Bodies in the Middle Ages

Sport in the Middle Ages

Michael Jucker 21.03.2024 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?

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.

A scene of racy bathing pleasure as a social critique

Barbara Basting 28.12.2023 The Reformation brought stricter social mores to many places in Europe, and artists had to adapt if they didn’t want to lose commissions. But these social mores were not popular with everyone – as revealed by this painting by Hans Bock in Basel’s Kunstmuseum.

At time of painting, a picture for somewhere private: Hans Bock the Elder, ‘The Baths at Leuk’, 1597.

Risen from the dead

Thomas Weibel 03.11.2021 At the Marian shrine of Oberbüren (Canton of Bern), the medieval Catholic Church offered some very special services: children who were stillborn or had died at birth were briefly brought back to life so that they could be baptised and then properly buried.

This is what the Marian shrine in Oberbüren may have looked like: led by altar boys with cross and banners, and clergymen in surplices, the faithful move forward in procession. Diebold Schilling, Eidgenössische Chronik.