Entertainment: Types of
Medieval Entertainment included feasts, banquets, jousts and tournaments,
Mystery Plays, fairs, games and sports, hunting, hawking, animal entertainment
using dogs, bears and monkeys.
Medieval
Entertainment - Holidays and Festivals:
Medieval
people enjoyed holidays.Besides
Sundays, about eight weeks in every year were free from work. Festivities at
Christmas, Easter, and May Day, at the end of ploughing and the completion of
harvest, relieved the monotony of the daily round of labor.
Medieval
Entertainment - The Entertainers:
The Medieval entertainers of the Middle Ages included jesters (A fool or
buffoon at medieval courts), Mummers (Masked or costumed merrymaker or dancers
at festivals), Minstrels and Troubadours, acrobats and jugglers and conjurers.
Games and
Medieval Entertainment:
Games were played by the Upper classes and the Lower classes and by adults and
children. Different types of Games and Medieval entertainment fell into a
number of different categories including Card Games, Board Games, Dice Games,
Sporting Games and Children's games. The following board games were played and
enjoyed as entertainment during the Medieval times:
Chess
The
Philosophers Game - a game of strategy and numbers
Shovelboard
- the ancestor of shuffleboard
Knucklebones
- Early game of dice
Tables
- Backgammon
Nine Men's
Morris
Alquerques
- A classic period strategy game, an ancestor of Checkers
Fox
& Geese - a game of strategy
Hazard
- an ancestor of Craps
Outdoor
Medieval Entertainment:
Outdoor Medieval Entertainment centered around the Village Green and at local
fairs and included a variety of Sports:
Archery
- Archery contests were especially popular
Bowls
Colf -
the ancestor of Golf
Gameball
- a simple football game
Hammer-throwing
Hurling
or Shinty - a similar game to hockey
Horseshoes
- throwing horseshoes at a target
Quarter-staff
contests
Skittles
- an ancestor of modern ten-pin bowling
Stoolball
- an ancestor of Cricket
Wrestling
Entertainment
for Rich People in Medieval Times: Rich people entertainment included spectacles of jousting and feasts or
banquets. During the feast musicians would play and provide musical
entertainment. After feasting entertainment might be provided by minstrels,
troubadours, jesters, acrobats, fire-eaters and conjurers. The dance was also
important as part of 'courtly love' entertainment. Knights were expected not
only to fight but also to dance.