Sports During The Elizabethan Era

During the Elizabethan Era, a big part of the citizen’s culture was sports. These sports were mainly for the nobility and upper class, who spent many of their days watching and performing them. They were a source of great fun and entertainment, and are also considered an essential part of Elizabethan Era life. Three of the most popular and common sports were fencing, hunting, and tennis. These sports brought pleasure and amusement to the people of Elizabethan Era. Fencing was a requirement of the upper class men. Fencing was a crucial part of becoming a knight during the Elizabethan Era, and the young men would train in fencing from ages seven to twenty-one. This sport was performed with a thin, light, sharp-pointed sword called a rapier. These rapiers were admirable for thrusting, and were used in preference over older, dull cutting swords. Skills with the sword were required during

The reason the upper class enjoyed hunting so greatly was because it required many war skills, such as: weapon skills, horse riding skills, and courage. There were three different kinds of hunting, each performed a different way and designed for varieties of people. One form was Hawking, or Falconry, which was mainly done by the upper class; it required a “Falconer” to train a hawk or falcon to hunt. A second form was called At Force Hunting, and it was designed for young and active men. It involved dogs and their owners chasing the prey until it was too fatigued or until they could corner it and slaughter it. The final form of hunting was designed for women and less-active men, and it was called Bow and Stable hunting. This hunting required the players to ride horseback and use a bow and arrow to kill the prey. These three forms of hunting were all different but all were a great form of amusement and exercise for the citizens of this time