Recreation in the Renaissance

Contents
List of Figures
Preface
vii
viii
1 Introduction 1
Games and leisure between history and social theory 4
2 The Need for Recreation 10
Paradise lost 10
A saint, an archer and his bow (story of an exemplum) 12
A right to be idle 14
3 The Medical Discourse 18
Motion and rest 18
Ancient and modern forms of exercise 23
‘The manner of governing health’ 32
Amor et alea 36
4 The Moral Discourse 46
Reason versus Joy 47
A virtue to remember 48
A view from Paris 52
Games without a chance 55
The ethics of the audience 61
Juego(s) 65
A time for play 68
5 Games and Law 73
Ius commune 74
De ludo 76
Panem et circenses 81
The regulation of extravagance 85
6 Varieties of Pastimes 89
Leisure and social hierarchy 89
Plaisirs des dames 93
Children’s games 100
Medieval and Renaissance taxonomies 108
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