What the Medieval Olympics Looked Like

Detail of medieval roll showing England's Henry VIII tilting at a joust in front of his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. In the West, chariot racing died out rather quickly, but beginning in the second half of the 11th century, knightly tournaments were the spectacle of medieval Europe.

The popular perception is often that, in the words of one author, “the Middle Ages are where sports went to die.” But although events branded as “Olympics” came to an end, sports, even formal regional competitions, lived on.
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