We always imagine the nobles of the Middle Ages in a hunt or in a fair, but they also practiced some sport much more similar to those that are fashionable today.
For example, they had a much more refined and popularized among the wealthy classes: THE PALMA GAME.
It was practiced in all kinds of sites with a ball and the goal was to ensure that the opposite could not return it. Does it sound to you?
Obviously, this game is the origin of others such as the pediment, the Basque ball, tennis and even the paddle, which for many is the most practiced sport in Spain.
Medieval sport that gave rise to tennis and paddle
Many medieval games had a huge symbolic or war load. Therefore, the palm game is a strange sport among those practiced at that time.
First of all, the palm game, It was a sport of precision, skill and reflexes. He played hitting a ball with the palm of his hand (hence the name).
The objective was to return the ball to the opposite field or make it bounce on the wall, so that the rival could not return it to your land.
Fairly, The pitch is one of its great peculiarities, since it did not have a clear rule.
Sometimes the games were played on a wall against which the ball was hit, but other times they divided the track with an imaginary rope or line, as in tennis.
To that we must add that the nobles practiced different modalities. Some covered their hand with protections, which reminds the Basque ball or the Valencian pilot.
Instead, Others began to choose small wooden blades to boost the ball. That is, there is no doubt that it is also the origin of racket sports such as tennis and, therefore, of the paddle.
The evolution of the palm game: of aristocratic sport to popular
Another very striking curiosity is that for centuries the game of the palm was an activity reserved for the aristocracy.
The explanation is that to play the game it was necessary to use a lot of space, and have a clothing and an adequate material, so the poorest had no way to practice it.
However, as has happened with other modern sports, popularity caused it to begin to be practiced among the well -off urban classes and, with the passage of time, even in monasteries and convents.
In fact, some studies indicate that in the cloisters of the monasteries, items were disputed between friars, which helped preserve and adapt the game in moments of social change.
Already in the Modern Age, the evolution of La Palma gave rise to different variants: the Basque ball in northern Spain and tennis in the European courts, especially in France and the United Kingdom.
