Fives is an English handball sport derived from jeu de paume, similar to the games of handball, Basque pelota, and squash. The game is played in both singles and doubles teams, in an either three- or four-sided court.
A game of Rugby fives in progress
Fives wall in South Petherton, Somerset
Fives courts at Eton
A buttress at the High Elms Country Park Eton fives courts
Jeu de paume, nowadays known as real tennis, (US) court tennis or courte paume, is a ball-and-court game that originated in France. It was an indoor precursor of tennis played without racquets, and so "game of the hand", though these were eventually introduced. It is a former Olympic sport, and has the oldest ongoing annual world championship in sport, first established over 250 years ago. The term also refers to the court on which the game is played and its building, which in the 17th century was sometimes converted into a theatre.
Jeu de paume in the 17th century.
Late 18th-century illustration of jeu de paume paddle-bats or battoirs, and (in various stages of construction) strung racquets.
Earliest known picture of Jeu de Paume from a Book of Hours (c. 1300)
A modernised court in the Palace of Fontainebleau, Fontainebleau (1991).
