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Saint Antoine le Grand
Dans l’ancien comté d’Hainaut,
Saint Antoine est connu comme le patron de tous les crosseurs. Au Moyen
Âge, la religion était un facteur important dans le traitement des
maladies.
Vers la fin du 14ème siècle, dans le village d’Havré, situé à l’est de
la ville de Mons (Belgique), il y eut une petite chapelle, consacrée à
Saint Antoine Abbé, appelé aussi Saint Antoine Ermite ou le Grand. En
1387, une maladie extrêmement contagieuse – la gangrène sèche – se
déclara ; on parla aussi du « feu sacré ». Beaucoup de gens partirent
en pèlerinage à la petite chapelle de Saint Antoine, en priant pour
être protégé contre ce mal ou en être guéri. Quand plusieurs personnes
étaient guéries miraculeusement, les autorités cléricales déclaraient
ce pèlerinage officiel. Ces pèlerinages avaient aussi un côté profane.
Alors que les pèlerins se réunissaient pour les cérémonies religieuses,
des spectateurs et des chercheurs de réjouissance étaient attirés par
toute cette agitation. Le peuple allait à la kermesse pour rencontrer
les autres, pour boire, pour manger, pour danser et pour pratiquer des
jeux. Dans la région de Mons, le jeu de crosse était l’un des jeux de
plein air le plus prisé. Des jeunes participaient au pèlerinage en
jouant à la crosse jusqu’à la chapelle. Jouer à la crosse pendant le
pèlerinage à la chapelle d’Havré devint si populaire que le jeu fut
étroitement lié au pèlerinage et inséparable de celui-ci. Quand au
cours du 17ème siècle, les maladies comme la peste déclinèrent, le
désir de participer au pèlerinage à Havré diminua, mais les crosseurs
continuèrent à célébrer Saint Antoine, qui fut devenu leur patron.
Le National Geographic vient de publier une traduction française de
l’article « Le feu de Saint Antoine, le mal qui accabla la France
au 10e siècle », d’Ángel Sánchez Crespo, paru en anglais en
novembre 2018.
Si vous voulez lire l'article pour découvrir la base de la dévotion à Saint Antoine, je vous invite à cliquer
ici.
September 2024
The internet
always has unexpected surprises. I stumbled upon the ‘Games for Kings &
Commoners’ trilogy, published in 2011, 2014 and 2015, now available for sale
online. Instead of paying inflated prices, such as those at auctions, you can
purchase these unique books directly from my site for €15/book. It's a smart
choice that saves you money and ensures you get a new copy. And don't
worry; new copies are still available, so you can buy them with confidence!
Here, you can see the prices published by Amazon, Abebooks, etc. and
those realized by the auctionees.
Jeu de mail in France
Click here to have a look at the map.
Jeu de mail en France
Dans ma
contribution de juillet, j'ai fait part des recherches approfondies que nous
avons entreprises, en visitant de nombreux départements et en menant des
enquêtes approfondies en ligne. Nos efforts nous ont permis de découvrir près
de 350 indications pour un jeu de mail en France.
Cliquez ici pour consulter la carte.
July2024
This summer, I continue my activities, although I keep
them low profile. This holiday season, I have been musing on the research trips
with Geert, which took us to nearly all the farthest corners of France. Here
you find some thoughts.
Les vacances d'été
Cet été, je poursuis mes activités, tout en restant discret. En cette période de vacances, je me suis remémoré les voyages de recherche avec Geert, qui nous ont conduits dans presque tous les coins les plus reculés de France. Voici quelques réflexions.
Some reflections about the Catholic Church and the game of crosse
The
attitude of the Roman Catholic Church differed from what we read last
month about the game of colf. Instead of forbidding the game, the
church authorities, in cooperation with the council, incorporated games
into the religious calendar, such as saints’ days, Easter, All Saints’
Day, Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. Click here to read more.
May 2024
Some reflections about
the Reformation and the game of colf
In the Southern
Netherlands and France, people remained truthful to the Roman Catholic Church,
which was never against people playing games as long as these games and the
time of play did not interfere with their religious duties. So people could
play their game of crosse without significant problems.
During the Little Ice Age in the Northern Netherlands, the game of colf
flourished despite the Reformation.
When the Reformation replaced the Catholic religion in Scotland, daily life
changed dramatically, with severe consequences for playing in general and golf
in particular.
Conflicts with religion and the mail game are so far unknown, perhaps because
its players were mostly the nobility and the bourgeois who could play during
the week.
