Spinning Tops in the Middle Ages

Prevalence of the Spinning Top

• Spinning tops were extremely common during the Middle Ages. People made them out of wood or metal. Both boys and girls played with toy spinning tops. They were such a large part of daily life in the Middle Ages that many illustrated works of the era, such as "Western Civilization: A Brief History," depicted them in illustrations.

Dreidel

• A specific type of spinning top in the Middle Ages was the dreidel, which is associated with Jewish culture and spirituality. What you would recognize today as a dreidel evolved during the Middle Ages. According to "Teaching Jewish Holidays: History, Values, and Activities," "In the Middle Ages, there were German tops known as trendels. The Jewish dreidel ... is probably an outgrowth of that top."

Parish Top

• Churches used parish tops or big whip tops, in annual rituals to spin an imaginary circle of protection around villages. Parish tops also provided friendly competition among villages. The parish top was bigger than a regular toy top. According to History of the Top, "... drawings found make them [parish tops] appear to have been quite large, possibly 8 inches tall, resulting in an object that was at least 2 pounds in weight." It would take a lot of exertion to spin a whip top that large, so top spinning during the winter was probably a way to ward off a chill.

Whip Top

• Many people spun tops with string in the Middle Ages, called whips or whipping tops. A person would attach a piece of string to the handle of the top, and then wrap the string around the handle. When he pulled the string, the top would spin. Children in the Middle Ages had races with their spinning tops, and used string to make the tops spin along the ground.