Medieval Art & Entertainment
Dancing at Medieval Wedding Banquet
by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Life in the middle ages was not all hard work! Even the loneliest or poorest peasant could take part in church festivals, join a marriage or funeral procession, or watch and listen to traveling poets, musicians, acrobats and dancers. Perhaps the village would be visited by a troupe leading a performing bear or dancing monkey.
Art and music were critical aspects of medieval religious life and, towards the end of the Middle Ages, secular life as well. Singing without instrumental accompaniment was an essential part of church services. Monks and priests chanted the divine offices and the mass daily. Some churches had instruments such as organs and bells.
Medieval drama grew out of the liturgy, beginning in about the eleventh century. Some of the topics were from the Old Testament (Noah and the flood, Jonah and the whale, Daniel in the lion's den) and others were stories about the birth and death of Christ. These dramas were performed with costumes and musical instruments at various times during the liturgical calendar and at first took place directly outside the church. Later they were staged in marketplaces, where they were produced by local guilds who would compete to see who could produce the best play.
Entertainment was extremely important to the people who lived in the Medieval era. Medieval life was very difficult, so whenever there was something to celebrate; a betrothal, wedding, victories or festivals, the people were happy for the interruption from labor and toil. Court entertainment for the nobles was regular, often a nightly, or weekly, occurrence combined with feasts, jousts and banquets. But the poor people enjoyed entertainment from traveling minstrels and troubadours, tournaments, festivals, dancing and trained animals, mummers (actors/dancers), mystery plays, jugglers and strolling players.
Fun and games were often centered around particular times of year. At Christmas, groups of villagers would dress up as "mummers" and visit the lord's home. There they would sing and perform some sketches in return for special Christmas food and perhaps some money. On May day, young men and girls would get up early in the morning and play games in the bright spring sunlight, before gathering green branches to decorate their homes.
The various types of Medieval Entertainment were as follows:
There were also various types of Medieval Entertainers:
There were other festivals related to the seasons and to the agricultural year. Many of these had survived from the pagan, pre-Christian times and were frowned on by the church, which was, however, powerless to stop them. At Midsummer for instance the villagers would light bonfires and hold various sports and games. People thought that by lighting a fire when the sun was at it's strongest, they would make sure it returned to ripen their crops the following year. Every month had at least one feast or festival.
Some examples of popular feasts and festivals are:
Art and music were critical aspects of medieval religious life and, towards the end of the Middle Ages, secular life as well. Singing without instrumental accompaniment was an essential part of church services. Monks and priests chanted the divine offices and the mass daily. Some churches had instruments such as organs and bells.
Medieval drama grew out of the liturgy, beginning in about the eleventh century. Some of the topics were from the Old Testament (Noah and the flood, Jonah and the whale, Daniel in the lion's den) and others were stories about the birth and death of Christ. These dramas were performed with costumes and musical instruments at various times during the liturgical calendar and at first took place directly outside the church. Later they were staged in marketplaces, where they were produced by local guilds who would compete to see who could produce the best play.
Entertainment was extremely important to the people who lived in the Medieval era. Medieval life was very difficult, so whenever there was something to celebrate; a betrothal, wedding, victories or festivals, the people were happy for the interruption from labor and toil. Court entertainment for the nobles was regular, often a nightly, or weekly, occurrence combined with feasts, jousts and banquets. But the poor people enjoyed entertainment from traveling minstrels and troubadours, tournaments, festivals, dancing and trained animals, mummers (actors/dancers), mystery plays, jugglers and strolling players.
Fun and games were often centered around particular times of year. At Christmas, groups of villagers would dress up as "mummers" and visit the lord's home. There they would sing and perform some sketches in return for special Christmas food and perhaps some money. On May day, young men and girls would get up early in the morning and play games in the bright spring sunlight, before gathering green branches to decorate their homes.
