Wrestling

Illustrations and artwork depicting wrestling. Includes several depictions of the biblical scene of Jacob wrestling with the Angel (from chapter 32 of Genesis). Some of the wrestlers are naked; others are only dressed in their breeches (underwear); others are fully dressed.

For this set of links, I am focusing mostly on humans wrestling humans; there are various marginal illustrations involving random matchups featuring hybrid monsters, bears, lions, monkeys, wild men, and so on.

See also Wrestling Mania - Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts and A Brief History of Wrestling in England.

• Jacob and the angel (BNF Grec 510, fol. 174v), c. 879-882
• Border illustration, Vita S. Albini (BNF NAL 1390, fol. 4), end of the 11th century
• Jacob and the angel, Explanatio in Cantica Canticorum (NSB cod. 49 rot, fol. 2v), c. 1150-1200
• Jacob and the angel, psalter (British Library Royal 1 D X, fol. 74v), c. 1200-1220
• Wrestlers in an illuminated initial, psalter (British Library Arundel 157, fol. 95v), first quarter of the 13th century
• Jacob and the angel, psalter with commentary of Alexander Nequam (Bodl. 284, fol. 196r), first quarter of the 13th century
• Jacob and the angel, psalter (St. John’s College D.6, fol. 102r), c. 1210-1220
• Illuminated initial with wrestling men, the Huntingfield Psalter (PML M.43, fol. 79v), c. 1212-1220
• Jacob and the angel, the de Brailes Bible (Lat. bib. e. 7, fol. 189v), second quarter of the 13th century
• Fols. 14v and 19 of the sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt (BNF Fr. 19093), c. 1230
• Wrestlers, Moralia in Hiob (NSB cod. Duc. 95, fol. 93r), c. 1250-1260
• Bas-de-page, the Rutland Psalter (British Library Additional 62925, fol. 42r), c. 1260
• Wrestlers in an illuminated initial, Libri Naturales (British Library Harley 3487, fol. 34), third quarter of the 13th century
• Wrestlers on an illuminated letter, chansonnier (BNF Fr. 844, fol. 51v), second half of the 13th century
• Jacob and the angel (fol. 14) and wrestling fools (fol. 141v), Psalter of Saint Louis (BNF Latin 10525), c. 1270
• Combat of Jaufre and d’Estout, Jaufre (BNF Fr. 2164, fol. 11), 13th-14th century
• The founding of the Nemean games, Roman de Thèbes (BNF Fr. 60, fol. 12v), c. 1300
• Two men wrestling, the Ormesby Psalter (Douce 366, fol. 109r), c. 1300-1310
• Fols. 89 and 121r, the Maastricht Hours (British Library Stowe 17), first quarter of the 14th century
• Jacob and the angel, Bible historiale (BNF Fr. 160, fol. 33), first quarter of the 14th century
• Jacob and the angel, Bible historiale (Douce 211, fol. 43v), first quarter of the 14th century
• Bahram Gur exhibiting his prowess in wrestling at the court of Shangul, King of India, folio from a Shahnama, c. 1300-1330
• Jacob and the angel, Biblia pauperum (OSB cod. III 207, fol. 9r), c. 1310-1320
• Two men wrestling, the Smithfield Decretals (British Library Royal 10 E IV, fol. 58v), c. 1300-1340
• Jacob and the angel, Bible historiale (BNF Fr. 8, fol. 32), c. 1320-1330
• Marginal illustration in the Luttrell Psalter (Brit. Lib. Add. 42130, fol. 54v), c. 1325-1340
• Jacob and the angel, the Golden Haggadah (British Library Additional 27210, fol. 5), second quarter of the 14th century
• Scenes from the life of Jacob, the Sister Haggadah (British Library Oriental 2884, fol. 5v), 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 14th century
• Kai Khusrau wrestles with Shida, folio from a Shahnama, c. 1330-1340
• Jacob and the angel, portable psalter (Liturg. 407, fol. 117v), middle of the 14th century
• Jacob and the angel, Omne Bonum (British Library Royal 6 E VI, fol. 3v), c. 1360-1375
• Jacob and the angel, Les anciennes hystoires rommaines (British Library Royal G VII, fol. 37v), last quarter of the 14th century
• Jacob and the angel, Bible historiale (BNF Fr. 164, fol. 25), fourth quarter of the 14th century
• On education, Aristotle’s Politics (BNF Fr. 204, fol. 286v), c. 1380-1390
• Jacob and the angel, Bible historiale (BNF Fr. 159, fol. 29v), 14th-15th century
• Two men wrestle, having removed their coats and laid them on the ground, book of hours (Douce 62, fol. 67v), c. 1400
