What is Jeu de Paume?

Jeu de Paume is also called ‘real tennis’ or ‘court tennis’. It is the precursor of modern tennis and was a rage in Renaissance Europe. Jeu de Paume traces its history to the 11th century when French monks played the sport using their bare hands to volley cloth bags of hair or cork. Translated, it means ‘Game of palm’. It was played on an indoor court with angled walls and netted windows and involved smacking the ball. It was regarded by the upper classes as a provincial pastime initially. In time, young nobles educated in monasteries brought the game to palaces and urban areas. By the early 1500s, the game embraced battoir (racquets) and introduced a cord (later a net) to separate players into two halves of the court, to take shape as modern tennis. Though men dominated the sport, the most celebrated player of the 15th century was Margot of Hainault, who defeated some of the best men in the game in 1427 in Paris.