Chapter 47: Journey Through the Middle Ages

Chapter 47: Journey Through the Middle Ages

Troyes is located in the north-central region of the Kingdom of Vason. Generally, summer starts in June and ends in August. Autumn begins in September. It is widely considered the most comfortable and suitable season for outdoor activities in Troyes, or indeed most parts of Brudo!

Summer is too hot, and winter is too cold, needless to say. Spring scenery is quite beautiful, but the chill of winter hasn't completely dissipated, and springs here are often damp and rainy, making it less than ideal for activities. Perhaps only the latter half of May, at the tail end of spring, is an exception, having shaken off the severe cold of winter and with showers no longer frequent. In fact, it might even surpass autumn in comfort.

But that period is too brief, still not comparable to autumn, which offers a full three months to enjoy the pleasant climate!

This summer at the Troyes court seems more memorable than previous years, thanks in large part to the introduction of ice cream. In fact, almost everyone loves ice cream, and after tasting it at court, they’ve spread the word, whether intentionally or not—well, it's hard to say this isn’t an opportunity to show off their access to court hospitality.

Almost no one dislikes ice cream, so much so that by early September, even though the hot summer has passed, people still crave it—especially after a pleasant outdoor activity when the body is sweaty and warm.

"Watching these young people play tennis is the most delightful thing, so visually pleasing and full of energy!" After finishing today's lesson, Anthony, who came to watch the students play, stood with his daughter Helena, admiring the agile movements of the young people on the lawn.

Helena nodded: "Yes, the tennis enhanced by Princess Louisa is much more interesting than when it was in the monastery. Especially the changes to the ball, making it more elastic, allowing people to play on the lawn... In the past, tennis was mostly played indoors, which sometimes was a good thing. But in such a fine season, who wouldn’t want to enjoy some outdoor play?"

Early September, the climate is comfortable and pleasant. Although there is still a bit of summer warmth, as long as you avoid the hottest part of the day, the outdoors is a big playground.

"The strung racket is also a groundbreaking innovation, making the sport easier to pick up. I once saw their tennis in a castle, not hitting the ball with gloved hands or a flat surface, but with a racket covered in sheepskin. Perhaps Princess Louisa was inspired by such rackets to come up with the strung racket."

"The strung racket is much lighter and more elastic, making it easier and more controllable to swing and hit the ball."

The sport of 'tennis' originated in a rudimentary form one or two hundred years ago. Like many games, it was initially used by monks in monasteries for physical exercise and entertainment—theoretically, monks lived isolated lives, engaged in self-sufficient labor and daily chanting.

In such circumstances, monks with ample free time and energy had the opportunity to try various things. Some were engrossed in academic (theological) studies, many were interested in natural sciences, and there were certainly those who created entertaining games to pass the time, as human nature is inclined towards play.

Of course, monasteries are 'places of asceticism,' so most of the monks' games were healthy, at least ostensibly. Therefore, many games originating from monasteries were mostly sports competitions... It's no surprise that 'tennis' originated in a monastery.

The earliest tennis was vastly different from its later iterations; even if Louisa saw it firsthand, she probably wouldn't recognize it. At that time, tennis was played without rackets, everyone played bare-handed or with gloves. The ball was crafted from cloth tightly packed with hair or wool, with limited elasticity.

Of course, considering the courts were small and the net lay close to the ground (sometimes just a rope), not higher than the calf, this was sufficient.

It's worth noting that some rules at the time even forbade the ball from touching the ground; landing was considered a loss, and a new game had to start, so there was no need to consider the ball bouncing off the ground. Also, there was indoor tennis, where the primary objective was to hit the ball against a wall, have it rebound, and pass over the net, which didn't require high elasticity from the ball.

Now, after one or two hundred years of evolution, the original game of tennis has evolved in various ways. Some still maintain the original form, both in play and the ball itself. But there are also new practices—especially after tennis gained favor with certain nobles, pure indoor tennis developed, greatly influencing others, and indoor tennis suddenly became the absolute mainstream.

The rules became more structured, and there was a strong emphasis on etiquette between competitors (clearly an influence of tennis’s aristocratization)... Additionally, tennis, the net, and rackets have each undergone different changes. But like many things at this time, 'a hundred flowers blooming' is the normal situation, with no single orthodox, standard 'tennis.'

