History of Medieval Sports
Medieval sportswere created to addmore color and life to an otherwisewarlike，monotonous and gloomy era.Intense spiritualitymay have taken its toll on thosewho practiced it and so playing sports waswelcome activity.Outdoor games that gained traction among the lower echelons of society gradually evolved into royally sanctioned games or noble pastimes justasmilitary drills and training，including archery，horseback and sword-fighting，branched out into various types of sports.Most Medieval sportswere geared towards increasing the fighting abilities of participants.
Sporting eventswere also the best venues to showcase the power and influence of knights and nobles.They were held in conjunction with festivals and people from across the land gathered to bear witness to such glorious occasions.There was a lot of free time to be spared in the Medieval times so the working citizens took advantage of the eightweeks of leisure afforded to them every year by watching sporting events and other festivities.
Popular Early Medieval Sports
Archery contestswere particularly popular in the Middle Ages.Not only was ita sportbut itwas also a skill that every Englishman between the age of 15 and 60 had to acquire in accordance with the law.Formerly called Butts，the bow and arrow played a pivotal role in England's heroic victory over the French army in the 14th century Battle of Crecy2.The English suffered only a few casualties compared to thousands on.
Jousts and tournaments were other early Medieval sports that enjoyed much fanfare.The basic rule for jousting was simple：the first one to knock their opponent off his horse wins.Knights，usually representing different factions，charge at each other from opposing ends of a track using blunted lances.
Medieval tournaments，on one hand，were no different from Roman era tournaments.Rather than turning slaves into gladiators，however，nobles chose the best knights under them to represent their factions.No specific rules governed these tournaments so long as the participants successfully defeated their opponents with the weapons that they had.Tournaments allowed the use any kind of weapon for defense and offence purposes.There wasmuch brutality and bloodbath to be expected.
2-3 Medieval Jousts and Tournaments
Medieval society covered a wide variety of sports，most of which were the ancestors of presentday sports.A number of outdoor sporting games like game-ball，bow ls3，colf4，shinty5，stoolball6，hammer-throwing，horseshoes7，skittles8 and wrestling were popular among Medieval citizens apart from archery，jousts and tournaments.