This month, some reflections about the Reformation and the game of colf.
Le swin-golf
L’année passée j’ai fait connaissance avec le swin-golf. Joué à tour de rôle avec une seule canne et une balle, comme les jeux dans la trilogie « Games for Kings & Commoners », dont je suis la coautrice. Je décidais à comparer le swin-golf avec les jeux de colf, crosse, golf et mail. Intéressé ? Regardez ici.
For the English version, see August 2023.
Boy caddies in colf, mail, crosse and in golf, even young girls
This month, we'll examine the role of children as caddies in the different games. In colf, there are several paintings with boys serving the bourgeois on the crowded ice fields. Crosse gives only written evidence. In mail, there is only one picture known where a boy serves the players. In golf, the oldest mention dates from 1628, while the oldest painting of a boy caddy is from 1787. Look here for the results of my investigation.
February 2024
Rather boys than girls in colf, crosse, golf & mail
In my contribution of last month, I looked at the role of women in the different games. This time, I look closer at the children. They are even less present in writing and painting. And if present, it is the boys and seldom the girls. The boys pop up in all the games as caddies, but that will be the subject for next month. Here, you can read about children playing (or not?) the games.
In ‘Games for
Kings & Commoners’ Part One, my husband and I published our findings about the
marginal role of women in the history of the European stick and ball games
colf, crosse, golf and mail.
Curators of
museums cannot know about all the old worldwide games in the pictures in their
collections. It is unclear where they find the information about the artworks.
If you are
interested in the stick and ball game played on the ice in Flanders and the
Netherlands during the Little Ice Age, click here.
Are you looking for a unique present?
What about ‘Golf through the ages: 600 years of
golfing art’ by Michael Flannery & Richard Leech (Fairfield (IA), Golf
Links Press Ltd, 2004), hardcover in slipcase ?
Looking online for other copies of this fabulous book,
I found only one for sale with a price higher than mine. Why do I sell it,
then? Since 2004, it has served the research of my late husband Geert and me.
Today, I never look into it again, and I am not a collector, so it deserves a
better place than a forgotten one here in my library.
My copy, signed by the authors, is number 45/1999 and
shipped to wherever you live.
Description of its condition:
- gilt
titling to case and spine
- light
traces of use on slipcase and cover
- otherwise,
a clean and fresh copy.
Price: 600,00 EUR
Don't hesitate to contact me via
for package and postage costs.
Thumbing
through our trilogy ‘Games for Kings & Commoners’, I saw that we separated
the chapters by tiles of golf playing putti’s, reason why I lanced myself in
the subject ‘Delft blue tiles’ with stick & ball playing persons through
the ages. If you are interested in my findings, you can read more here.
The first trees along the 'Maliebaan' in Utrecht
August 2023
Swingolf
A couple of weeks ago, a friend told me she started playing swingolf. She gave a little demonstration with the three-faced club. She aroused my interest and being the co-author of the trilogy 'Games for Kings & Commoners', I know something about four other stick & ball games, so I decided to compare the different games. If you are interested in my findings, look here.
Having published recently, the earliest of rules of
jeu de mail, now I would like to present you the rules and regulations of ‘jeu
de crosse en plaine’ (field crosse). The French rules date from 1978, the
Belgian ones from 1980.
These rules appeared for the first time in ‘Games for Kigs & Commonders - Part Two' (2014,
Geert & Sara Nijs); the redesigned and revised edition dates from 2021. Click here to understand more about this game ... as far as it is still alive
today.
Sur le site Docplayer.fr, je viens
de découvrir cet article, publié par un certain Olivier Morel. C’est le premier
chapitre de notre livre ‘Jeu de Crosse Crossage A travers les âges’ (2012). Hélas, M. Morel a oublié de nous communiquer pourquoi, quand et où il voulait utiliser
cette partie de notre livre, comme on a demandé sur la page de titre. Il a
aussi oublié de mentionner les auteurs de cet article (mon feu mari et
moi). Pas très gracieux, n’est-ce pas ?
Mais bon, le mal est fait il y a 5
ans, et au lieu de me fâcher, je le prends comme un compliment que M. Morel a
trouvé notre chapitre assez intéressant pour le placer intégralement sur
Docplayer.
Donc, ici vous trouverez le lien vers cette introduction de ce jeu ancien.