So when Louisa brought many modern tennis elements over, no one thought it strange. Everyone just thought Louisa preferred to play tennis this way, and as a top figure in the court, the center of the crowd, she certainly had the right to decide how a tennis game should be played. Moreover, with her changes, tennis matches have indeed become more interesting, even more entertaining, haven't they?

After all, being adept at organizing games in the court is itself a virtue.

Louisa is now on the court, her opponent being Aran Knight. Although Aran Knight is male and has a natural advantage over her, she is clearly more familiar with the sport and has better skills, so she is leading in the score—Louisa loves playing tennis; she was influenced by a certain anime in her previous life during elementary school and became very interested in tennis, even taking classes during summer vacation.

Even when she went to college, she opted for tennis as her P.E. elective... Of course, at that time, choosing tennis was mainly because she already knew how to play, making the final exam easier.

Living in the Middle Ages in this life, she struggles to adapt in many ways. But looking on the bright side, at least the restrictions on women at this time are fewer compared to the next few hundred years.

Including in sports, for a long time in modern times, Western society believed women shouldn’t exercise because it would harm their fragile uterus, causing displacement or something...

But going back to the Middle Ages, although women's status was also low, they rode horses, hunted with falcons, and participated in outdoor games. Even the most stringent moralists only 'had some reservations.'

Many modern people mistakenly believe that women should have more freedom moving from ancient to modern times—although most people already understand that women's status has been declining over the long ancient period. But in the impression, with the progress of modern science, the explosion of productivity, especially the emergence of many female workers, women's status should have risen.

The truth is not so. Although productivity and production methods are the root causes of male superiority in ancient times, after all, in agrarian societies and the era of cold weapon warfare, men were stronger producers and soldiers. In modern times, with large machine production, many workers do not need great strength, and the work efficiency of women and men is similar, so theoretically, the status of men and women should be closer.

However, that's theoretical, and there is a gap between theory and reality. Further, societal structures have their own inertia, and people's ideas lag behind actual productivity levels. For thousands of years, men have been stronger than women; how could that change overnight? Even by the time of Louisa's previous life, influenced by the environment, women, whether actively or passively, had fewer choices than men.

In fact, the closer to the end of feudal society and the beginning of modern times, the less women could claim any semblance of freedom. This was true in China, and it was mostly the same in other parts of the world. It's just that during the Western Industrial Revolution, as the wealth produced by the entire society increased, thanks to the 'trickle-down effect,' after men reaped the era’s rewards, some advantages also flowed to women.

However, these benefits did not signify a real elevation in status; they were mostly material benefits and superficial 'privileges' (the practice of 'ladies first' as a sign of gentlemanly behavior started around that time)... At its core, it was akin to the vote-buying tactics used by candidates in the electoral politics of Louisa's past life.

More welfare, more freedom, more political correctness... it all looked promising, but society might not actually improve, and voters couldn't really say they were truly respected.

They stayed comfortably in their original roles, enjoying the basic security provided by productivity growth. But when they sought more—opportunities for advancement, true equality, and the like—they faced obstacles at every turn, causing significant frustration.

Living in the Middle Ages, Louisa could openly keep up her daily exercise routine. In her previous life, like many modern young people, she struggled to maintain regular physical exercise, with only a weekly tennis game with friends qualifying as real exercise. In this life, despite the less favorable conditions, she maintained a healthier daily routine.

Not just physical exercise, but in terms of daily habits, diet, and other aspects, her life was as healthy as possible.

Primarily because the medical conditions in the Middle Ages made doctors and medicines highly unreliable, so Louisa had to depend on her own body. Maintaining a strong and healthy body was probably more effective in extending life and enhancing quality of life than any other approach.

This was also why she improved and promoted tennis in the court... Tennis was a sport she loved, offering both enjoyment and physical exercise. Moreover, compared to some mainstream sports of the time, it was much safer—the mainstream sports women could engage in at the time included horseback riding, falconry, ninepins, archery, and the like.

Horseback riding, falconry, and other animal-involved activities were quite risky, so they were off the table. As for ninepins and archery, they were safe but not as enjoyable as the tennis Louisa had enhanced, and the exercise wasn't as thorough.

Now Louisa was completely engrossed in the tennis match. Though the wooden strung racket (with strings made of sheep gut) felt quite different from the tennis rackets of her previous life, she adapted to it. She and Aran Knight volleyed back and forth, delivering an exciting match for the audience... Of course, they themselves were completely engrossed in it.