• Two boys wrestle on Palm Sunday, Dominican Processional and Troper (Lyell 72, fol. 9v), c. 1400
• Wrestling outside a gymnasium, Memorabilia (Douce 202, fol. 180v), after 1401
• Qutulun Tchaghan wrestles, Travels of Marco Polo (BNF Fr. 2810, fol. 95v), c. 1410-1412
• Jacob and the angel, Bible historiale (British Library Royal 19 D III, fol. 31), 1411
• Jacob and the angel Bible historiale (BNF Fr. 163, fol. 19v), 1417
• Maximinus I wins the military games, Vite degli Imperatori Romani (BNF Italien 131, fol. 68v), 1431
• Bahrâm V Gûr wrestles, Shâh-nâma (BNF Supplément persan 493, fol. 412), 1411
• The struggle between Fortune and Poverty (Getty MS. 63, fol. 63), c. 1415
• The Solothurner Fechtbuch, c. 1423
• Jacob and the angel, Bibelparaphrase (ÖNB cod. 2774, fol. 31r), 1448
• The idol, Miracles de Notre Dame (BNF Fr. 9198, fol. 125v), 1456
• Roman military training, De re Militari (PML M.364, fol. 3r), 2nd half of the 15th century
• Gymnasium: two men wrestling, Des faits et dits mémorables (KB 71 D 42, fol. 188v), 1462
• Entertainment at the court of King Altistrates, Apollonius von Tyrland (ÖNB cod. 2886, fol. 4r), 1467
• Romans at their games, Facta et dicta memorabilia (BNF Fr. 288, fol. 225v), c. 1470-1480
• The children of the Sun, Biblia Pauperum (ÖNB cod. 3085, fol. 23r), 1475
• Hercules and Antaeus by Piero del Pollaiuolo, c. 1478
• Children of the Sun, the Wolfegg Housebook (fol. 14r), c. 1475-1485
• Hercules and Achelous wrestling, Metamorphoses (British Library Royal 17 E IV, fol. 136), last quarter of the 15th century
• Entellus and Dares wrestling (fol. 88) and wrestling with poles in the Sicilian games (fol. 115), Aeneis in The King’s Virgil (British Library King’s 24), 1483-1485
• Apprentices fighting by Martin Schongauer, c. 1485
• Drawing of exercises in the art of self-defence, c. 1500-1510
• Studies of two wrestlers by Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1524-1525
• Sketch with wrestling figures, probably Hercules and Antaeus, by Michelangelo, c. 1524-1526
• Chalk drawing of two men wrestling by Daniele da Volterra, c. 1524-1566
• Hercules wrestling Antaeus, print made by Heinrich Aldegrever, 1529
• Hercules and Antaeus by Lucas Cranach the Elder, c. 1530
• In the Bronze Age, men take up arms against each other, Metamorphoses (Douce 117, fol. 10r), after 1531
• The Seven Planets: Sun, attributed to Georg Pencz, 1530-1550
• Jacob and the Angel, print made by Georg Lemberger, c. 1532-1540
• Hercules wrestling Antaeus, print made by Agostino Veneziano, 1533-1536
• Die eytel vergenklich Freudt und wollust diser welt, print made by Erhard Schön, 1534
• Two boys wrestling, La Coche ou le Débat de l’Amour (Douce 91, fol. 3r), 1540
• The Labours of Hercules: Hercules wrestling Antaeus, print made by Sebald Beham, 1545
• The sultan attends a wrestling match, Gulistân (BNF Supplément persan 1958, fol. 20v), mid-16th century
• Two kings wrestling for a crown, Cosmographia, print made by Heinrich Holzmüller, c. 1550-1552
• Madjnûn and Laylâ at the madrasa, Husraw va Shîrîn (BNF Supplément persan 1956, fol. 94v), c. 1560
• Pahlavân Mahmûd and an Indian wrestle, Madjâlis al-Ushshâq (BNF Supplément persan 1559, fol. 138), fourth quarter of the 16th century
• Pahlavân Mahmûd and an Indian wrestle, Madjâlis al-Ushshâq (BNF Supplément persan 1150, fol. 129v), 1581
• Yudishthira wrestling with Karna, Razmnama, 1598

I doubt that this form of wrestling was really known as “chicken-fighting” in the Middle Ages, but that’s the name used in modern English; each wrestler is seated piggy-back on the shoulders of a teammate during the match.

• Bas-de-page, the Rutland Psalter (British Library Additional 62925, fol. 70v), c. 1260
• Bas-de-page, a collection of Arthurian romances (BNF Fr. 95, fol. 326), c. 1280-1290
• A violent game, the Maastricht Hours (Brit. Lib. Stowe 17, fol. 100v), 1st quarter of the 14th century
• Marginal illustration in the Luttrell Psalter (Brit. Lib. Add. 42130, fol. 62r), c. 1325-1340
• Various wrestling games on fols. 3r and 91r, Romance of Alexander (Bodl. 264), 1338-1344