had a commercial dimension that mixed with the show. These were most often stalls of various traders who came to exchange their products (like markets) but where you could usually eat, drink and see street performers. It brought people into the taverns and we rejoiced when we saw the jugglers, acrobats and other bear trainers (not sure if there were bear trainers, but I really like this profession). At that time, we knew how to do our shopping drunk.
The music (yes, the music)
It was not necessary to wait for Justin Bieber to perform on a Parisian stage to invent the concept of a concert. It was therefore not uncommon to come across street musicians or to meet to hear various artists play covers of the most famous bards who could also punctuate festivals and fairs. At that time, we enjoyed teasing our harp.
The hunt
Among the richest, and not the toothless covered in filth, one could amuse oneself by organizing hunting parties. Whether with hounds or driven, the different methods of hunting responded more to the order of sport than to the need to feed the nobility. We generally hunted big game there, and we left the smaller ones to the lower classes so that they could eat, on the other hand, we didn’t hunt for pleasure when we didn’t have money. At that time, we didn’t lie to each other about equality between people since it didn’t exist.
Games of skill: archery
It was not uncommon among the nobles to hold archery tournaments to show that they knew how to aim well and tell it to themselves in front of a few young girls. Beyond pride, these exercises mainly made it possible to train in combat at a distance, just like the quintaine which consisted in swinging the blows of spears into a target to make it fall, a sort of World of Warcraft of the time altogether. In those days, we got bored less when we had money. Which is still true today you will tell me.
Tournaments
Mainly reserved for the wealthy and the nobility, tournaments could take various forms. You could see fights with swords, spears or duels on horseback. You had fun killing your best friend while learning to use weapons or fight on foot or on horseback, because tournaments also served to train young lords and future knights in military art. At that time, when we said “watch out, I’m going to joust” we knew what we were talking about.
