Medieval football is a modern term used for a wide variety of the localised informal football games that were invented and played in Europe during the Middle Ages. Alternative names include folk football, mob football and Shrovetide football. These games may be regarded as the ancestors of modern codes of football, and by comparison with later forms of football, the medieval matches had few rules and were chaotic.
The Middle Ages saw a rise in popularity of games played annually at Shrovetide (before Lent) throughout England, particularly in London. The games played in England at this time may have arrived with the Romans but there is little evidence to indicate this. Certainly the Romans played ball games, in particular harpastum. There is also one reference to ball games being played in southern Britain prior to the Norman Conquest. In the ninth century Nennius's Historia Brittonum tells that a group of boys were playing at ball (pilae ludus).Magoun, Francis Peabody (1929). "Football in Medieval England and Middle-English literature." The American Historical Review, vol 35, No. 1. The origin of this account is either Southern England or Wales. References to a ball game played in northern France known as La Soule or Choule, in which the ball was propelled by hands, feet, and sticks, date from the 12th century.Jusserand, Jean-Jules. (1901). Le sport et les jeux d'exercice dans l'ancienne France. Retrieved 11 January 2008, from https://agora.qc.ca/reftext.nsf/Documents/Football--Le_sport_et_les_jeux_dexercice_dans_lancienne_France__La_soule_par_Jean-Jules_Jusserand
These archaic forms of football, typically classified as mob football, would be played in towns and villages, involving an unlimited number of players on opposing teams, who would clash in a heaving mass of people struggling to drag an inflated pig's bladder by any means possible to markers at each end of a town. By some accounts, in some such events any means could be used to move the ball towards the goal, as long as it did not lead to manslaughter or murder. These antiquated games went into sharp decline in the 19th century when the Highway Act 1835 was passed banning the playing of football on public highways. In spite of this, games continued to be played in some parts of the United Kingdom and still survive in a number of towns, notably the Ba game played at Christmas and New Year at Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands of Scotland, Uppies and Downies over Easter at Workington in Cumbria, the Royal Shrovetide Football Match on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday at Ashbourne in Derbyshire, England, and the Atherstone Ball Game played on Shrove Tuesday since 1199 in Atherstone, Warwickshire
Few images of medieval football survive. One wooden misericord carving (see image) from the early fourteenth century at Gloucester Cathedral, England, clearly shows two young men running vigorously towards each other with a ball in mid-air between them. There is a hint that the players may be using their hands to strike the ball. A second medieval image in the British Museum, London clearly shows a group of men with a large ball on the ground. The ball clearly has a seam where leather has been sewn together. It is unclear exactly what is happening in this set of three images, although the last image appears to show a man with a broken arm. It is likely that this image highlights the dangers of some medieval football games.Morris Marples (1954). A History of Football, Secker and Warburg, London
Most of the very early references to the game speak simply of "ball play" or "playing at ball". This reinforces the idea that the games played at the time did not necessarily involve a ball being kicked.
History
The earliest reference to ball games in post-classical Europe comes from the eighth-century English historian Bede, who refers to a "playing ball" ("pila ludicra") in his work De Temporum Ratione.De Temporum Ratione chapter 32: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/De_temporum_ratione_(Bede) Another early reference comes from the ninth-century Historia Brittonum, attributed to the Welsh monk Nennius. The text, written in Wales, mentions a group of boys "playing at ball" ('pilae ludus').Historia Brittonum, ch. 41.
The earliest reference from France which provides evidence of the playing of ball games (presumably La soule) comes in 1147. This refers to the handing over of "seven balloons of greatest dimension". An early description of ball games that are likely to be football in England was given by William Fitzstephen in his Descriptio Nobilissimi Civitatis Londoniae (c. 1174 – 1183). He described the activities of London youths during the annual festival of Shrove Tuesday:
The earliest confirmation that such ball games in England involved kicking comes from a verse about Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln. This was probably written in the thirteenth century, being recorded by Matthew Paris, although the precise date is not known: "Four and twenty bonny boys, were playing at the ball.. he kicked the ball with his right foot".
In about 1200, "ball" is mentioned as one of the games played by King Arthur's knights in Brut, written by Layamon, an English poet from Worcestershire. This is the earliest reference to the English language "ball". Layamon states: "some drive balls (balles) far over the fields". Records from 1280 report on a game at Ulgham, near Ashington in Northumberland, in which a player was killed as a result of running against an opposing player's dagger. This account is noteworthy because it is the earliest reference to an English ball game that definitely involved kicking; this suggests that kicking was involved in even earlier ball games in England. In Cornwall in 1283 plea rolls No. 111 mention a man named Roger who was accused of striking a fellow player in a game of soule with a stone, a blow which proved fatal.Medieval Cornwall by L. E. Elliot-Binns.