May 2023
The caddy in jeu de mail - Porte-lève or porte-mail
In golf and its continental cousins, more or less frequently, players made use of a kind of assistant for all kinds of jobs to make the game for the players more relaxing and comfortable.
Except for the golf assistants, only a little information about the servants in the other games is available. Click here to read all the information we collected about the ‘mail caddies’.
April 2023
The earliest of rules of jeu de mail
The oldest known printed rules of paillemail in French are part of the so-called 'Dupuy Collection'. The Dupuy brothers were collectors of old papers. They filed them in folders which they closed when they had a certain thickness. One of the folders, closed in 1655, contains the rules of several games, amongst them 'Les Loix dv Paillemail', which date back before 1642.
The first deliberate transcription of these rules appeared in' Games for Kings & Commoners Part Two' (2014, Geert & Sara Nijs). If you are interested in these rules, click here for the re-designed and revised edition.
March 2023
From colf to kolf
Looking through my site, I realized that the article ‘From colf to kolf’ in Golfika no. 6 December 2010, the magazine of the European Association of Golf Historians and Collectors (EAGHC), was preceded by the presentation of Geert and me at the annual meeting of the EAGHC two months earlier. Unfortunately, the article in Golfika was sooner a summary, while in the meeting, we could show many pictures to underline the more extensive text. Therefore, I decided to present you the nearly thirty images with the original text of our presentation at the Kennemer Golf & Country Club in the Netherlands. Click here to learn more about the development ‘From colf to kolf’.
In June 2015, Geert started to collect several erroneous quotes about jeu de mail (also called pallamaglio, pall mall and derivatives). One could say: if nobody knows, one can tell what one likes. Whenever there is an illustration of people with a club in their hands and a ball on the ground: bingo, that’s the game I’m researching!
Geert named this collection simply ‘Balderdash’. Recently, I came across this document and decided to share it on my site. If you are interested, click here.
It is not the first time that you find in ‘What’s New’ a contribution
about St Anthony in Barbefosse at Havré (Belgique), particularly about his role in
the game of crosse.
This time, my contribution informs you about the freshly renovated
statue of St Anthony. And other good news: an association has taken charge of the
renovation of ‘his chapel’. Follow its development here!
Ce n’est pas la première fois que ‘What’s New’ donne une contribution sur Saint Antoine en Barbefosse à Havré (Belgique), en particulier sur son rôle dans le jeu de crosse.
Cette fois-ci, la contribution parle de la statue de Saint Antoine laquelle vient d’être restaurée. Et une autre bonne nouvelle : la rénovation de « sa chapelle » est prise en main ! Suivez ici le progrès !
December 2022
In
2015, Geert and I gave a presentation at the annual meeting of the
European Association of Golf Historians & Collectors (EAGHC) called
'All roads lead to Scotland'. If you look at this presentation, you
know what inspired us to publish 'CHOULE The Non-Royal but most
Ancient Game of Crosse' and our trilogy 'Games for Kings &
Commoners'!
Click here to follow our presentation page by page.
November 2022
Not every “Mail” is a “Jeu de Mail”
Researching “jeu de mail” is a beautiful occupation. It leads to a deformation of the “profession”. If you see a nice lane of a certain length, bordered with large trees, and carrying the name “mail”, you think: bingo!
However, town councils could have constructed these lanes in a time after the decline of the game of mail. The former mail courses served as an example to create shady lanes at the beginning of the 19th century where the people could walk freely and enjoy under the foliage. And word has it that Napoléon ordered the plantation of trees, in particular plane trees, along the national roads, so that his armies could move in de shadow.
So every sign has to be researched in depth: town and departmental archives, the national library of France, etc. Here you find the report on a fake sign in Issy-l’Evêque, a small town in the west of Burgundy.
Tout « Mail » n’est pas un « Jeu de Mail »
La recherche sur le « jeu de mail » est une belle occupation. Cela provoque une déformation du « métier ». Si on voit une jolie allée d’une certaine longueur, bordée avec des grands arbres, portant en plus le nom de « mail », on pense bingo !
Cependant, ces allées peuvent avoir été construites après le déclin du jeu de mail. Au début du 19ème siècle, les anciens courts de mail étaient un exemple pour construire des allées ombrageuses où les gens pouvaient se promener et profiter de la verdure.
Une vieille rumeur dit que les arbres, spécialement des platanes vieux de deux siècles environ, que l'on voit parfois au bord des routes nationales, ont été plantés par Napoléon à une époque où il cherchait à déplacer ses armées à l'abri du soleil.
