Ballads in Medieval Europe

Ballads in Medieval Europe

In twelfth century Europe, there was no television, no radio or recorded music, no computers or telephones, no newspapers or magazines.Books are rare, hand-written documents and they were in Latin, a language only a few, very educated people could read. Professional musicians lived in the households of very wealthy noblemen, or traveled from place to place, as did wandering actors who presented plays based on stories from the Bible, but professional entertainment was a rare luxury for most people. In such a world, it was important to be able to make your own entertainment. People told stories, played riddling games and played chess a few other more simple games that have survived until today. To find out about some games of the Middle Ages and how to play them, visit Tara Hill Design's Rules for Medieval Games page . The games at the bottom of that page, Nine Man's Morris or Merreles, Fox and Geese and Sailor's Solitaire, were all played in 12th century Britain. A stone board for playing Merreles was recovered when Jedburgh Abbey was excavated by archaeologists in 1984. Jedburgh is very close to the places where An Earthly Knight is set.
go to the site:
www.janetmcnaughton.ca/ekballads.html