Fox tossing (German : Fuchsprellen)
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. (click on read more to read more)
Fox
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. 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. 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.
The
result was often fatal for the tossed animal. Augustus the Strong, the
Elector of Saxony, held a famous tossing contest in Dresden at which 647
foxes, 533 hares, 34 badgers and 21 wildcats were tossed and killed.
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
participated in the sport. The Swedish envoy Esaias Pufendorf,
witnessing a fox-tossing contest held in Vienna in March 1672, noted in
his diary his surprise at seeing the Holy Roman emperor Leopold I
enthusiastically joining the court dwarfs and boys in clubbing to death
the injured animals; he commented that it was remarkable to see the
emperor having “small boys and fools as comrades, [which] was to my eyes
a little alien from the imperial gravity.”
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.
The
tossing of foxes and other animals was not without risk to the
participants, as it was not uncommon for the terrified animals to turn
on the tossers. Wildcats were particularly troublesome; as one writer
remarked, they “do not give a pleasing kind of sport, for if they cannot
bury their claws and teeth in the faces or legs of the tossers, they
cling to the tossing-slings for dear life, and it is next to impossible
to give one of these animals a skilful toss”.
On
occasion, 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. (source : wikipedia)
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