Cela veut dire que chaque indice doit être fouillé : aux archives municipales et départementales, à la Bibliothèque nationale de France, etc. Ici, vous trouvez le compte rendu d’un faux indice à Issy-l’Evêque, une petite ville dans l’ouest de la Bourgogne.
October 2022
'Schotse kliek', een bijzondere vondst in de Leidse bodem
Sorry for all those who are not fluent in Netherlandish. After last month's contribution, I now publish in full the original story about the unique discovery of the Scottish cleek in Leiden (The Netherlands), written by Do Smit and published on the site https://static. golfgeschiedenis.nl.
September 2022
The Schotse Kliek
In October 2017, Do Smit wrote a prepublication about the unique discovery of a Scottish cleek in the city of Leiden in the Netherlands. Iain Forrester could use this article for his contribution about this cleek in Through The Green (December 2017), for which he acknowledges Do Smit. Interested in “the Holy Grail of Dutch Colf/Golf Collecting”, as Iain Forrester called this artefact? Click here.
August 2022
Stick and ball playing putti
Looking through my archives, I came across several putti playing with sticks and balls. They appear in a book of hours, on Delft tiles, in books about sports, on porcelain, and later in papers and advertising. According to the authors and antique sellers, the little kids, with or without wings, played hockey, lacrosse, jeu de crosse and last but not least: golf.
If you are interested in these little boys, click here to read my article, which I published in the magazine of the European Association of Golf Historians & Collectors ‘golfika’, spring 2022.
La raison directe de cette contribution est un message de Do Smit, reçu au mois de mai de cette année. Il m'envoyait un extrait des "Rêveries du promeneur solitaire" de Rousseau, publiées en 1782, quatre ans après son décès. Rousseau y décrit l'accident survenu sur le cours de mail "Plainpalais" à Genève (cf. "Games for Kings & Commoners", Part Two, chapter "Spreading (s)wings", p. 47).
Lors de nos recherches à Geert et à moi, nous avions déjà trouvé une mention du jeu de mail montpelliérain. Sur internet, j'ai également découvert, par la suite, un troisième renvoi à ce même jeu de mail que Rousseau mentionne sans en faire véritablement un sujet dans son œuvre.
Pour en savoir plus, cliquez ici pour un bond dans le 18ème siècle.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau & the game of mail
The immediate cause for this contribution is a message
from Do Smit, which I received in May this year. He sent me an extract from
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “Les rêveries du promeneur solitaire” (published in
1782, four years after his death). Rousseau wrote about his accident on
Geneva's mail course, the Plainpalais (see 'Games for Kings & Commoners,
Part Two', chapter 'Spreading (s)wings', page 47).
This extract brought me to look further into our
findings and onto the internet. Rousseau knew the game, but it was never a real
subject in his writings. In addition to the extract that Do was so kind to send
me, I found two other mentions.
If you are interested, click here to jump into the
18th century.
June 2022
The Flemish and the game of 'curling'
Honestly, this posting has nothing to do with golf or its continental look-alikes! So why do you find it on my website? Because after publishing 'The Flemish and the game of golf', Geert and I were asked to write a contribution about curling. It is merely a question of being proud that we had a second publication on the blog of a major project of the University of St Andrews Institute of Scottish Historical Research, called 'Scotland and the Flemish people'.
As with golf (our blog posting dated November 20, 2015), there is considerable controversy over whether the game originated in Scotland or was introduced into the country by Flemish migrants. In our contribution, we examine the evidence, which revolves around the content of paintings dating from the late medieval and early modern periods.
If you are interested, all the same, you will find our posting here!
Visit at the Nederlands Golfmuseum
In March, I
visited the Nederlands Golfmuseum in Afferden, where I received a hearty
welcome from Dr. Maria Vrijmoed-De Vries (volunteer projectmanager, webmaster and minutes secretary) and Mr. Ferd Vrijmoed (treasurer, archivist). In spite of the hectic around the
reopening of the extended and therefore rearranged museum, they found the time
to show me around and to have lunch together. Maria and Ferd are a remarkable
couple!
Ferd
mentioned my visit on the museum’s website https://golfmuseum.nl/bezoek-van-sara-kieboom-nijs/ and also wrote an article for April’s Golfkrant. It is written in Netherlandish,
but all the same I publish it on my website. If you have mastered this
language, click here!
