1378 Hennegau "quarten"

1
Adolf Eiff in IPCS 34/6 (2006), p. 246, gives notice of the use of the word "quarten" (for "playing cards") in the Rekening van den Koost van Bergen wegen der kost van herberge van H. Albr. from 6th of Aprl 1377 - 13th of December 1378. The book presents the costs of the city Bergen (today Mons) in the Hennegau (nowadays part of Belgium), which once belonged to the very distant dukedom Niederbayern-Straubing, for the presence of duke Albrecht I of Niederbayern-Straubing, Albrecht (also "Count of Hennegau")
The text (650 pages) contains at one page twice costs for playing cards

17 May 1378: "xvij dagen in meye quarten", payments of duke Albrecht I of Niederbayern-Straubing as "count of Hennegau"
23 May 1378: "xxiij dagen in meye" "quarten", payments of duke Albrecht I of Niederbayern-Straubing as "count of Hennegau"


The new documents relate to the earlier known documents:

23 Jul 1378: Regensburg "Und spilen mit der quart verpietent mein herren"

14 May 1379: "quartspel", in bills of duke Wencelas of Brabant
07 Oct 1379: "ter quarten", in bills of duke Wencelas of Brabant
22 Jan 1380: "ter quarten", in bills of duke Wencelas of Brabant
21 Apr 1380: "te verquarten", in bills of duke Wencelas of Brabant
11 Jun 1380: "te verquarten", in bills of duke Wencelas of Brabant
25 Jun 1380: "quartspel", in bills of duke Wencelas of Brabant
24 Aug 1380: "te quarten", in bills of duke Wencelas of Brabant
28 Aug 1380: "quartspele", in bills of duke Wencelas of Brabant

03 Jul 1382: "quartes" in prohibitions of Lille

The relevant page shows the payments between 17 May 1378 and 23 May 1378. The reading of the page is considered difficult, and the work on the whole text is considered to take a rather long time (if it ever happens).
Adolf Eiff takes the conclusion, that the earlier date of the Hennegau documents against the date of Regensburg document might prove a wandering of playing cards from Flandern to Bavaria, but he forgets to consider the text of John of Rheinfelden, made in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1377 (far away from the Hennegau, neaer to Bavaria). The most important social events of this time (which were the crowning of the 14-years old Wenzel as king of the Romans in Aachen (not too far from the Hennegau) in mid 1376, and the second emperor journey via Aachen to Paris in Winter 1377/1378, when the emperor again came very near to the Hennegau, and both events happen before the documents in the Hennegau and in Regensburg.

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the page

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one of the two quotes
Huck
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