Richard Rousseau 4/20/11 Period:3

There were various leisure time activities and pastimes during the Elizabethan Era. Some are still present to this day or similar activities. There was a variety of sports to watch or compete in. There were many forms of entertainment. Games were a common past time for children and adults a like.

Sports and other recreational activities were a very common way to kill time and most of which were enjoyable. Hunting was a sport usually played by the young,fit,and active (oh and rich). It was a dangerous sport when facing game like wild boars and other large game (presumably predators). It was most likely done on horseback. A different form of sport called bloodsports usually involved pitting animals against each other and betting on the winner. These sports were incredibly popular and even the queen her self would enjoy watching them. Some examples of bloodsports were bear/bull baiting,cock fighting,and cock throwing. Bull baiting was when a pack of dogs were released in an are with a bull with a fight to the death. Winners were the dogs who could still go on fighting. While cock fights had provoked chickens with knives or other sharp objects attached to their feet to kill each other with. These sports were gruesome but none the less were popular with people. Dog fighting is a sport still active today in undeveloped countries and places with people like Michael Vick. More modern resembling sports such as horseshoes,colf,billiards,and gameball all influenced today's sports. Soccer was also played, but the government frowned upon it since it was the cause of many riots and bloodshed.(erasofelegance.com/history/elizabethanlife). Game ball for instance was like a primitive ancestor of modern foot ball. It was an extremely brutal sport by today's standards. The majority of sports during the Elizabethan time period were much more violent then sports you see today. Some violent sports still played today would be fencing and wrestling. Wrestling had much less rules and regulations than today's wrestling. Fencing was most often played by the upper class nobles

and rarely lower class. Different social classes usually participated in different sports. Quarter-staff contests were popular amongst the lower class (elizabethan-era.org.uk).Much like today sports were enjoyed by people of all kinds and has remained a classic past time and will be for as long as society lasts.

Alternative forms of entertainment also kept people from suffering boredom. Theater is an excellent example of non-sport entertainment. It was well liked by both the lower and upper class. However this didn't come without conflict between them. The theater offered a sense of excitement and drama that was quite rare during those days for most everyday people. Theaters were a profitable investment and highly entertaining. The ready availability of theaters and abundant quality actors made theater a successful entertainment business. Another form of entertainment was public events. Nobody can resist the temptation of watching someone being tortured or executed in public. People who committed crimes were often put in a public place which is where they were tortured and people often watched and participated as the person suffered and some insulted the person or went as far as to spit on them or even stone them to death. People being publicly hung,buried,or quartered was apparently quite a (un)fortunate sight to see. People would watch as body parts were dismembered and people slowly died. This was a grotesque form of entertainment which would not be socially accepted in today's society. Some more everyday leisure activities were things such as going to

church,sewing/knitting,gossip,and other talk. Gossip was obviously the same as any gossip just different topics and people. Women often knit clothing or sewed things as a constructive past time. They were not allowed to do practically anything else so this was expected of them. Devoting time to religion was common for those strong in faith. An immensely known form of entertainment was music. Live concerts can be visited or street artists may play for money. A wide variety of non-electrical instruments were at people's disposal. Although the genres of music was very thin. Most of the music was classical. Along with music came dancing which was also a popular activity. Of course with

dancing and instruments singers also existed. Music,like sports,was invented early on during civilization and will keep going until all of civilization crumbles. These activities kept boredom at bay.

Plenty of games helped to kill the time for adults and children. Children played some board games but more often then not played games involving physical movement. Children would play games like leap frog,hide and go seek,and blind mans buff. Blind mans buff is a variant of a game of a tag. It essentially is the same as tag here but the person who is it is blindfolded (sort of like Marco Polo without a pool and now including blindfolds). Kids will usually taunt the person who is it causing them to possibly go the wrong direction. It is mainly played in a safe area where no obstacle can get in the way or be broken. Some adults also oddly played this game too. Today's games like hopscotch and marbles were also played by children and those few socially awkward adults. All other types of games were mainly played by adults. These games can be broken down into board games,dice games,card games,and gambling. Most games are older counterparts of games played today. This includes but is not limited to a dice game Hazard (Craps),One & Thirty (Blackjack),and Tables (Backgammon),and

Knucklebones(early form of dice). Card games were played by gamblers who liked to put there money on the line and risk a loss. Gamblers also bet on bloodsports previously mentioned. A number of board games involved using strategy. Chess was played the same as it is today. Checkers also existed but under a different name (Alquerques). Other games involving strategy not heard of often today were Fox & Geese and The Philosopher's Game. Different board games used different pieces one game (Shove Ha'Penny) was even played with coins. Almost every game was played by multiple players and they practically all inspired games today (excluding video games). Other physical activities not exactly classified as a sport were archery and jousting. Archery is exactly what you think it would be shooting arrows at a specified target. Jousting was when two opponents mounted on horse back charged at each other with lances (or staffs) out facing their opponents attempting to thrust their lance/staff at their opponent to knock them off their horse,winner was obviously the one still on his horse. Hammer

throwing is also a non-sport game. It is what the name implies,a game to test your skill and strength at how far you can throw a hammer to beat other people's score. Competitions were also considered to aid in preparing for war. All these games influenced us to this very day.

Elizabethan Era leisure activities and past times were entertaining and influential to our country today and the whole world. The various sports whether spectator sports or a sport you can actively participate in were action packed and spine tingling. Other entertainment the Elizabethan Era had to offer prevented boredom. Games and gambling played a major role in entertaining the people of the Elizabethan Era. Information obtained from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_era and http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/