The Flemish and the game of golf
In 2013, the University of St
Andrews started the 'Scotland and the Flemish People' project. I quote:
"The overall aim of
the project is to provide an accessible overview of the impact of the Flemish
people on Scotland and the historical interactions between Scotland and
Flanders (the Low Countries or modern-day Belgium)."
(https://flemish.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/)
In 2015, Dr Alex Fleming asked us
to write a blog post about the possible connection between the Flemish and the
game of golf.
We quoted all historians who wrote about the history of golf to find a surprising difference of opinion about the game's origin. However, we did not attempt to examine the veracity of the claims or to weigh the relative merits of different theories regarding the origin of the golf game. Click here to read our findings.
The first clubhouses in golf & its continental look-alikes
A golf course or golf club
without a clubhouse … can you imagine a nice round of golf without a
refreshment with your friends afterwards, discussing your 'nearest', politics
and the problems with your back?
Has it always been like that?
Did the continental colf, crosse, golf and mail players have clubhouses or
places where they could relax with a good glass of beer or wine after a
strenuous 'partie'? Here you find the oldest known gathering places of
each game.
Paintings in words
During the Little Ice Age, which coincidented with the
Netherlandish Golden Age, several painters specialized in winter landscapes,
especially the divertissement on the ice. People did not only skate, fish or
sledge; they also played the game of colf. Hundreds of paintings showed colvers
on the ice. Famous exponents of this style were the brothers Barent and
Hendrick Avercamp.
January 2022
17 janvier: fête de Saint Antoine, patron de tous les crosseurs
17 January: St Anthony's day, patron saint of all crosseurs
Janvier est le mois de Saint
Antoine, patron de tous les crosseurs. Sa fête est le 17. Lisez ici comment il est venu le patron des crosseurs
et vous trouvez également une ancienne chanson de Saint Antoine, perdue dans la
nuit du temps. Alain Fagnot, Président de l’ASBL Cervia Médiéval, Chièvres, Belgique,
était si gentil de traduire cette chanson boraine en français. Après la lecture
de Marie Neige, ancienne professeur de français, je pouvais la traduire en
anglais.
January is the month of St Anthony, patron saint of all crosseurs. The 17th is his name day. Read here how he became the crosseurs’ patron and look at the text of a St Anthony song, lost in the mist of time. Alain Fagnot, Président de l’ASBL Cervia Médiéval, Chièvres, was so kind as to translate this song Borain into French. After the interpretation by Marie Neige, an ancient French teacher, I could do the English translation.
In December 2020, I published some pictures showing an unknown game in Great Britain erroneously called pall mall. Today I show you again some depictions which indicate the fall of the game of mail in London in the first half of the 18th century.
Studying them, one can conclude that the game disappeared in a period of some 16 years.
Jeu de crosse in medieval literature
Do Smit, ex-curator of the former web museum colf-kolf.nl, made the following remark after having seen the recent edition of 'CHOULE - The Non-Royal but most Ancient Game of Crosse':
"It
struck me that you elaborated in detail on Jacob van Maerlant, who is
in my opinion rather a colf hero, and that you hint indirectly to
Robert de Boron and ban him to the bibliography."
This contribution is an answer to his remark.
Colf near Windsor Castle
Via
the R&A World Golf Museum, I received a question from one of their
contacts about three artefacts found in the Thames near Windsor Castle.
These artefacts are undoubtedly 'colf club heads' (in Netherlandish
'slofs' [one slof, plural slofs]), notable findings in England!
Known is that another continental stick and ball game, jeu de mail
(pall mall), was played in Saint James's Park and in the gardens of the
castle at New Hall (see under books, 'Games for Kings & Commoners,
Part Two, chapter 'Spreading (s)wings', page 38) but colf … an
inimitable surprise! Interested? Click here!
September 2021
Colf at Beverwijck, Albany, New York State - Material Culture in seventeenth-century Dutch colonial manuscripts
New world Dutch studies - Dutch Arts & Culture in Colonial America 1609- 1776’ (1987)
Although Charles T. Gehring calls the game ‘golf’, he talks about the fightings provoked by the game of ‘colf’. When he describes the stick and balls, and the customs to note the scores, it is clear that ‘colf’ is the item. On this page, you’ll find the part of his article, dealing with the game of colf.
August 2021
Miners and jeu de crosse
Miners have probably played an essential role in the survival of the crosse game in the period 1850 - 1950. Among the more than 150.000 miners, several thousand played the game of crosse regularly on winter Sundays, in the fields and wastelands near the mining compounds.
