Juan Maldonado ...

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Maldo ... manista%29

... is topic in ...
Spanish humanism on the verge of the picaresque: Juan Maldonado's Ludus Chartarum, Pastor Bonus, and Bacchanalia
by Warren S. Smith, Clark Colahan (2009)
http://books.google.com/books?id=eZtJKR ... navlinks_s

.. which contains some original Latin text of the Ludus Chartarum Triumphis with English translation. The object is a game called "Trumps" without Tarot or Trionfi trumps, but played with an 48-cards deck with 4 suits (3 courts, numbers 1-9). Juan Maldonaldo was Spanish author and published this text 1541 / 1549.

The speaker "Maldonatus" expresses the opinion, that the described "trumps" game is the oldest card game (p. 33). Interestingly another speaker is called "Ferranus" (is this perhaps a reference, that a Trionfi game from Ferrara was known to the author ?)

Franco Pratesi wrote earlier about this text.

Maldonado wrote about another card game "Tridunus" (1549).

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Added: Maldonado had letter contact to Vives ...
compare: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=721
... and this text might be a sort of literary response. Vives had died 1540, Maldonado possibly wrote 1541 and possibly knew, that Vives was dead (?).

This is the very interesting passage, in which Maldonado as "Maldonatus" in 1541 explains, that the Triumphus game is the oldest card game.





http://books.google.com/books?id=eZtJKR ... &q&f=false

Page 32 + 33

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The following is the only passage in Vives text (1538), which notes the name "Triumpho" with "Triumpho Hispanico"



compare: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=721

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Compare also Erasmus' writings about games.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=723
Erasmus had intensive letter contacts to Vives, in which he expressed his admiration for the talents of Vives. In the later years the relationship cooled down.

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Vives had the aim to educate the young prince Philip - he used pupils in his "talkings". Maldonado in his colloquium also aimed at education ... he used teachers as agents, who had to behave well at games to give a good example for their pupils.

One aim in both texts seems to be to form "new" Latin expressions for games (and their specific words already known in common language), which couldn't be expressed in Latin (till then).

The comments in the Maldonado text by Warren S. Smith and Clark Colahan notes this (p. 13+14):




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From our rather massive research approach as "self declared hunters of the Trionfi word" ... ... this confessed Latin-teacher-approach of early 16th century throws up the question, how old had been the use of the combination "Triumpho Hispanico", when Vives used it in 1538? Maldonado (1441) declares, that the game is very old (and I believe him), but which name had it before it became "Triumho Hispanico" ?

That seems a rather deciding question.