ABSTRACT
King James I of En gland issues the Book of Sports to resolve a con ict over Sunday recreations between Puritans, who seek a stricter observance of the Sabbath, and the mostly Roman Catholic gentry, who played without attending ser vices. The order permits traditional recreations such as archery, dancing, leaping, vaulting, and the “having of May games, Whitsun ales, and morris dances, and the setting up of May-poles” on the Sabbath and other holy days-so long as participants have attended church that day-but bans bear baiting, bull baiting, and bowling.