After the war, the game of crosse began to lose much of its glory. Immediately after the end of the war, the demand for coal increased to rebuild Europe. However, the mining profession had lost much of its attraction to local people. Therefore, the mining companies recruited thousands of workers outside Belgium and France. More than 70% of all coal miners were Italians, Spaniards, Greeks, Poles, North Africans, etc. These foreign workers were not interested in the traditional game of crosse.
In this contribution, you can follow the rise and fall of the game of crosse.
July 2021
The crosse
This month, you find a chapter about the adaptations to the crosse clubs, necessary to handle the new choulettes, developed to get more distance in the field. Interested? Click here.
June 2021
The choulette
Both in our book 'CHOULE The Non-Royal but most Ancient Game of Crosse' (2008) and the publication' Games for Kings & Commoners' (2011), we dealt thoroughly with the 'choulettes' (balls) and 'crosses' (clubs) in the crosse game. In the meantime, we received additional information about the development of choulettes and the necessary adaptation of the crosse clubs in Belgium. Most of the 'advanced knowledge' came from Freddy Gallez, an 'ancient' crosse player from an even more ancient crosse family in the Borinage. Click here if uou are interested in the Belgian development of the balls in the game of crosse.
May 2021
Clubs de crosse
En mars, j’ai publié l’article sur le développement en Belgique au niveau des choulettes, ce mois-ci vous trouverez l’adaptation des clubs de crosse, conséquence du nouveau matériel utilisé pour les balles. Aussi cet article est écrit en étroite collaboration avec Freddy Gallez.
April 2021
2021 Edition of 'CHOULE The Non-Royal but most Ancient Game of Crosse'
Having sold the last copy of the book 'CHOULE', I decided on a revised edition. In the period 2008 up to 2018, Geert and I made several notes for improvement.
I chose not to update the introduction and the afterword. Geert wrote the texts, and in these chapters, you find the reasons why over the years, we published our books.
March 2021
Choulettes (soules) dans le crossage
Dans notre livre « CHOULE – The Non-Royal but most Ancient Game of Crosse » (2008) comme dans l’ouvrage « Games for Kings & Commoners » (2011) nous avons donné des descriptions approfondies des choulettes (balles) et des crosses (bâtons) dans le jeu de crosse ou le crossage. Entretemps nous avons rencontré quelques personnes bien informées sur le jeu dans le Hainaut belge. Les informations supplémentaires sur le développement des soules et par conséquent sur l’adaptation des bâtons de crosse, nous ont poussés à écrire de nouveau sur ce sujet.
February 2021
De maliebaan in internationaal perspectief
Oud-Utrecht Jaarboek 2020
Last month, I published the paper 'Mailbahnen als städtebauliche und landschaftsplanerische Innovation im 17. Jahrhundert.', written by Volkmar Eidloth and Hans Renes (2018). They have continued their research which resulted in the paper 'De Maliebaan in internationaal perspectief', published in 'Oud-Utrecht Jaarboek 2020'. The preceding paper was in German, this one is in Netherlandish. So if you are well up on this language, click here.
January 2021
Mailbahnen als städtebauliche und landschaftsplanerische Innovation im 17. Jahrhundert
Siedlungsforschung. Archäologie – Geschichte – Geographie 35, 2018
In December 2019, I made mention of an article of two scientists, Volkmar Eidloth and Hans Renes. In their introduction, they wrote about our trilogy 'Games for Kings & Commoners' as being a true gold mine. These words encouraged me to pick up the 'jeu de mail' (pall mall) findings of my deceased husband Geert and me instead of putting them under a big pile of paper. By now, I found out that it is not as easy as that, but it is a beautiful occupation in this time, where we live from one lockdown into the other. Here you can find the article of Volkmar Eidloth and Hans Renes.
My husband Geert and I published in 2011 a chapter about 'Pall Mall in
Great Britain' in 'Games for Kings & Commoners' (pages 125-137). One of our
illustrations was a picture from the 'Chambers Book of Days', as it is
popularly called. The depiction visualises King Charles II (1630-1685) during a
'round of jeu de mail (pall mall).
In this article, I present some other nineteenth-century illustrators, who more or less copied the goal – or even the
game? – as depicted in 'Chambers Book of Days', although changing each time the
clubs used.