14th century The earliest reference to ball games being played by university students comes in 1303 when "Thomas of Salisbury, a student of Oxford University, found his brother Adam dead, and it was alleged that he was killed by Irish students, whilst playing the ball in the High Street towards Eastgate".
In 1314, comes the earliest reference to a game called football when Nicholas de Farndone, Lord Mayor of the City of London issued a decree on behalf of King Edward II banning football. It was written in the French used by the English upper classes at the time. A translation reads: "[f]orasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large foot balls [rageries de grosses pelotes de pee] in the fields of the public from which many evils might arise which God forbid: we command and forbid on behalf of the king, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future."
Another early account of kicking ball games from England comes in a 1321 dispensation, granted by Pope John XXII to William de Spalding of Shouldham in Norfolk:
Banning of ball games began in France in 1331 by Philip VI, presumably the ball game known as La soule.
In the mid-fourteenth century a misericord (a carved wooden seat-rest) at Gloucester Cathedral, England shows two young men playing a ball game. It looks as though they are using their hands for the game; however, kicking certainly cannot be excluded. Most other medieval images of ball games in England show large balls. This picture clearly shows that small balls were also used.
King Edward III of England also issued such a declaration, in 1363: "[m]oreover we ordain that you prohibit under penalty of imprisonment all and sundry from such stone, wood and iron throwing; handball, football, or hockey; coursing and cock-fighting, or other such idle games". At this time football was already being differentiated in England from handball, which suggests the evolution of basic rules. Between 1314 and 1667, football was officially banned in England alone by more than 30 royal and local laws.
Likewise the poet Geoffrey Chaucer offered an allusion to the manner in which contemporary ball games may have been played in fourteenth-century England. In Part IV of The Knight's Tale, the first of the Canterbury Tales (written some time after 1380), he uses the following line: "He rolleth under foot as doth a ball".
The English theologian John Wycliffe (1320–1384) referred to football in one of his sermons: "and now þei clouten þer shone wiþ censuris, as who shulde chulle a foot-balle". It may be the earliest use of the word football in English.
15th century That football was known at the turn of the century in Western England comes from about 1400 when the West Midland Laud Troy Book states in English: "Hedes reled aboute overal As men playe at the fote-ball".
Two references to football games come from Sussex in 1403 and 1404 at Selmeston and Chidham as part of baptisms. On each occasion one of the players broke his leg.Marples, Morris (1954). A History of Football, Secker and Warburg, London, p36
King Henry IV of England provides an early documented use of the English word "football" when in 1409 he issued a proclamation forbidding the levying of money for "foteball".
On 4 March 1409, eight men were compelled to give a bond of £20 to the London city chamberlain for their good behaviour towards "the kind and good men of the mystery of Cordwainers", undertaking not to collect money for a football ('pro pila pedali').
In 1410, King Henry IV of England found it necessary to impose a fine of 20 shillings on mayors and bailiffs in towns where misdemeanours such as football occurred. This confirms that football was not confined to London.
The Accounts of the Worshipful Company of Brewers between 1421 and 1423 concerning the hiring out of their hall include reference to "by the "footeballepleyers" twice... 20 pence" listed in English under the title "crafts and fraternities". This reference suggests that bans against football were unsuccessful and the listing of football players as a "fraternity" is the earliest allusion to what might be considered a football club.
The earliest reference to football or kicking ball games in Scotland was in 1424 when King James I of Scotland also attempted to ban the playing of "fute-ball".
In 1425 the prior of Bicester, in Oxfordshire, England, made a payment on St Katherine's day "to sundry gifts to football players" ('ludentibus ad pilam pedalem') of 4 denarii. At this time the prior was willing to give his patronage to the game despite its being outlawed.
In about 1430 Thomas Lydgate refers to the form of football played in East Anglia known as Camp Ball: "Bolseryd out of length and bread, lyck a large campynge balle".
In 1440 the game of Camp Ball was confirmed to be a form of football when the first ever English-Latin dictionary, Promptorium parvulorum, offered the following definition of camp ball: "Campan, or playar at foott balle, pediluson; campyon, or champion".
In 1457 King James II of Scotland, like his father James I, also banned football and golf, viewing the games as a distraction from the mandatory archery training required of all males over age 12.
In 1472 the rector of Swaffham, Norfolk bequeathed a field adjoining the church yard for use as a "camping-close" or "camping-pightel" specifically for the playing of the East Anglian version of football known as Camp Ball.Marples, Morris (1954). A History of Football, Secker and Warburg, London, p37
In 1486 comes the earliest description of "a football", in the sense of a ball rather than a game."football" at EtymOnline.com This reference is in Juliana Berners' Book of St Albans. It states: "a certain rounde instrument to play with ...it is an instrument for the foote and then it is calde in Latyn 'pila pedalis', a fotebal." It was considered socially acceptable for a football to be included in medieval English Heraldry.