Child’s Play in Medieval England
Read Child’s Play in Medieval England and check the IELTS Reading answers. ‘Play up! Play up! And play the game!’ The ringing chorus of Sir Henry Newbolt’s celebrated cricket poem ‘Vitai Lampada’ (1908) sums up views about play in 19th- and early 20th-century Britain. Children’s play was important,…
Passage preview
‘Play up! Play up! And play the game!’ The ringing chorus of Sir Henry Newbolt’s celebrated cricket poem ‘Vitai Lampada’ (1908) sums up views about play in 19th- and early 20th-century Britain. Children’s play was important, and adults should regulate and direct it. Games promoted endurance, self-discipline and team spirit – qualities needed for the health of society and government. Newbolt was one in a long line of people who thought in this way. The notion that children’s play should be used for educational and social purposes goes back at least to the ancient Greeks and the toys and games of medieval England tell us much about how adults then saw childhood. But they also reveal a good deal about children themselves, and cast light on what has recently become a controversial issue.
Vocabulary from this passage
10 words worth learning before you sit the test, each with the sentence it appears in.
- commercially manufactured adjective
Produced on a large scale by a business or industry for the purpose of being sold
By the 1300s, there was evidence of a toy industry producing commercially manufactured dolls.
- congregate verb
To gather into a crowd or mass; to come together in large numbers in one place
Historical accounts describe how thousands of children would congregate to stage their own mock battles.
- contemporary adjective
Belonging to or occurring at the same period of time as something else being discussed
Pictures in contemporary manuscripts provide evidence of how children played in the distant past.
- dispute verb
To argue about something; to question whether a statement or theory is true or valid
More recent historians have disputed the idea that medieval parents felt little affection for their children.
- endurance noun
The power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way
Nineteenth-century educators believed that team sports built endurance and self-discipline in young pupils.
- gravitate verb
To move towards or be attracted to a person, place or thing, often without conscious choice
Despite adult attempts to direct them, children tended to gravitate towards one another and form a culture.
- infancy noun
The earliest stage of childhood, when a baby is learning to walk and talk, or a first stage of development
Historical evidence confirms that adults gave toys to their children from infancy onwards during the Middle Ages.
- recreational adjective
Relating to activities done for enjoyment and relaxation rather than as part of work or study
Historians ask whether adults viewed play as a recreational activity or an educational tool.
- take the initiative verb
To be the first to act or to start something, rather than waiting for others to decide
Medieval children often showed a willingness to take the initiative in play by inventing their own games.
- thesis noun
A statement or theory put forward as a premise, to be maintained or proved by argument
The evidence of active play effectively refutes the historian's thesis that childhood did not exist in medieval times.
Answers with explanations
- 27. D
The item asks for **economic evidence**, so look for money, trade or industry. Paragraph D reports that by 1300 there was a **toy industry** in England and that dolls were **commercially manufactured, imported** and, in 1582, **taxed at a halfpenny each**. Manufacture, import and tax are all economic facts about toys. Paragraph G also mentions play, but it gives only seasonal activities with no economic content. Answer: D.
- 28. G
The item wants children **making** their own toys rather than being given them. Paragraph G records Alexander Barclay's description of children **making footballs by filling pigs' bladders with dried peas** in autumn, which is an example of children **creating their own toys** from materials to hand. The sand towns in paragraph D are something children built in play, not a toy. Answer: G.
- 29. E
The item combines **warlike play** with **adult approval**. Paragraph E says boys shot arrows with bows and that **archery is an example of a sport encouraged by adults**, who wanted boys to take their part in a **warrior society**. Paragraph F also describes warlike play, but there the children acted on their own without adult direction, so it fails the approval requirement. Answer: E.
- 30. F
The item looks for a **political event** that children copied in play. Paragraph F says that in 1400, six months after **King Richard II had been overthrown by Henry IV**, the children of London **chose themselves kings** and made war on each other. The children's game mirrors the change of ruler, so both the political event and the imitation are present. Answer: F.
- 31. B
The item asks where an **academic debate** began. Paragraph B names the French historian Philippe Aries, who argued forty years ago that **childhood in the Middle Ages did not exist** in its modern sense, and then says that **more recent historians have disputed this**. That is the starting point of the debate. Paragraph A only mentions a controversial issue without saying how it began, and paragraph C discusses how the question can be answered. Answer: B.
- 32. I
The date **1400** appears in paragraph F, where the children of London gathered after the king's overthrow and, in the words of Adam of Usk, **made war upon each other** with many dying. This matches the item about **children's gang warfare**. The death of Adam of Usk is a trap: he is only the chronicler who reports the event, and the text never mentions his death. Answer: I.
- 33. J
The date **1518** appears in paragraph G, where Alexander Barclay records children playing with tops in **March**, looking for fruit in **summer** and making footballs in **autumn**. This year-round list is a **description of seasonal activities**. The item about children picking grapes is a trap: the grape-gatherers belong to the earlier remark by Thomas Docking in the 1200s, not to the 1518 record. Answer: J.
- 34. F
The date **1582** appears in paragraph D: girls' dolls, known as **poppets or puppets**, were commercially manufactured, imported and in 1582 **taxed at a halfpenny each**. That matches **dolls taxed in England**. The item about puppets first imported is tempting, but the text gives no date for when imports began; 1582 is the date of the tax. Tennis is dated 1440, not 1582. Answer: F.
- 35. C
The date **1908** appears in the opening paragraph, which cites Sir Henry Newbolt's cricket poem **Vitai Lampada (1908)** as summing up views about play, with the claim that games promoted **endurance, self-discipline and team spirit**. That matches the **poem about the value of games**. The item about the invention of cricket is a trap: the poem is about cricket, but the passage says nothing about its invention. Answer: C.
- 36. NO
The statement says **little is known** about adult attitudes to play. In paragraph C the writer says that a **rich body of evidence** exists, including toys, pictures and literary sources, and concludes **we know not only how medieval English children played but what their elders thought** on the subject. That directly contradicts the claim, so the writer's view is NO, not NOT GIVEN. Answer: NO.
- 37. NOT GIVEN
The statement claims **most toys** were **imported** into England before **1300**. Paragraph D says there was a **toy industry in England** by 1300 and that dolls were imported and taxed in 1582, but it gives no figures on how many toys were imported and says nothing about imports before 1300. The writer neither agrees nor disagrees with the claim. Answer: NOT GIVEN.
- 38. YES
The statement says medieval children **celebrated the seasons** in their own ways. In paragraph G the writer says children shared in the adult festivals but **had their own observances as well, semi-detached from their elders**, and gives Thomas Docking and Barclay as evidence of children's seasonal activities. Their own observances matches in their own ways, so the writer's view agrees with the statement. Answer: YES.
- 39. NOT GIVEN
The statement says children **made presents** for their parents on **special occasions**. The passage mentions toys, games, festivals and seasonal play, and says that **adults gave children toys**, but that is the opposite direction. It never mentions children giving gifts to **parents**. Because the topic is absent rather than contradicted, the writer's view cannot be determined. Answer: NOT GIVEN.
- 40. YES
The statement says parents and children in the Middle Ages **behaved much as they do today**. In the final paragraph the writer concludes that the relationship between adults and children in medieval society was, in major respects, **a modern one**, with indulgent parents, and that **childhood has always been much the same**. These are the writer's own conclusions, so the claim matches the writer's view. Answer: YES.