Dans
le magazine « Le Sport Universel – Illustré », Paul Hamelle a écrit
un article sur le jeu de mail à Montpellier. En mars 1909, sous le nom
« Tartarin Sportsman », il remplit trois pages sur le jeu. Fortement
intéressant sont surtout les photos lesquelles ont illustrées son article,
intitulé « Chevalier du Bois Roulant = Les Petits Jeux de Tartarin ». Pour les photos, cliquez ici.
October 2020
« Di Giocatori di Palla al maglio » d'Antonfranceso Grazzini
Au 16ème siècle, le jeu de mail était si populaire en Italie, que plusieurs écrivains et poètes le choisi comme sujet de leurs écritures. Le plus vieil ouvrage, que j’ai trouvé, date de 1552 quand Angelo de gl’Oldradi écrivit « Capitolo del Pallamaglio ». Dans un sens satirique, Oldradi décrivit le jeu et sa popularité, en proposant une prohibition. En 1553/1554, il y avait Bartolomeo Ricci qui composa une lettre sur le jeu. Il donnait une description du matériel et du jeu d’une façon assez technique.
Pour le ‘What’s New’ de ce mois, je vous propose le poème « Di Giocatori di Palla al maglio », un poème de Antonfrancesco Grazzini, surnommé Il Lasca, lequel fait partie des « Rimes », édité en 1559 pour la première fois.
Malheureusement, l’italien de cette époque n’est pas facile, raison de plus pour être heureuse que Valerio Vittorini, Professeur d’italien, a trouvé le temps pour faire la traduction de ce poème, un hymne au jeu.
Le premier
joueur de mail fameux
Sant'Anastasia
est une ville
italienne, située dans la ville métropolitaine de Naples en Italie.
Une fête y était donnée tous les ans en l’honneur de la Madonna dell’Arco.
Ainsi, le lundi de Pâques 1450, la tradition locale rapporte qu'un jeune homme,
irrité d'avoir perdu au jeu de mail, jure contre la Madone et lui lance
une boule au visage. Aussitôt l'effigie de la Madone se met à saigner de la
joue gauche. La foule crie au miracle et, furieuse, demande réparation au jeune
joueur de mail qui est emmené devant le comte de Sarno, représentant la
justice. Le jeune homme est condamné à la pendaison. Il est pendu à un tilleul,
mais l'arbre se ratatine, jusqu'à ce que le jeune joueur soit sauvé devant les
yeux de la foule ahurie. Depuis ce miracle, ce lieu n'a cessé d'attirer les
foules.
Cette fois, ma contribution porte surtout sur les conséquences de l’acte de
folie de ce jeune joueur du jeu de mail.
Huguette
Rossi-Kazmierczak a été très gentille de faire une traduction du texte,
écrit originellement en italien.
A road ... like any other?
Surfing
on the internet for new traces of mail alleys, especially in France, I
sometimes come across unknown courses in other countries, where I am
not particularly searching. To analyse the over 300 traces found in
France is already a “hell of a job” for one person. But whenever I
discover a mail course, of course, I take notes; it would be a pity to
let such an alley disappear in the mist of time ...
In this contribution, I share with you the information I found about the imperial mail alley at
Laxenburg in Austria.
Château de Folembray, Aisne 02, Hauts de France
Le château royal de Folembray fut bâti dans le style renaissance sous François 1er entre 1540 et 1552. Incendié en 1552 par les troupes impériales de Marie, reine de Hongrie, partiellement reconstruit par Henri II, le château n'est plus qu'un rendez-vous de chasse qu'occupe Henri IV, roi de France de 1589 à 1610. Sur une gravure de 1626, on voit bien un jeu de mail.
Fact-finding on 'Jeu de Mail' (Pall Mall): Marseille
golfika no. 25, spring 2020
Round the
turn of the 17th century, jeu de mail courses were constructed in
castle gardens and in towns and villages all over France. These 'boulevards'
with a length of 500 to 1,000 metres had only one 'hole'.
Who needs an ‘Aide’ to play the game
Through the Green (TTG), the magazine of the
British Golf Collector’s Society, September 2014
Following its publication in 'Games for Kings & Commoners – Part Two' (July 2014), Geert and I published in TTG this chapter about caddies and alike in the continental golf-like games.
In all games, assistants made the game for the players more relaxing and comfortable, but not much is written about the 'verseurs' in jeu de crosse, the 'porte-lèves', 'porte-mails' in mail or about the 'ballemerkers' in colf. Here you can read the result of our research carried out on this aspect of the games.
