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Jeu de mail
Jeu de mail, in Anglo-Saxon literature called ‘pall mall’, was a one target game played with a wooden club with a cylindrical wooden head and a spherical wooden ball.
It is said that in the 15th century, the
game came from Italy into France. Originally people played it in the South of
France.
The essence of the game was to reach a target in the
fewest number of strokes. It was an individual game, not a team game. In the
South of France, people played 'à la chicane': in the fosses, on the ramparts
and the sandy tracks around the towns.
It caught the attention of kings and nobles; they
played the game on specially laid out narrow playing alleys (boulevards) of up
to a thousand meters in length. King François I introduced the game at
Fontainebleau in the first part of the 16th century. Soon, the
'noble' game was played in many French towns, followed by the principal towns of
Western Europe. The 'noble' game was played till the end of the 18th
century. The game à la chicane in the South of France survived until 1939 when
the last mail player in Montpellier stowed away his mail equipment in the attic
of his house.
Publications on jeu de mail
Publication |
Author |
Published (in) |
Jeu de mail in Switzerland  |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2025 June - Revised/Extended/Re-designed part of the chapter 'Spreading (s)wings' in 'Games for Kings and Commoners Part Two (2014)' |
Jeu de mail in Germany Part 2 |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2025 May - Revised/Extended/Re-designed part of the chapter 'Spreading (s)wings' in 'Games for Kings and Commoners Part Two (2014)' |
Jeu de mail in Germany |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2025 February - Revised/Extended/Re-designed part of the chapter 'Spreading (s)wings' in 'Games for Kings and Commoners Part Two (2014)' |
| Boy caddies in colf, mail, crosse and in golf, even young girls |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2024 March on this site,
followed by the publication in Autumn - Golfika no. 34 (Magazine of the European Association of Golf Historians and Collectors) |
| Jeu de mail in France |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2024 August |
| Summer breaks & jeu de mail Les vacances d'été & jeu de mail  |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2024 July |
| The first trees along the 'Maliebaan' in Utrecht |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs | 2023 September |
| The caddy in jeu de mail Porte-lève or porte-mail |
Geert Nijs Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2015 August - Idea & first draft 2023 May - Elaboration |
Balderdash |
Geert Nijs Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2015 June - Idea & first draft 2023 February - Elaboration |
| Not every “Mail” is a “Jeu de Mail” |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2022 November |
| J.-J. Rousseau & le jeu de mail |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2022 July |
The end of pall mall in London |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2021 December |
| De Maliebaan in internationaal perspectief  |
Volkmar Eidloth & Hans Renes | 2020 December Oud-Utrecht Jaarboek 2020 |
Pall mall in Great Britain? |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2020 December |
| Le premier joueur de mail connu ou la Madone de l'Arche |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2020 September |
A road ... like any other? |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2020 August |
| Château de Folembray Aisne 02, Hauts de France |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2020 July |
| Fact-finding on 'Jeu de Mail' (Pall Mall): Marseille |
Sara Kieboom-Nijs |
2020 Spring golfika (magazine of the European Association of Golf Historians and Collectors) |
Mailbahnen als städtebauliche und landschaftsplanerische Innovation im 17. Jahrhundert. |
Volkmar Eidloth & Hans Renes |
2018 Siedlungsforschung. Archäologie – Geschichte – Geographie 35 |
Jeu de mail à Orange |
Geert & Sara Nijs |
2017 March |
The earliest of rules of jeu de mail |
Geert & Sara Nijs |
2014 - Part of the chapter 'The earliest of rules of the games' in 'Games for Kings & Commoners Part Two' |
| From Munro bagging to Mail bagging A la recherche des anciens courts de jeu du mail | Geert & Sara Nijs | 2013 October Presentation at the AGM of the European Association of Golf Historians & Collectors at Bruxelles |
| La Bernarde : boule de mail pour s'assurer la victoire ? | 2012 La France pittoresque, N° 41 | |
| Le Noble Jeu de Mail de la ville de Montpellier |
Philippe Estang |
2009 February www.apgf.fr |
Jeu de Mail Part 2 |
Henri Jakubowicz |
2003 March - Through The Green (magazine of the British Golf Collectors Society) |
Jeu de Mail Part 1 |
Henri Jakubowicz |
2002 December - Through The Green (magazine of the British Golf Collectors Society) |
The Sister of Golf | Andrew Lang | 1909 Octobre - Article in Blackwood’s Magazine Reprint in Golf Illustrated, Vol. 4, Number 4, January 1916 |
Chevalier du Bois Roulant |
Paul Hamelle |
1909 March Article dans "Le Sport Universel - Illustré" Source : Bibliothèque nationale de France |
Histoire du jeu de mail et du billard |
L.E. Fournier |
1889 Histoire des jouets et des jeux d'enfant © Le Livre d'histoire-Lorisse Paris 2002 |
Di Giocatori di Palla al maglio  |
Antonfrancesco Grazzini |
1559 Rime di Antonfranceso Grazzini detto Il Lasca, Parte Seconda |
