Men and women participating in a race at Augsburg shooting festival in 1509, illustration in ‘Kriegsbuch u. a. Über Schützen- und Turnierwesen’ (war book about shooting events and tournaments i.a.), circa 1570. — Men and women participating in a race at Augsburg shooting festival in 1509, illustration in u003cemu003e‘Kriegsbuch u. a. Über Schützen- und Turnierwesenu003c/emu003e’ (war book about shooting events and tournaments i.a.), circa 1570. Erlangen-Nürnberg University Library

Sport in the Middle Ages

The word sport conjures up images of modern sporting pursuits, such as football, cycling, rugby and skiing. But what about during the fondly remembered Middle Ages? Did sport exist back then and, if so, how did it compare to the modern competitions held on the territory now known as Switzerland?

Michael Jucker

Michael Jucker is a sports historian, head of Swiss Sports History and co-director of the FCZ Museum.

The question of whether people did sport during the Middle Ages and beyond raises a host of other questions, which can be broadly divided along modernist versus traditionalist lines. The modernists argue that sport only started with industrialisation, when people began to have free time and secularisation grew. It was only in the 19th century that sporting competition emerged with standardised rules encompassing clubs and associations. The traditionalists, on the other hand, argue that ‘popular sports’ predate the industrial age. Wrestling, stone-throwing, ball games all have an illustrious past dating back to the late Middle Ages.

Maybe there is no need to split hairs on the issue. After all, there are numerous sources and references documenting competitive physical events and games in the Middle Ages. With the advent of the Modern Age, however, there were some changes as the rationale and purpose behind ‘sporting’ activities evolved.

Take shooting as an example, one of the first sports to be practised competitively. During the Old Confederacy in the 15th century, there were many shooting festivals and contests with prizes on offer and subject to standard rules for male and female competitors. However, these events were not held solely for the purpose of competing, they were also a means of enhancing military capability. That’s why the cities in the Old Confederacy supported shooting clubs as early as the 14th century: Zurich city council, for example, allowed the harquebusiers to build a shooting range outside the city walls in the mid-15th century and supported the local shooting club with funds from the city’s coffers as well as with bread and wine.

**Shooting festival in Constance from 1458. Illustration from the ‘Eidgenössische Chronik’ (federal chronicles) by Diebold Schilling of Lucerne, circa 1513.** Korporation Luzern

Sporting competitions had a wide appeal and strong international flavour. Shooting events were also part of the political landscape from the late Middle Ages and provided a good opportunity for informal mingling and intercantonal visits. For example, a shooting event known as ‘Freischiessen’ held in Zurich in 1504 attracted many international visitors all the way from what is now the Netherlands to Venice. The event known as the ‘eerliche Schiessen’ was seen as a big opportunity to stabilise relations with Emperor Maximilian and the southern German cities after the Swabian War. So, it was fortunate that the first two prizes went to Augsburg and Innsbruck. There were over 360 archers and 450 harquebusiers in attendance. This shows how sport and politics overlapped on occasion, as they still do today. The massive sporting event lasting over a month was partly financed by a lottery in which about 23,000 people took part.

**Shooting event in St. Gallen, 16th century.** Zentralbibliothek Zürich

The gender breakdown of shooting practitioners has also changed over time: shooting clubs are now competing for male members as there aren't enough to go round. Women have more or less taken over the sport following a long period of exclusively male participation, especially from the 19th century. However, during the allegedly dark ages, also known as the Middle Ages, women were very much involved in shooting competitions, and they won prizes in competition against the men. Nonetheless, they were still only granted restricted access to shooting clubs. In the 16th century, professional female shooters emerged who travelled from one shooting event to the next. Besides shooting, there were other sports and competitions that attracted many spectators and qualified as events.

There are indications that sporting events took place ad hoc or with minimum organisation during the Middle Ages and early modern era and there are documented instances of this happening during the Old Confederacy. Stone-throwing, wrestling, boxing and running races were part of local culture in the Alpine region and were only organised and turned into national sports from the end of the 18th century. Pictorial representations of these events are relatively rare, with the exception of Diebold Schilling’s ‘Chronik’ from 1513.

