Jeu de mail
Script error: No such module "Lang". or Script error: No such module "Lang". ('pallamaglio' in Italian, Middle French for 'mallet game', or sometimes interpreted as 'straw game') is an ancient outdoor game, originally from Naples,[1] which gave rise to numerous modern sports, such as golf, croquet, hockey and its variations, and polo.[2] It is a now-obsolete lawn game originating in the Late Middle Ages and mostly played in the Kingdom of Naples and France,[3] surviving in some locales into the 20th century. It is a form of ground billiards, using one or more balls, a stick with a mallet-like head, and usually featuring one or more targets such as hoops or holes. Script error: No such module "Lang". was ancestral to the games golf, palle-malle and croquet, and (by moving it indoors and playing on a table with smaller equipment), billiards.
History
One of the oldest references to the game of 'pallamaglio', and to its Neapolitan origin, is by Anton Francesco Grazzini, also known as Lasca.[4] The game is also mentioned in a list of Neapolitan popular games in Giordano Bruno's comedy The Candlestick (1582).[5] The game was probably already played in the Kingdom of Naples in the twelfth century. One of the first known written record of Script error: No such module "Lang". is a Renaissance Latin text dating to 1416.[<span title="Script error: No such module "decodeEncode".">clarification needed][6]Template:Rp The Script error: No such module "Lang". in the name probably means 'maul, mallet', from Latin Script error: No such module "Lang"..[citation needed] An alternative meaning of 'straw' has been suggested (Modern French Script error: No such module "Lang".), on the basis that the target hoops used in some versions of the game were sometimes made of bound straw.[6]Template:Rp
Quite popular in various forms in the Kingdom of Naples, then in other parts of Italy and France in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, the game developed into pall-mall in the early modern period, which spread to Scotland then England; this, in turn, eventually led to croquet.[6]Template:Rp
According to Brantôme, King Henry II of France (ruled 1547–1559) was an excellent player of Script error: No such module "Lang". and Script error: No such module "Lang". (a form of handball that eventually developed into tennis and other racquet sports). Louis XIV (ruled 1661–1715), who hated Script error: No such module "Lang"., was on the other hand enthusiastic about Script error: No such module "Lang"., and the playing court in the gardens of Tuileries Palace was enlarged during his reign.[7]
The game was still played in France, in the areas of Montpellier and Aix-en-Provence, into the early 20th century, before the First World War.[7] An educational institution in Montpellier, Collège Jeu de Mail, still bears the name of this game.[8]
Game play
The game makes use of one or more balls that are generally of boxwood, but higher-quality balls are of medlar. The ball is struck with a long stick with a mallet- or foot-like end, similar to a croquet mallet or golf club, respectively; it is essentially a heavy version of the billiard [[Glossary of cue sports terms#template:plain text|mace]] (which eventually developed into the cue stick). Different variants of the game may have differing goals or targets (if any), ranging from croquet-like hoops to golf-like holes in the ground. There are four known named rules variations of the game:[3]
- Script error: No such module "Lang". ('quarrel', 'quibble') – similar to golf; the winner is the one who reaches a distant goal in the fewest strokes.
- Script error: No such module "Lang". ('great blow') – the goal is to launch the ball as far as possible; good players might exceed 200 yards (180 m)
- Script error: No such module "Lang". ('wheel', modern French: Script error: No such module "Lang".) – played with several balls; ancestral to croquet and billiards
- Script error: No such module "Lang". ('party') – a team version.
References
Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Izzo, Paolo (2003). Giochi storici napoletani: i giochi dei nostri nonni in sette secoli di letteratura napoletana (in Italian). Italy: Stamperia del Valentino. p. 121. ISBN 978-8895063430.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Museo di Torino (16 March 2013). "Pallamaglio". Museo Torino.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Liponski, Wojciech (2005) [2003]. L'encyclopédie des Sports (French ed.). Paris: Atena. p. 256. ISBN 9780760316825.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Colasante, Francesco. "Enciclopedia dello Sport".
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Berti, Domenico (1868). Vita di Giordano Bruno da Nola (in Italian). G. B. Paravia e compagni editore. p. 146.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jusserand, J. J. (1996) [1901]. Les sports et jeux d'exercice dans l'ancienne France. Paris: Plon-Nourrit et Cie.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Merdrignac, Bernard (2002). Le Sport au Moyen Âge. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes. p. 236.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Collège Jeu de Mail | Montpellier". Clg-dujeudemail-montpellier.ac-montpellier.fr (in français). Retrieved 2016-07-16.
