ertino Mussato, a Paduan, early in the fourteenth century
in imitation of Latin dramas. The subject was the conflicts of Padua
with Ezzelino da Romano. Albertino's work was not imitated, for the
mysteries held the stage until the end of the fifteenth century. They
were represented on stages erected in public places of the cities. At
Venice were invented _momaria_, in which there was no theatrical
illusion, but _brio_, joviality, and irony. They began at weddings,
where after the wedding feast some one, impersonating an heroic
personage, narrated the great deeds of the ancestors of the spouses,
with numberless exaggerations and jest, from which the name _momaria_,
or _bombaria_, was derived. The companies of the _calza_ figured in all
gay assemblies at Venice from 1400 to the end of the sixteenth century.
They renewed the Latin comedies and "carried festivity and good taste
even into the churches." Theatrical exhibitions became the favorite
amusement of the Venetians, and were presented not only in private
houses but also in monasteries, although secular persons were not
present.[2123]

+664. Dancing. Public sports.+ From the early Middle Ages the
ecclesiastical authorities disapproved of dancing, but the people were
very fond of it and never gave it up. The poems and romances are full of
it.[2124] Some usages of dancing in Germany were very gross. The man
swung his partner off the floor as far as he could. If any woman refused
to dance with any man, it occurred sometimes that he slapped her face,
but it was disputed whether this was not beyond the limit.[2125] The
usages at the carnival were very gross and obscene.[2126] All popular
sports were coarse and cruel. It seemed to be considered good fun to
torment the weak and to watch their helpless struggles. Birds were shot,
and beasts baited, in a way to give pain and prolong it. At Nuremberg
the "cat knight" fought with a cat hung about his own neck, which he
must bite to death in order to be knighted by the _buergermeister_.
Blind people were shut in an inclosed space in the market place with a
pig as a prize, which they were to beat with sticks. The fun was
greatest when they struck each other. This amusement is reported from
many places in central Europe.[2127] "Nothing amused our ancestors more
than these blind encounters. Even kings took part at these burlesque
representations." At Paris they were presented every year at
mid-lent.[2128]

+665. Women in the theater