**Mercenaries passing the time with sporting competitions. Illustration from the ‘Eidgenössische Chronik’ by Diebold Schilling of Lucerne, circa 1513.** Korporation Luzern

According to the description of the picture by Alfred Schmid, Schilling’s portrayal shows ‘imperial mercenaries’, who engaged in various competitions to pass the time in the spring of 1508 on the shooting range in front of Einsiedeln monastery: “You can tell the different sports: long jump, stone-throwing, wrestling and running.” In military-historical research, the connection seen here between mercenary and sport is stronger still as physical training was almost de rigueur in the days of the Swiss Confederacy. Sport and combat ability were seen as complementary, and competition was a means of strengthening and rehearsing military prowess. This consideration outweighed the fun and ad hoc nature of the competition.

Stone-throwing was a form of attack, at least in the federal, embroidered narrative tradition of the battle of Morgarten. Moreover, it wasn’t only the Swiss but also, for example, Scottish farmers who made it into a pastime and competitive sport. Both countries made stone-throwing a national tradition in the 19th century and this was reflected in their respective festivals. However, sources from the 15th and 16th centuries, including Schilling himself, provide no indication that these competitions constituted military training in any way. Instead, they were seen more as a show of strength as part of a game where having fun was the priority: these games and competitions often took place at church fairs and festivals known as Alpfesten, Stubeten or Alpeten. Even the military historian Walter Schaufelberger stated in 1972 that wrestling, stone-throwing, running and other sporting competitions were commonplace in agropastoral culture during the less busy times of year. Sport could thus be seen as a pre-modern example of recreational pastimes.

**Detail from an illustration taken from the ‘Eidgenössische Chronik’ by Diebold Schilling of Lucerne, circa 1513.** Korporation Luzern

The mercenaries in Schilling’s painting are waiting, which means they had time to test themselves physically. It is fitting that they participated in wrestling or ‘Schwingen’ (Swiss folk wrestling) and other competitive pursuits, as most mercenaries were recruited from rural areas and were thus from farming backgrounds. The picture is also suggestive of an organised event, as the competitors are wearing different colours. They are the colours of the cantons at the time of the Old Confederacy, which had evidently come together at this venue. However, it is unlikely that the mercenaries were already in uniform at this time and readily identifiable with a specific canton. The competitors’ cantonal colours are therefore more likely to be symbolic; Schilling or the unknown illustrator simply wanted to show that different cantons were represented at the event.

Despite the organisation and different individual contests, this still does not count as a classical ‘altschweizerische Pentathlon’ or old-traditional Swiss pentathlon, which the humanists later – mainly because of this painting – claimed took place during the Old Confederacy. Walter Schaufelberger ascertained as much; he also came to the conclusion that the long jump and running races were widespread throughout the Confederacy and not specific to any region.

**Depiction of a medieval ball game in a French artwork from the 14th century. People are playing chess in the background.** Wikimedia

Some sports did not catch on to the same extent in the Confederacy. It took some time for tennis, which was played in the medieval monasteries in France and at the English court, to feature in Swiss cities. Tennis courts had been commonplace in Paris since the 16th century, but the first tennis club in Basel was not founded until the early 17th century. It was the same for calcio fiorentino or Shrovetide football, both early incarnations of football, neither of which made it over the Alps or across the Channel respectively, to the Confederacy.

Other sports such as fencing, sword and fist fighting were popular, but for centuries they were more the preserve of noble circles and universities. Shooting, wrestling, Schwingen and stone-throwing were the most mainstream sports to be revived in the 19th century.

The ‘Solothurner Fechtbuch’ from 1505-1515 shows different combat techniques from the late Middle Ages. — The u003cemu003e‘Solothurner Fechtbuch’u003c/emu003e from 1505-1515 shows different combat techniques from the late Middle Ages. It includes wrestling, trial by combat with mace and shield plus close-quarter sword and épée fighting. Zentralbibliothek Solothurn / Wiktenauer

The Old Confederacy in the 15th century and thereafter was thus very much a sporting nation. Whether this was for military purposes, as a leisure pursuit or in competition subject to standard or similar rules and involving prizes is unclear for the most part due to a lack of sources, so this would need to be researched in more detail. The picture is also often clouded by subsequent national, militaristic perspectives and research positions. Nonetheless, there are many parallels with modern times: organisation, award ceremonies, the merging of politics and sport, betting, and specifically regional features remain integral and defining features of sport as we know it today.

Swiss Sports History

This text was produced in collaboration with Swiss Sports History, the portal for the history of sports in Switzerland. The portal focuses on education in schools and information for the media, researchers and the general public. Find out more at sportshistory.ch

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