I’d like to
teach the world to s(w)ing
Through the Green (TTG), the magazine of the
British Golf Collector’s Society, June 2014
Preceding its publication in 'Games for Kings & Commoners – Part Two' (July 2014), Geert and I published this chapter in TTG. We have been looking at the teaching methods in the continental golf-like games.
If one wants to improve one's performance on the golf course, there are professionals and facilities to practice what the teacher has told. There are books and magazines, and today's club and ball makers continue to invent new equipment. Not much is known about the 'coaching' of colf, crosse and mail players in the early days of these games; this is all we found.
Jeu de crosse à Bel’œil
(Belgique) en 1901 / Jeu de crosse in Bel’œil (Belgium) in 1901
‘CHOULE – The Non-Royal but most Ancient Game of Crosse’, Geert & Sara
Nijs, 2008
On reste dans les anciennes affiches du jeu de crosse. Cette fois l’affiche annonçant la « Grande
Lutte au Jeu de Crosse » dans la ville de Bel’œil en 1901 (avec l’aimable autorisation d’André Auquier, journaliste
dans le Borinage, qui nous a quittés au début de l’année 2007). On ne sait rien
de ces champions de crosse qui participèrent à ce tournoi. Malheureusement, on
ignore qui a gagné le tournoi.
Pour donner une idée de la valeur de la cagnotte de
150 francs, il est intéressant de la comparer au salaire d’un ouvrier de l’époque,
qui n’était que de 3 francs par jour.
Here
is another old poster, announcing the ‘Great Crosse Match’ in the city of Bel’œil
in 1901 (by courtesy of André Auquier, journalist in the Borinage, who has
passed away in 2007). Regrettably nothing is known about these top crosseurs
who played in this tournament, or who the winners were.
To get
an impression of the value of the jackpot it is interesting to make a
comparison with the wages of, for example, a labourer, being 3 francs per day.
Jeu de crosse à Hornu (Belgique) en 1934 / Jeu de crosse in Hornu (Belgium) in 1934
golfika no. 20, summer 2017
Une ancienne affiche a été retrouvée et publiée dans le magazine « golfika ». Concernant le jeu de crosse, il n'y a pas beaucoup de telles publications conservées ; vous les trouverez ici.
Si vous ne comprenez pas tout de ce règlement de police, je vous invite à lire ce résumé du livre « Jeu de Crosse Crossage - A travers les âges ». Bonne lecture !
An old poster has been found and published in the 'golfika' magazine. It is rather exceptional to come across this type of publications; you'll find it here.
If you don't quite understand the 'Police regulations', I invite you to read this article 'JEU DE CROSSE - The non-royal but most ancient game of 'crosse', published in the very first 'golfika'. Happy reading!
Early Colf in America
GCS Bulletin, march 2015
When
thumbing through earlier GCS Bulletins, published by the Golf
Collectors Society, today the Golf Heritage Society, I came across our
article about 'Early Colf in America'. The first references to Netherlandish settlers playing colf date from
1650. When in 1667, the Netherlanders were defeated in the Second
Anglo-Dutch War, the British took over, which was the end of colf in
the Americas. Click here if you want to go into the past.
Golf History for Golf Historians & Collectors
golfika no. 12, summer 2013
Thumbing through the earlier Golfikas, I found an article about Geert and I discovered this fascinating hobby,which became over the years a nearly full-time pursuit.
From 2008 on, we published five books. Finally, the 2011 publication of 'Games for Kings & Commoners' (click on the green link above) resulted in a trilogy when followed by Part Two (2014) and Part Three (2015).
Then we decided to concentrate on 'jeu de mail' (pall mall); we gathered quite some information until September 2018, when regrettably, Geert passed away.
Recently, I decided that it is time to pick up our research instead of putting it under a big pile of paper. Immediate cause was an article of two scientists, Volkmar Eidloth and Hans Renes, in ‘Siedlungsforschung. Archäologie – Geschichte – Geographie 35, 2018, Mailbahnen als städtebauliche und landschaftsplanerische Innovation im 17. Jahrhundert.' (available on the internet in 2021). In their introduction, they called our trilogy 'Games for Kings & Commoners' as being a true gold mine.
I realized that I have another gold mine; however, still unexploited. I hope to publish this 'mine' in the years to come, for it can help anyone looking for information about jeu de mail.
I am sure that Geert is looking down with pride from the happy 'golfing' grounds!
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