After the match, Louisa and Aran Knight stepped off the court to rest, and other eager young people took their turn to play.

Speaking of which, tennis had become increasingly popular over the past couple of years as Louisa's position in the court of Brudo solidified! Everyone followed Louisa's example to order rackets, tennis balls, and nets. Even if it wasn't a match organized by Louisa, people were willing to play according to the rules she set, using similar courts and equipment.

After stepping off the court, Louisa was immediately served ice cream by a maid, and of course, Aran Knight was not forgotten.

Louisa wiped her sweat, picked up the silver goblet on the tray, and a small silver spoon. The goblet contained two scoops of vanilla milk ice cream, made exactly as Louisa had instructed beforehand—this flavor was hard to go wrong with.

Anyone who wanted it after the tennis match could have a serving. Additionally, if they liked, they could request some jam, nuts, dried fruits, and so on.

Satisfied, Louisa scooped a spoonful of ice cream and cheerfully said to Madam Hugo, who handed her a towel, "The new balls are very good, lighter and more elastic. Don't forget to reward the ball maker... and the shoemaker."

Due to practical limitations, just like the rackets, Louisa couldn't replicate the tennis balls of her previous life. From the time she improved tennis, the balls were initially filled with wool, wrapped in two layers—one of ordinary fabric and one of woolen cloth. This was actually the best tennis ball at the time; ordinary tennis balls could be filled with anything—hair, leaves, straw, rags, and so on.

There were even balls filled with sand, charcoal ash, lime, and so on. It's easy to imagine how heavy and hard these balls would be.

Later, Louisa first added binding threads to the inner layer of fabric, using a special binding method to create large and small triangular patterns on the fabric—this wasn't just for decoration, as another layer of fabric would be wrapped over it! This was to tighten the core, ensuring that with a bit more filling, the ball wouldn't easily deform or spill its contents.

Adding a bit more filling would naturally make the ball slightly heavier, but as long as lighter fillings were chosen, the impact wasn't significant. On the contrary, it could increase the ball's elasticity (similar to inflating, of course, the more inflated, the more elastic)!

Then, Louisa changed the outermost fabric of the tennis ball... Historically, it went from fabric to leather, with felt being a more modern development. Louisa skipped the leather step entirely, directly using the most elastic wool felt. Two curved pieces of wool felt were attached to the ball's surface, making it look exactly like the balls of her previous life.

Of course, the difference was immediately noticeable upon handling.

As for the 'new balls' Louisa mentioned, they had recently undergone a change in filling. Previously, they were filled with wool, but now they were filled with down... Down is lighter, fluffier, and more elastic. Although using down is much more expensive, in the court of Brudo, cost was not a concern.

Madam Hugo glanced at the flat shoes on Louisa's feet and immediately agreed.

Shoemaking technology in the Middle Ages was still very primitive. Leaving aside the commoners, the shoes of the nobility were mostly made of leather. Sandals, casual shoes, short boots, long boots—all were leather. These shoes were simple to make, generally by pasting hemp cloth or paper snugly onto a last, and once dry, the pasted hemp cloth or paper could be cut off in a certain pattern.

The resulting flat fragments, like patterns for making clothes, could be traced onto spread, tanned leather, cut out, and sewn together to form a shoe—like sewing a cloth bag, which would then be turned inside out so the raised seam faced inward.

It's easy to imagine that such shoes were very thin, just a layer of leather. Other parts aside, the sole was also a layer of leather, which would hardly be comfortable and would wear through quickly. So some shoemakers would thicken the sole after turning the shoe right side out. The simplest method was to nail several layers of leather onto the sole.

Leather-soled shoes, of course, couldn't be waterproof. In fact, they couldn't really get wet at all, or they would be ruined quickly. In later times, there was debate over what to use for the soles of high-end leather shoes, with some big brands using leather soles, emphasizing softness, comfort, breathability, and other benefits. But other leather shoes could easily counter with one question: Can these soles get wet?

If they can't get wet, they must be used very carefully, and certainly not in the rain... Thus, it's not the person wearing the shoe, but the shoe wearing the person, making the person a slave to the object.

Of course, Louisa also acknowledged the comfort of leather-soled shoes. If they were the hard-soled leather shoes common in her previous life, wearing them to play tennis would be tiring. But in the past, Louisa had also played tennis in these soft leather-soled shoes, and it was better than expected.

