During the fourteenth century, when few regions in Europe or Asia remained untroubled by invasion, rebellion, or civil war, sports and leisure in every class of society took on an increasingly martial aspect. As well as reflecting the violent tenor of the age, this trend followed gradual changes in the ways that armies were organized and battles conducted.
Seeking skilled bowmen in 1337, just before the outbreak of war with France, Edward III of England prohibited all sports except archery on pain of death. On every village green, young men became proficient in the use of the longbow (right), and standards of archery soared. Warfare in Europe had for centuries been perceived in terms of the valorous deeds of highborn knights, and Edward's action was tacit recognition of the growing discrepancy between this chivalric ideal and the reality of combat. His initiative bore fruit on the battlefields of Crecy and Poitiers, where the destruction of the proud knights of France by the English longbowmen proved that well-trained archers were no less valuable than cavalry.
In countries outside Europe as well, there was a new emphasis on training and discipline. The armies of Islamic countries had traditionally been made up of professional warriors, whose ranks included many
Slaves, supplemented by urban militias and tribal auxiliaries drawn from the nomadic peoples within the state's control. During the fourteenth century, from Egypt and the rising Ottoman Empire eastward, the importance of the professional soldiers increased while that of the other groups declined. Training became standardized, and manuals concerning horsemanship, weaponry, and tactics were compiled.
The links between military and peacetime pursuits were perhaps stongest among the tribal societies of central Asia, which were permanently geared for warfare. Wrestling was the traditional sport of the Mongols, for example, and young boys— and often women—had been trained for centuries in the skills of archery from horseback, which were vital in hunting as well as in war. Recognizing the value of these skills and of their continual practice, the Mongol conqueror Tamerlane made organized hunts a regular part of the training of his mounted warriors.
EXERCISIliie THE MIND AND BODY
Aside from weaponry, the most important factors in warfare were good generalship and brute strength. In many countries in the Middle Ages, the intellectual and physical aspects of military training were fostered respectively by the game of chess and the sport of wrestling.
Probably attaining its modern form in India in the sixth century, chess was closely associated with military strategy, especially in Persia. The many military commanders who took a keen interest in chess included Tamerlane, who is said to have named one of his sons after the piece known as the rook, which he happened to be moving on the chessboard at the time he was informed of that son's birth.
Wrestling, the oldest of warrior sports, was by the fourteenth century practiced in a number of different styles governed by national conventions. In Persia, Mongol-style wrestling was patronized by the II-khan dynasty of the thirteenth and early-fourteenth centuries. In Japan during the same period, sumo wrestling was exclusively promoted among the military caste of the samurai, and public matches were banned. The sport was also an integral part of the training of the knights of the Holy Roman Empire.
A fourteenih-cenlury Persian manuscript miniature (above) shows a game of chess in progress between a Persian prince and an tndian envoy. At right, a Spaniard confronts a Muslim opponent in a late-thirtcenth-century Spanish illustration. Chess was introduced into Europe around the eleventh or twelfth century, but its relevance to military training remained strongest in the Middle East.
World History
