Jeu de mail
{{Short description|Italian historic mallet lawn game}}
File:Cropped image from Joseph Lauthier's "Le Jeu de Mail".jpg
{{lang|frm|Jeu de mail}} or {{lang|frm|jeu de maille}} ('pallamaglio' in Italian, Middle French for 'mallet game', or sometimes interpreted as 'straw game') is an ancient outdoor game, originally from Naples,{{Cite book |last=Izzo |first=Paolo |title=Giochi storici napoletani: i giochi dei nostri nonni in sette secoli di letteratura napoletana |publisher=Stamperia del Valentino |year=2003 |isbn=978-8895063430 |location=Italy |pages=121 |language=Italian}} which gave rise to numerous modern sports, such as golf, croquet, hockey and its variations, and polo.{{Cite web |last=Museo di Torino |date=16 March 2013 |title=Pallamaglio |url=https://www.museotorino.it/view/s/fbef7f21ec1e431a8cba64126fa1fe66 |website=Museo Torino}} It is a now-obsolete lawn game originating in the Late Middle Ages and mostly played in the Kingdom of Naples and France,{{Cite book |first=Wojciech |last=Liponski |title=L'encyclopédie des Sports |edition=French |location=Paris |publisher=Atena |date=2005 |origyear=2003 |page=256|isbn=9780760316825}} surviving in some locales into the 20th century. It is a form of ground billiards, using one or more balls, a stick with a mallet-like head, and usually featuring one or more targets such as hoops or holes. {{lang|frm|Jeu de mail}} was ancestral to the games golf, palle-malle and croquet, and (by moving it indoors and playing on a table with smaller equipment), billiards.
History
One of the oldest references to the game of 'pallamaglio', and to its Neapolitan origin, is by Anton Francesco Grazzini, also known as Lasca.{{Cite web |last=Colasante |first=Francesco |title=Enciclopedia dello Sport |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/antichi-giochi-italiani_%28Enciclopedia-dello-Sport%29/ }} The game is also mentioned in a list of Neapolitan popular games in Giordano Bruno's comedy The Candlestick (1582).{{Cite book |last=Berti |first=Domenico |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DuQ5AAAAcAAJ&dq=pallamaglio+napoli&pg=PA146 |title=Vita di Giordano Bruno da Nola |publisher=G. B. Paravia e compagni editore. |year=1868 |pages=146 |language=Italian}} The game was probably already played in the Kingdom of Naples in the twelfth century. One of the first known written record of {{lang|frm|jeu de mail}} is a Renaissance Latin text dating to 1416.{{Clarify|date=June 2009|reason=What does it say? Quote it (in translation).}}{{cite book |first=J. J. |last=Jusserand |title=Les sports et jeux d'exercice dans l'ancienne France |origyear=1901 |date=1996 |publisher=Plon-Nourrit et Cie. |location=Paris}}{{Rp|306}} The {{lang|frm|mail}} in the name probably means 'maul, mallet', from Latin {{lang|la|malleus}}.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} An alternative meaning of 'straw' has been suggested (Modern French {{lang|fr|maille}}), on the basis that the target hoops used in some versions of the game were sometimes made of bound straw.{{Rp|308}}
Quite popular in various forms in the Kingdom of Naples, then in other parts of Italy and France in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, the game developed into pall-mall in the early modern period, which spread to Scotland then England; this, in turn, eventually led to croquet.{{Rp|308}}
According to Brantôme, King Henry II of France (ruled 1547–1559) was an excellent player of {{lang|frm|jeu de mail}} and {{lang|frm|jeu de paume}} (a form of {{sic|hide=y|1=handball|reason=This link to a disambiguation is on purpose; the problem is that the needed article, History of handball in Europe, does not exist, as of Mar. 2014)}} that eventually developed into tennis and other racquet sports). Louis XIV (ruled 1661–1715), who hated {{lang|frm|jeu de paume}}, was on the other hand enthusiastic about {{lang|frm|jeu de mail}}, and the playing court in the gardens of Tuileries Palace was enlarged during his reign.{{Cite book |first=Bernard |last=Merdrignac |title=Le Sport au Moyen Âge |location=Rennes |publisher=Presses Universitaires de Rennes |year=2002 |page=236}}
The game was still played in France, in the areas of Montpellier and Aix-en-Provence, into the early 20th century, before the First World War. An educational institution in Montpellier, Collège Jeu de Mail, still bears the name of this game.{{cite web|url=http://www.clg-dujeudemail-montpellier.ac-montpellier.fr/ |title=Collège Jeu de Mail | Montpellier |language=fr |website=Clg-dujeudemail-montpellier.ac-montpellier.fr |date= |accessdate=2016-07-16}}
Game play
The game makes use of one or more balls that are generally of boxwood, but higher-quality balls are of medlar. The ball is struck with a long stick with a mallet- or foot-like end, similar to a croquet mallet or golf club, respectively; it is essentially a heavy version of the billiard {{Cuegloss|Mace|mace}} (which eventually developed into the cue stick). Different variants of the game may have differing goals or targets (if any), ranging from croquet-like hoops to golf-like holes in the ground. There are four known named rules variations of the game:
- {{lang|fr|Chicane}} ('quarrel', 'quibble') – similar to golf; the winner is the one who reaches a distant goal in the fewest strokes.
- {{lang|fr|Grand coup}} ('great blow') – the goal is to launch the ball as far as possible; good players might exceed {{convert|200|yard|metre}}
- {{lang|frm|Rouët}} ('wheel', modern French: {{lang|fr|roue}}) – played with several balls; ancestral to croquet and billiards
- {{lang|fr|Partie}} ('party') – a team version.