In fact, for comfort and fit during sports, Louisa had specifically ordered the shoemaker to prepare 'tennis shoes'—of course, different from the tennis shoes of her previous life, but they aimed to be lightweight, comfortable, and durable.

Until recently, the shoemaker serving Louisa had made notable progress in crafting 'tennis shoes'. The flats now worn by Louisa were the result of this progress.

"...Your shoes have surprised everyone. I think if the shoemaker hadn't already known your preferences, he wouldn't dare present such shoes. He seems to be from Barron, and this is the traditional 'farmer's shoe' of that country, made from readily available and durable materials, ideal for farmers working in the fields."

For Louisa, the most notable association with the country 'Barron' was that it was the homeland of Princess Barron, one of the supporting female characters in the original book... Of course, in reality, 'Barron' is also quite an important country. As the future Countess of Brudo, Louisa had a general understanding of the country's geopolitics, royal family, and so on.

"That's not a problem, as long as they are suitable for playing tennis," Louisa didn’t mind that these were originally 'farmer's shoes'.

This 'farmer's shoe' had a sole made of straw rope and a canvas upper.

Although the sole was made of straw rope, Louisa found them quite comfortable. This was partly because the raw material was not ordinary 'straw' but a type of soft and tough seaweed from the Mediterranean. On the other hand, it was due to the manufacturing method, which involved first braiding the straw into thin ropes and then making the sole.

Louisa didn't know how the original sole was made, but the shoemaker serving her, according to her requirements, made a plaster mold to replicate her feet one-to-one for the last. Then, based on this last, he created the sole to fit the shape of her foot—a difficult feat with leather soles at the time. The 'farmer's shoe' sole, made by braiding and stitching thin ropes, could be finely tailored due to the sufficiently 'small' raw material.

In fact, Louisa's strict requirements for well-fitting shoes were a technological innovation at the time... After all, medieval shoes were basically indistinguishable between left and right!

The original Barron farmer's shoes actually had the soles wrapped in asphalt (natural asphalt was not uncommon), probably for waterproofing and wear resistance. Louisa skipped this step mainly because the asphalt layer was too thin to be useful, and if it were too thick, the shoes would be too heavy. Moreover, she wore these for playing tennis and didn't need to consider waterproofing; instead, exposing the hemp rope sole provided anti-slip properties.

As for wear resistance, if they wore out quickly, they could be replaced often and considered disposable. To be honest, by the standards of the time, her 'farmer's shoes' would wear out faster than playing tennis in a pair of leather shoes, which would be considered 'luxurious'—braiding and stitching straw rope soles was labor-intensive, but medieval labor wasn't expensive.

Even if Louisa's soles were more refined than ordinary soles, it didn't reach a qualitative change. Barron farmers could wear such rope-soled shoes for farm work, so it was even easier for Louisa to wear them for tennis.

Of course, the rope-soled shoes on Louisa's feet were different from those worn by Barron farmers in other ways. For example, the original farmer's shoes had very little material for the upper, usually only cloth at the toe and heel, similar to later toe sandals. In fact, Barron farmer's shoes were originally a type of sandal.

The upper of Louisa's tennis shoes was basically modeled after the white shoes she had worn in her previous life, which weren't professional sports shoes but were called tennis shoes by everyone when she was a child...

The sturdy canvas upper was made using leather shoe-making techniques, allowing the entire bottom to be attached to the hemp rope sole. Compared to the traditional method of only stitching the edges to the sole, this was more comfortable, as the canvas bottom separated the foot from the prickly straw rope. On the other hand, it also made the shoes more stable during quick movements.

This was very necessary, as this type of farmer's shoe was often not secure enough, and farmers frequently needed to bind them to their feet with metal wires after wearing them to prevent them from coming apart under force.

Additionally, the front of Louisa's shoes had eyelets for laces, which were very rare at the time. The laces passed through three pairs of eyelets, and there was even a tongue underneath!

At that time, there were shoes fixed with laces, but they were mostly strap laces, or else shoe buckles assisted in securing the shoes to the feet. In comparison, eyelets were simpler and more convenient than straps, lighter and cheaper than buckles, and even better at securing the shoes.

Louisa was just discussing 'tennis shoes' with Madam Hugo when someone hurried in from outside, looked around, and directly approached Louisa.

This person was just a messenger, who bowed to Louisa and then reported, "Lady Louisa, Maxim from the glassworks is here to see you."