The various types of Medieval Entertainment were as follows:
- Feasts - A large, elaborately prepared meal, usually for many persons and often accompanied by court entertainment. Often celebrated religious festivals
- Banquets - A ceremonial dinner honoring a particular guest
- Jousts / Tournaments - A series of tilting matches between knights
- Mystery/Passion Plays - Re-enacting of stories from the Bible
- Festivals - Celebrating the lives of Saints
- Fairs - The Annual Summer Fair was often a bawdy affair
- Games and Sports - Sports and games which included archery, bowling, dice, hammer-throwing, quarter-staff contests, quoits, skittles and wrestling
- Animal Sports - Including Bear and Bull baiting. Dog and Cock fighting
- Hunting - Sport followed by the nobility often using dogs
- Hawking - Sport followed by the nobility with hawks
There were also various types of Medieval Entertainers:
- Jesters - A fool or buffoon at medieval courts, their job was to make people laugh through jokes or antics
- Mummers - A masked or costumed merrymaker or dancer especially at a festival, like the mimes who developed from them, mummers kept "mum" or quiet during their performance
- Minstrels - Traveling musicians who sang of legends or folklore
- Troubadours - Traveling musicians who sang of courtly love
- Strolling Players - Traveling actors
- Jugglers - Also used tricks, deception, or fraud, jugglers engaged in many of the tricks that would become stage magic
There were other festivals related to the seasons and to the agricultural year. Many of these had survived from the pagan, pre-Christian times and were frowned on by the church, which was, however, powerless to stop them. At Midsummer for instance the villagers would light bonfires and hold various sports and games. People thought that by lighting a fire when the sun was at it's strongest, they would make sure it returned to ripen their crops the following year. Every month had at least one feast or festival.
Some examples of popular feasts and festivals are:
- January - Twelfth Night festival and celebrating the visit of the Wise Men, or Magi, following the birth of Jesus
- February - St Valentine's Day! The Medieval festival celebrating love - singing, dancing and pairing games
- March - Easter celebrated by the Mystery or Passion plays depicting the crucifixion (Good Friday) and the resurrection (Easter Monday)
- April - All Fool's Day. The Jesters, or Lords of Misrule, took charge for the day and caused mayhem with jokes and jests
- May Day - Summer festival celebrating May Day when a Queen of the May was chosen and villagers danced around the maypole
- June - Midsummer Eve, the Mummers entertained at the 'Festival of Fire' reliving legends such as St George and the Dragon. Bones were often burned leading to the term 'bonfire'. The summer Solstice was June 23rd
- July - Swithin's Day falls on 15th July. Legend says that the bones of St Swithin were moved and after the ceremony it began to rain and continued to do so for forty days
- August - Lammas Day was celebrated on August 2nd. The 'loaf-mass' day, the festival of the first wheat harvest of the year. Houses were sometimes decorated with garlands. Candle lit processions and apple-bobbing was featured
- September - 29th September was when Michaelmas celebrated the life of St Michael and the traditional food on Michaelmas was goose or chicken
- October Medieval Entertainment - October 25th celebrating St. Crispin's Day. Revels and bonfires and people acting as 'King Crispin'
- November - The Day of the Dead - All Souls Day or All Hallow's Day (The night before was called All Hallow's Eve - which shortened to Halloween) when revels were held and bonfires were lit
- December - The feasts and Christ-mass celebration
Medieval Games
Couple playing Tables or Backgammon
Medieval Games and Medieval Entertainment were popular in all walks of society. Games were played by the Upper classes and the Lower classes. 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:
Outdoor Medieval Entertainment centered around the Village Green and at local fairs and included a variety of sports. There were many different types of Medieval Sports. The majority of which were designed to increase skills and fitness of fighting men. The Church was against the medieval tournament as they felt too much blood was spilled during the action this type of contest, though it proved highly popular with the people of the middle ages. The tournament started life as training for the knights in preparation for war, but they soon became a great source of entertainment. Defeated knights had to give up their horse and their armor so a good fighter could make a fortune at the tournament. At first battle armor and sharp weapons were used, but in the 13th century blunt weapons were introduced. Other contests such as jousts and archery were added later. In the pas d'armes, popular in the 15th century, one or more contestants held the tournament ground and sent challenges to other knights and squires. In the 17th century the tournament was replaced in most countries with displays of horsemanship called carousels. Both the modern Western rodeo and the circus are derivatives of these carousels.
- Chess - mostly played by nobility as a way to sharpen their strategical thinking
- 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 centered around the Village Green and at local fairs and included a variety of sports. There were many different types of Medieval Sports. The majority of which were designed to increase skills and fitness of fighting men. The Church was against the medieval tournament as they felt too much blood was spilled during the action this type of contest, though it proved highly popular with the people of the middle ages. The tournament started life as training for the knights in preparation for war, but they soon became a great source of entertainment. Defeated knights had to give up their horse and their armor so a good fighter could make a fortune at the tournament. At first battle armor and sharp weapons were used, but in the 13th century blunt weapons were introduced. Other contests such as jousts and archery were added later. In the pas d'armes, popular in the 15th century, one or more contestants held the tournament ground and sent challenges to other knights and squires. In the 17th century the tournament was replaced in most countries with displays of horsemanship called carousels. Both the modern Western rodeo and the circus are derivatives of these carousels.
Outdoor Medieval sports included the following:
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