This letter called upon the City authorities 

 to forbid by Proclamation various pastimes of 

 which cock-fighting was one ; the object being 

 to compel all able-bodied men "at leisure times 

 on holidays to ... learn and exercise the art 

 of shooting " with long-bow* and cross-bow 



Some authorities assume that this, and later 

 prohibitions, indicate disapproval of cocking 

 as a sport, but this assumption will not stand ; 

 cock-fighting was placed in the category with 

 hand-ball, foot-ball, bandy-ball, hockey, and the 

 throwing of weights as an amusement which 

 distracted attention from the citizen's very 

 necessary duty of learning to shoot 



COCK-FIGHTING IN TUDOR TIMES 



As may be supposed, not everyone considered 

 cock-fighting a suitable amusement for school- 

 boys. When Dr. John Colet, chaplain to 

 Henry VIII, established and endowed St. 

 Paul's School in i 509, he included among the 

 " Ordinances and Appointments " of the new 

 school one in these terms : " That the scholars 

 use no cock-fighting nor Riding about of 



* The number of ancient yews, the wood of which 

 was principally used for making long-bows, remaining 

 in the churchyards of England and Wales, shows the 

 importance attached to this tree in ancient times ; and 

 reflects the importance attached to skill with the 

 long-bow 



