The Middle Ages were so sporty

There has been a long-standing debate about whether sports were practiced in the Middle Ages and beyond: modernists versus traditionalists, so to speak. The first say that sport only emerged with industrialization, the associated leisure activities and secularization. Only from the 19th century did people participate in sports competitions, devise uniform rules and organize themselves into clubs and associations.

Those who are aware of tradition, on the other hand, say that “popular sports” used to exist. Swinging, stone throwing and ball games have a longer, glorious history dating back to the late Middle Ages.

Perhaps this hair-splitting and opposing debate is not necessary at all. If you look soberly at the past, there are certainly sources and indications that physical, playful activities with a competitive nature continued in the Middle Ages. However, over the course of modernity there were ruptures as the meaning and purpose of ‘sporting’ activities changed.

This is clearly visible in shooting, a sport that was practiced competitively from very early on. In the old Swiss Confederation of the 15th century, there were numerous shooting festivals, gatherings of male and female shooters who competed against each other for prizes and according to the same rules. But it was not just about competition, but also about strengthening military strength.

That is why the federal cities have been supporting shooting clubs since the 14th century: for example, the municipality in Zurich allowed rifle shooters to build a target area outside the city walls in the mid-15th century and supported the municipal shooting club with money from the city treasury, but also with bread and wine.

The sports competitions had great appeal and were certainly international in character. In the late Middle Ages, shooting festivals were also part of the political scene and had an integrating function in friendly exchanges and mutual visits between the federal cities.

For example, the free shooting event in Zurich in 1504 had a large international participation, stretching from what is now the Netherlands to Venice. After the Swabian War, ‘open firing’ was mainly intended to stabilize relations with Emperor Maximilian and the southern German cities. Fortunately, the first two prizes also went to Augsburg and Innsbruck. In total, more than 360 archers and more than 450 riflemen were present.

The separation between sports and politics was not complete then and now. The enormous sporting event, which lasted over a month, was financed, among other things, by a lottery in which around 23,000 people took part.

Shooting is also interesting in terms of gender history: nowadays shooting clubs mainly struggle against a lack of male offspring. The sport was largely taken over by women after men excluded women for a long time, especially since the 19th century. However, in the so-called Dark Ages, there were women who took part in competitions as shooters and won prizes by competing against shooters. But even then their access to the shooting clubs was limited.

In the 16th century, professional female shooters emerged who traveled from one shooting festival to another. In addition to shooting, there were other sports and competitions that attracted large audiences and took on the character of an event.

That sporting events also arose spontaneously or were less highly organized can be assumed for the Middle Ages and the early modern period and has also been proven for the old Swiss Confederation. Stone throwing, wrestling, boxing and running were part of the local culture in the Alpine region and were only domesticated and declared national sports from the end of the 18th century. Illustrations are quite rare, with the exception of Diebold Schilling’s chronicle from 1513.

According to Alfred Schmid’s description of the photo, Schilling’s image shows “imperial mercenaries” taking part in various competitions on the Schützenwiese meadow in front of the Einsiedeln Monastery in the spring of 1508: “You can recognize the sports: long jumping, stone jumping throwing, waving and running . »

Military historical research has drawn even closer on the connection between mercenaries and sports seen here, arguing that these forms of physical training were virtually programmatic for the Confederates. Sports and military skills were interpreted as belonging together and the competitions were seen as a means to strengthen and practice defensive skills. The fun and spontaneous nature of the competition was neglected.

Stone throwing was certainly a martial practice, at least in the federal, exaggerated narrative tradition of the Battle of Morgarten. However, it was not only carried out by Swiss farmers, but also by Scottish farmers, for example, in a playful and competitive manner. In both regions, these sports were not elevated to national virtues until the 19th century and celebrated accordingly at festivals.

However, the medieval, contemporary sources from the 15th and 16th centuries, including Schilling himself, give no indication that such competitions served as military preparation. Rather, it was a playful test of strength that could very well have had an amusing character: such games and competitions often took place at church fairs and so-called Alpfesten, Stubeten or Alpeten.

Even the military historian Walter Schaufelberger emphasized as early as 1972 that in the alpine and pastoral culture, in less labor-intensive times, it was certainly possible to practice swinging, throwing stones, running and other sports competitions. In a certain sense you could also speak of pre-modern leisure activities here.

The mercenaries waited for Schilling to act so they had time to compete physically. The fact that they devoted themselves to wrestling or grappling and other competitions fits this picture, because most mercenaries were recruited from rural areas and therefore largely belonged to the peasant background. The photo also indicates that we are dealing with a specific organization of the event, because the participants can be seen in different colors. These are the colors of the various federal places that were apparently united here.

However, it is unlikely that the mercenaries were actually in uniform at the time and could be identified as belonging to a specific location. The competitors’ colors are therefore more symbolic; Schilling or the unknown illustrator wants to show that different places were represented.

Despite the organization and the various individual competitions – mainly because of this image – one cannot yet speak of the classic ‘old Swiss pentathlon’, which the humanists later attributed to the Swiss. Walter Schaufelberger has already shown this: he also concludes that the long jump and racing were widespread in the Swiss Confederation and were not regionally specific.

Nevertheless, certain sports had a harder time gaining a foothold in the Swiss Confederation. Tennis, which was practiced in the medieval monasteries of France and also at the English court, only entered the urban environment late. While in Paris people have been running after the ball in countless so-called ball houses since the 16th century, such a place only emerged in Basel and only at the beginning of the 17th century. Also the football fiorentino or the Shrove Tuesday footballboth early forms of football, did not make it over the Alps or the Channel to the Swiss Confederation.

Other sports such as fencing, sword fighting and fist fighting were indeed practiced, but for centuries this happened mainly in noble circles and at the universities that were founded later. The dominant area was shooting, simple wrestling and wrestling matches and stone throwing, which were then relaunched in the 19th century.

The Old Confederacy of the 15th century and beyond was definitely a place for sports. Whether this was practiced for military training, leisure or as actual competition with prizes and the same or similar rules everywhere remains unclear in many places due to lack of sources or would require further investigation. The picture is often clouded by later national, militaristic perspectives and research positions.

However, there are certainly parallels with modern times: organizational forms, award ceremonies, the combination of politics and sports, betting and regional specificities are certainly topics that have shaped and continue to shape modern sports.