A Matter of National Security
As various ball sports began to take hold in England, King Edward III became convinced that Government action was required.
1363
King Edward III 1327-1377
As various ball sports began to take hold in England, King Edward III became convinced that Government action was required.
1363
King Edward III 1327-1377
In 1363, with England’s glorious victories at Crécy and Poitiers nearly twenty years behind him, King Edward III was seized with anxiety lest England’s famous archers should squander their skills on such fripperies as football and quoits. He therefore issued an order prescribing stiff penalties for those who put amusement ahead of the defence of the realm.
Translated by John Strype (1720), original spelling
THE King to the Sheriffs of London, Greeting.*
Because the People of our Realm, as well of good Quality as mean, have commonly in their Sports, before these Times, exercised the Skil of Shooting Arrows, whence it is well known, that Honour and Profit have accrued to our whole Realm; and to us, by the Help of God, no small Assistance in our Warlike Acts;
And now the said Skil being as it were wholly layed aside, the same People please themselves in hurling of Stones and Wood and Iron; and some in Hand-Ball, Foot-Ball, Bandy-Ball, and in Cambuck*, and Cock-fighting; and some also apply themselves to other dishonest Games, and less profitable or useful; whereby the said Realm is likely in a short Time to become destitute of Archers:
* The text in Rymer’s Foedera indicates that the original letter was sent to the Sheriff of Kent, a county where the burden of the Hundred Years War lay heavily on the public, and was copied to other sheriffs with suitable changes. Strype evidently worked from the letter sent to London.
* In the letter sent to the Sheriffs of Kent, Edward at this point regretted those who ‘indulge themselves in ball-games with hand, foot and stick’ but did not name either bandy-ball or cambuck (cambuca), though both were played with a ball and a crook-ended stick. Using the word ‘hockey’ here would be an anachronism: it is not recorded before 1773.