PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT DURING THE AGE
OF FEUDALISM
AS A RESULT OF
THE DECENTRALIZATION OF GOVERNMENT DURING of the dak ages, the period of
feudalism come into being between the ninth and fourteenth centuries.
The
feeudalistic period appeared because people needed protection and since strong
monarch and govermont that could supply this protection were rare, the people
turned to noblemen and others who buit castles had large land holdings and made
themselves strong. Feudalism was a
system of land tenure based on allegiance and service to the nobleman or lord.
The lord who owned the land, called his assal, in return for the use of this
land the assal owed allegiance and certain obligations to this lord. The
largest part of the population however was made up of serfs,who worked the land
but shared little in the profits. They were bound to the land and as it was
transferred from vassal they were also transferred.
Two careers
open wre to sons of noblemen during feudalistictimes. They might enter training
for the church and became members of the clergy, or they might became knights.
If they decided in favor of the church, they pursued an education that was
religious an academic in nature if they decided in favor of chivalry the
pursued an education that was physical social and millitary in nature. To the
average boy, chivalry had much more appeal than the church.
That training
that a bov experienced in becoming a knight was long and through. Physical
training played a major role during this period . at he age of 7 years a boy
was usually sent to he castle of a nobleman for training and preparation for
knight hood first, he was known as a page, and his instructor and teacher was
usually on of the women in the lord castle. During his tenure as a page, a boy
learned, court etiquette, waited on table,ran erands and helped withb household
tasks. During the rest of the time he participated in various forms of physical
activity that would serve him well as knight and strengthen him for the arduous
years ahead. He practiced for events such as boxing, running, fencing, jumping,
and swiming.
At the age of
14 years the boy became a squire and was assigned to a knight his studies included keeping keeping
the knights weapons in good condition caring for his horses , helping him with
his armor attending to his injuries and guarding his prisoners. During the time
the boy was a squire, more and more emphasis was placed in physical training.
He was continually required to engage in vigorous sport and exercise such as
hunting scaling walls, shooting with bow and arrow, running,climbing,
swordmanship, and horsemanship.
If the squire
proved his fitness he became a knight at 21 years of age the ceremony was
solemn and memorable. The prospective knight took a bath of purifaction,
dressed in white, and spent an entire night in meditation and prayer in the
morning the lord placed his sword on the knight’s shoulder a ceremony known as
the accolade this marked the conferring of knighthood.
Jousts and
tournaments were two special events in which all knight engaged several times
during their lives and that were tests of their fitness. These special events
served both as amusement and as training for the battle. In the jousts two
knights attempted to unseat one another from another from their horses with
blows from lances and by skill in horsemanship. Many knights participated in
tournaments, programs designed to exhbit the skill and showmanship amed during
their long period of training. They were lined up as two teams at each end of
the list, as the grounds were called and on a signal they attempdedto unseat
the memberes of the opposing team. These mele continue until one team was
declared the victor, many knights wore their lady’s colorrs and their armor and
attempted with all their strength and skill to uphold her honor. During these
tournaments death often resulted for participants. In these exhibitions a
knight had the oppurtunity to display his personal bravery, skill, prowess,
strength, and courage.
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