Fox tossing

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Fox tossing was a popular competitive blood sport in parts of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, which involved throwing live foxes and other animals high into the air. The tossing would take place in an arena, usually either created by setting up a circle of canvas screens in the open or by using the courtyard of a castle or palace.[1] Two people would stand six to seven and a half metres (20 to 25 feet) apart, holding the ends of a webbed or cord sling which was laid flat on the ground. An animal such as a fox would then be released from a cage or trap and driven through the arena, across the sling. As it crossed the sling the tossers pulled hard on the ends, throwing the animal high into the air.[2] The highest throw would win the contest; expert tossers could achieve throws of as high as 7.5 m (24 ft). On occasion, several slings were laid in parallel, so that the animal would have to run the gauntlet of several teams of tossers.[1]

The result was often fatal for the tossed animal. Augustus the Strong, the Elector of Saxony, held a famous tossing contest in Dresden in 1648 at which 647 foxes, 533 hares, 34 badgers and 21 wildcats were tossed and killed.[2] Augustus himself participated, reportedly demonstrating his strength by holding the end of his sling by just one finger, with two of the strongest men in his court on the other end. Other rulers also partook of the sport. A Swedish envoy reported his surprise at seeing the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I enthusiastically joining the court dwarfs and boys in clubbing to death the injured foxes from a fox-tossing contest held in Vienna in 1672.[3]

The sport was especially popular as an activity for mixed couples, with the rivalry between the separate couples adding to the entertainment. At Augustus's 1648 contest, 34 boars were driven into the enclosure "to the great delectation of the cavaliers, but to the terror of the noble ladies, among whose hoop-skirts the wild boars committed great havoc, to the endless mirth of the assembled illustrious company." The same contest also saw the introduction of three wolves, but the reaction of the participants to this unusual departure is not recorded.[2]

On occasion, fox tossing formed part of a costumed masquerade in which the tossed animal as well as the animal tossers would be decorated and masked. Gentlemen would dress as mythical heroes, Roman warriors, satyrs, centaurs or jesters. Ladies would dress as nymphs, goddesses or muses. The tossed animals — hares as well as foxes — would be "dressed up in bits of cardboard, gaudy cloth and tinsel," sometimes being decorated as caricatures of well-known individuals. At the conclusion of the tossing, the guests would head off in a torchlit procession or go indoors for a grand banquet.[1]

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  1. ^ a b c Sacheverell Sitwell. The Hunters and the Hunted, p. 60. Macmillan, 1947.
  2. ^ a b c Howard L. Blackmore. Hunting Weapons: From the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century, p. xxiii. Courier Dover Publications, 2000. ISBN 0486409619
  3. ^ Tim Blanning. The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648-1815, p. 403. Allen Lane, 2007. ISBN 0713990872