National Sporting Heritage Day: Some Modern Athletic Sports in Francis Willughby’s Book of Games
The 30th September is National Sporting Heritage Day and one of the aims of this day is to highlight the importance of archival records of sports. The definition of a sport is “any activity that uses physical exertion or skills competitively under a set of rules”, and this is what distinguishes a sport from a game. Francis Willughby made a similar distinction between “games of exercise” and “games of wit”, stating that the word game was most properly used for card, table and board games etc, and not for games of exercise. Nevertheless, many modern-day sports, or an early form of them, are recorded in Francis Willughby’s Book of Games. This post will focus on some of the running and leaping games that he mentioned, which are now identifiable as some modern-day athletic sports.
“Racing on foot” was a popular entertainment in the 17th century. Willughby called it the “Running of Races”. He described it as being when 2 or more people ran for a prize or wager that had been agreed upon and the bystanders bet on whoever they thought would win. At a given sign, the competitors would set off together from a specific point. The winner was whoever was the first to take a handkerchief attached to the finish post, or, if lacking a post, held in a man’s hand. There were however some differences in the precise nature of the running races that were held in Willughby’s time. He noted that the runners often ran naked or just in their shirts.
Willughby also commented that the runners, especially if the wager was very substantial, would exercise before the race on the same route but in their full clothes, or carrying lead weights or other heavy objects. This was in order for them to be, when the main race would occur, lighter and nimbler and therefore perform better.
Willughby’s manuscript contains various forms of “leaping” games, from which can be seen the modern sports of long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault and vaulting in gymnastics. These sports have a long history in England going back to at least the Middle Ages and remained popular for centuries in community entertainment events. The vaulting, as can still be observed in Willughby’s description, had its origin as training for men-at-arms to be able to mount a horse quickly, even when wearing armour.
The version in Book of Games that matches the leaping style of the modern long jump was called the “Taking of Beer” or the “Running Jump”. Willughby described that, in this version, the competitor would run a set distance before they leapt. He noted that by putting the body in motion by running, it enabled them to leap further than if they performed a simple standing jump. He also commented that the athletes always rose on their toes and fell on their heels and thrust their legs before their bodies when striving to leap furthest.
The modern triple jump was called the “Half Almond” in the Book of Games. Willughby described this as being a hop followed by a stride, then a leap one after the other. Specifically, first hopping with one leg, then striding with the other and then leaping with both. Willughby also included another version called the Full Almond (hop, stride, hop, stride, jump), which is today known as the four-step jump or quadruple jump, but this is not part of modern track and field events.
The modern high jump was called “Leaping up in Height”. Willughby commented that in order to practice this, a stick would be laid loosely between two stools so that, if the competitor did not leap high enough, it would be hit and easily fly away. He also noted the ground used for this event would have a slope.
The name for the modern pole vault in Book of Games was “Leaping With A Staff”. For this entry, Willughby drew a diagram of how to place the pole and the subsequent movement of the person and pole. He described that the competitor would hold the long staff at one end and then fix the other end into the ground, first at a narrow angle then rising to the perpendicular, which would raise their body in the same angle up over the staff, and then fall again. Rather than vaulting over a bar, Willughby noted that the challenge was to vault over ditches or other similar hazards.
Vaulting, although being similar in nature to the vault in modern gymnastics, it has some significant differences too. In Book of Games, it was described that the competitor would place one hand upon a rail, gate or something similar and then, just as they rose, they would place their other hand on it and throw themselves, or somersault as it would be described today, over it. Willughby commented that a man could easily vault over anything as high as his armpits and that the legs and body when at the highest point must be kept in line parallel with the horizon. To practice this, there was a rail that could be raised in height using pegs.
Willughby additionally described that vaulting events could also involve vaulting over broad objects, such as tables. When this was the case, the left hand was placed upon the closest side and the right hand would be clapped toward the middle or as far to the further side as possible. Sometimes this event was done using multiple horses standing adjacent and the competitor needed to vault over the horses into the second or third saddle. In this case, the hands were placed on the horses’ necks.
Further Reading: David Cram, Jeffrey L. Forgeng & Dorothy Johnston, Francis Willughby’s Book of Games, 2003. pp.93, 165, 172-3, 271, 279.
Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.
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