17C American Women began to Ice Skate for Fun & Profit

Skating in 17C North America arrived with the Dutch settlers in New York . Upon visiting colonial New Netherland - New York, English clergyman Charles Wooley wrote in 1678, "And upon the Ice its admirable to see Men & Women as it were flying upon their Skates from place to place, with Markets upon their Heads & Backs."

Saint Lidwina is a Dutch saint who loved to go ice skating, until she fell and broke her rib.This 1498 image of a real skating scene is found in the book 'Vita alme virginis Lydwine' that was written by father Jan Brugman. The print depicts the unfortunate fall of the canonized Lydwina of Schiedam (1380-1433) a hundred years before.

Woodcut from Olaus Magnus. Swedish Olaf Mansson (Swedish historian, 1490-1557) wrote, "Among the Sami, both men & women take part in hunting & fishing." Winter scene from Finnmark. Three sami with skis, participating in the hunt. The middle hunter is a woman. These wooden boards were used for skiing.

The 1st English mention of ice skating is found in a biography ofArchbishop of Canterbury Thomas à Beckettwritten byhis former clerk William FitzStephen around 1180, in his "description of the most noble city of London." The account reads: "when the great fenne or moore (which watereth the walles of the citie on the North side) is frozen, many young men play upon the yce, some striding as wide as they may, doe slide swiftly...some tye bones to their feete, & under their heeles, & shoving themselves by a little picked staffe, doe slide as swiftly as birde flyeth in the aire, or an arrow out of a crossbow. Sometime two runne together with poles, & hitting one the other, eyther one or both doe fall, not without hurt; some break their armes, some their legs, but youth desirous of glorie, in this sort exerciseth it selfe against time of warre..."

Hendrick Avercamp (Dutch artist, 1585–1634), Winterlandschap met schaatsers. c 1608 (detail). This crowded winter scene presents a cross-section of Dutch society enjoying a wide range of winters sports, on the frozen waterways.

There is some confusion about where women first began to ski & skate. The Dutch believe that ice skates were a Dutch invention. Scandinavians, however, claim that ice skating was introduced in the Netherlands by their Viking ancestors who visited the European coasts around 800. They think the art of ice skating derived from the Nordic custom to prevent people from sinking in loose snow by binding boards under their boots. This custom should have resulted in both skiing & ice skating.

Hendrick Avercamp (Dutch artist, 1585–1634), Winterlandschap met schaatsers. c 1608 (detail).

The discovery during the 19C of ancient bone skates in Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the Danube valley & England suggests that ice skating may be much older than 1,700 years. A study by Federico Formenti of the University of Oxford suggests that the earliest ice skating happened in southern Finland more than 3000 years ago.

Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne (Dutch painter, 1589-1662), Autumn 1625 detail

The first skates were flattened bone that was strapped to the bottom of the foot. The oldest pair of skates known date back to about 3000 B.C., found at the bottom of a lake in Switzerland. The skates were made from the leg bones of large animals, holes were bored at each end of the bone & leather straps were used to tie the skates on. An old Dutch word for skate is "schenkel" which means "leg bone."

Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne (Dutch painter, 1589-1662), Winter 1625 detail

In the 13th Century, the Dutch invented steel blades with edges. The Dutch started using wooden platform skates with flat iron bottom runners. The skates were attached to the skater's shoes with leather straps. Poles were used to propel the skater.

1695 Cornelis Dusart (Dutch artist, 1660-1704) published by Jacob Gole (Dutch, c. 1675 - 1704)

Around 1500, the Dutch added a narrow metal double edged blade, making the poles a thing of the past, as the skater could now push & glide with his feet (called the "Dutch Roll"). In the Netherlands, all classes of people skated. Ice skating was a way people traveled over the canals in the winter months.

La Hollandoise sur les patins after Cornelis Dusart (Dutch artist, 1660-1704)

In the Netherlands, all classes of people skated. Ice skating was a way people traveled over the canals in the winter months. James II (1633-1701) helped introduce ice skating to the British aristocracy in the late 1600s.

Fille de petit bourgeois d'Amsterdam... Bernard Picart (French engraver, 1673-1733) Ice Skater

From 1400 to the 18C, there were 17 winters in which the Thames was recorded to have frozen over at London: 1408, 1435, 1506, 1514, 1537, 1565, 1595, 1608, 1621, 1635, 1649, 1655, 1663, 1666, 1677, 1684, & 1695. Images of these periods show hundreds of folks on the river, some ice skating.An eye-witness recorded the London frost of the late 17C, John Evelyn (1620-1706) noted,"Coaches plied from Westminster to the Temple, and from several other stairs too and fro, as in the streets, sleds, sliding with skates, bull-baiting, horse and coach races, puppet plays and interludes, cooks, tippling and other lewd places, so that it seemed to be a bacchanalian triumph, or carnival on the water."When the Thames was not frozen over, early Londoners skated on the frozen marshes of Moorfields, just north of the old walled city, where archaeologists working on London's Crossrail dig found medieval ice skates.

A La Mode Romeyn de Hooghe Published by Nicolaes Visscher II c 1682-1702