Professional Documents
Culture Documents
to begin with the role of sport in England during the same period. Sport in
verts fled from the harsh Catholic reaction to Protestantism under Queen
Mary Tudor ("Bloody Mary" who ruled from 1554 to 1557). Even as 300
in England during the 1500s: The monarchy, along with the common people
and the Catholics, were allied against the Puritans and Parliament. These alli-
ances were about the changing nature of the Western world. The monarchy,
Catholics, and common people of England favored a lifestyle that was pri-
marily agrarian, was cyclical with regard to time, was patriarchal and ascrip-
Bve in terms of tamily and position, and generally represented the way that
Earopeans had lived for centuries. In contrast, the reformers represented the
business oriented, viewed time in a linear fashion, and sought to change the
and, for our purposes, sport. The most significant religious group in England
was the Puritans, who sought to make God's kingdom come alive on earth.
Puritans wanted to use God's time in the most efficient manner possible. Idle-
ness was the most serious of sins, for wasting the gift of time was a sin for
which one could never atone. Once time was gone, it could never be brought
We can see how this type of thinking fits with a newly industrialized soci-
ety. While sixteenth-century England was not "technological" in the sense with
which we are familiar today, the advent of water and steam power in the lives of the English
revolutionized the manner in which
drink or injury
the le ast
wicked because they did just this. Playful activities were considered wicked for
old Europe.
THE PURITANS
that the government should have full power to enforce obedience and to inflict every
gious life:
the devil. The Puritans were very utilitarian: and the climate in New England required that if people
while the body was made for work and prayer, and
trates, The magistrates wrote laws that ensured both the sanctity of the Sabbath and the promo
tion of the public good, demonstrating the inte
bird hunting.
tan sphere of influence for a mug of ale or other forms of etertainment, he did not have to travel
alike.
socially acceptable.
REGION
freedom.
died young.
Molineaux, who gained his freedom from slavery by fighting on the Southern Plantation Circuit
locations.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF NATIVE
AMERICANS
during sport's formative years, and lacrosse is still popular n many regions of the country. Native