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Article: Sports
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SPORTS
SPORTS.
Sport was an essential and socially significant pastime in the early modern world, an arena in which individual identity and ability were expressed by king and milkmaid alike. Capable sportsmanship at tennis, jousting, and even wrestling were increasingly perceived as the markings of a strong monarchy, which determined the athletic displays and rites of passage that prevailed in an aristocratic
court. The sporting culture, in turn, was philosophically sanctioned by many humanists who extolled the "gentlemanlike pastimes" of swimming, archery, swordplay, and horseback riding as valuable components of any elite education.
Peasants and those of the lower orders also ...