Re: Pratesi 2016 series, Playing cards in Europe before 1377

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mikeh wrote: As for sailors, they presumably aren't Mamluk, and would they really trust Christians enough to teach them a forbidden game?
I would imagine that it was in 'forbidden' places that the cultural divide was most likely to be crossed! To think otherwise seems to me to show a somewhat naive understanding of human nature and the tendency to transgression, whatever the professed faith.

Christians and Jews lived in Muslim territories, larger Urban centers or international trading ports (such as Alexandria) were especially cosmopolitan. There were taverns (Hanat) and pleasure boats where wine and beer was served, people smoked hashish, where one could play games and gamble, and watch dancers, jugglers and acrobats - a great many also served as or were connected to brothels, and served clients of various religions. They were interested in your money, not your faith or nationality.

In Cairo in the 14th century, there was a prison that housed Christian prisoners of war from Syria and Armenia, men, women and children. I say 'housed' rather than 'imprisoned' because they were not locked up per se and had to make their own living. The 'prisoners' made their living making wine and selling pork (!), and it served as a brothel to both men and women. It was very popular with the Mamluks, who also played games and gambled on the premises, until it was shut down after the death of the Sultan (1341), due to complaints of outraged citizens and an Amir who had disputes with the local Franks.*

The were far more Taverns of this type in Alexandria, being a major port City, which were not only frequented by foreigners, but some were owned and ran by them. “In a notarial act drawn up in Alexandria in 1421 not less than five innkeepers are mentioned, one of them an Anconitan, one man from Rhodes, one from Cyprus, one a native Christian, and one a Greek or Cretan.” E. Ashtor, Levantine Trade Many Hanat in Iraq too, were run by Christians and Jews.

SteveM

*Hizanat al-Bunu, originally a Fatimid arsenal that in Ayyubid times was turned into a prison, belonged to buildings of the Great Eastern Palace and was located between Qasr as-Sawk and Bab al-Id. When al-Malik an-Nasir, son of Qalawun, came back from his exile to assume the royal power in Egypt for the third time (1310) he brought with his a significant number of Christian prisoners from Syria and Armenia. A group of them was settled in the Citadel. The other group was accommodated in Hizanet al-Bunud. “The Armenians filled the building, so much so that the prison became obsolete there. And the Sultan made in Hizanat al-Bunud lodgings for them...they had their children there and pressed the grapes for wines so that during a single year they produced 32,0000 jars of wine which they sold openly. The pig’s meat hung there over the counter was sold without shame. They also established there places where people could gather to do forbidden things, so that sinners came to them...Wives of many me were spoiled there in an atrocious way, as were a lot of their children, and a group of the amirs’ mamluks... the Sultan shut his eyes to it, taking into account his interests and policy that was then required because of the agreement between him and the kings of the Franks.” When amir al Malik al-Gukander, who had a house next to Hizanat al-Bunud, whose Mamluks frequented the place, complained to the Sultan, the Sultan replied: “Oh, Hagg, if you do not like your neighbours, then just move somewhere else.” From an account by Al-Maqrizi, Suluk
Last edited by SteveM on 29 Aug 2016, 01:00, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Pratesi 2016 series, Playing cards in Europe before 1377

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mikeh wrote:
Image
Here is the Italian, can you see where it mentions cards:

Image


https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=8G ... &q&f=false

Rerum italicarum scriptores ab anno æræ christianæ quingentesimo ad millesimum quingentesimum quorum potissima pars nunc primum in lucem prodit ex Ambrosianæ, Estensis, aliarumque insignium bibliothecarum codicibus, Volume 2, 1770

Perhaps cards are mentioned in one of the other sources? (The ASF ones?)

Re: Pratesi 2016 series, Playing cards in Europe before 1377

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SteveM wrote: Perhaps cards are mentioned in one of the other sources? (The ASF ones?)
The other references look older than the one of 1770, so perhaps one of these has "naibi" instead of "zara". But Franco has found enough other references for "naibi" at this period (1387), so the question is not of big importance.

From http://www.naibi.net/A/417-ESECUTORE-Z.pdf
19.12.1388. (N. 1050, c. 107r): Cherricus Michaelis de Salseburge de
Alamania inventus fuit per militem et familiam praesentis domini Executoris
ludere ad ludum naiborum contra formam statutorun communis Florentiae.

Questa cattura indicata espressamente per il gioco di naibi presenta più punti
degni di nota. La data appare assai precoce e ci dimostra che allora le leggi
che vietavano i naibi erano già fatte rispettare. Su quanto lo fossero ci
rimangono dei dubbi. Il punto notevole qui è che viene catturato un
“alemanno” di Salisburgo, e che questo rappresenta il solo giocatore
catturato. Non si può certo pensare che fosse stato preso mentre con le carte
da gioco faceva un solitario! Allora forse, coi giocatori fiorentini la famiglia
dell’esecutore era pronta a chiudere un occhio.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Pratesi 2016 series, Playing cards in Europe before 1377

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mikeh wrote:Huck, the 1387 reference, if of cards, is not important for the date, but for who was playing, and their social class.. That is what interested me. Good job on checking the Italian, Steve. They were playing at zara, a dice game. I doubt very much if the ASF references mention cards, because what they were playing isn't mentioned in the other documents in this section.
In Mantova 1388 ...
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=762&p=10876&hilit= ... 388#p10876
... we have a comparable social class. Also at 1379-1383 in Brabant, the court of the half-brother of the ex-emperor Charles IV.
Last edited by Huck on 29 Aug 2016, 15:44, edited 2 times in total.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Pratesi 2016 series, Playing cards in Europe before 1377

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SteveM wrote:
mikeh wrote: As for sailors, they presumably aren't Mamluk, and would they really trust Christians enough to teach them a forbidden game?
I would imagine that it was in 'forbidden' places that the cultural divide was most likely to be crossed! To think otherwise seems to me to show a somewhat naive understanding of human nature and the tendency to transgression, whatever the professed faith.

Christians and Jews lived in Muslim territories...
And vise-versa, a majority population of Muslims in the 13th and 14th century lived in the Christian territories of the Kingdom of Aragon. The catalonians through Valencia and Barcelona regulated most of the Mediterranean and as international trading ports were a cosmopolitan mix with many nationalities represented, and with direct trading with Florence.

Merchant families would have import-export houses all over the place. Florence based Datini for example had import-export houses in Avignon, Genoa, Pisa, Barcelona, Valencia and Majorca. Courier services were also well developed from the needs of import-export merchants and bankers. 17 Florentine Merchant families grouped together to run a courier service, "with weekly couriers services going Florence and Pisa to and from Barcelona,... two routes to and from Bruges via Paris...Milan...Cologne. The Luchesse ran a similar service to and from Bruge, the Genoese to and from Bruge, Barcelona and Seville. The Catalans ran couriers from Barcelona to Bruge..Pisa and Florence, whilst the Lombard cities also had a service to Barcelona..."*

German routes seem scarce, but the German Hanseatic league of guilded merchants had a well established kontor in Bruge, with which the merchants of Spain and Italy were well connected. We also have for example of how families developed courier service that of the Tassi family, or Taxis as they were called in Germany:

https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=XX ... ce&f=false

So, the Kingdom of Aragon provides the environment for the crossing of the cultural divide between Muslims and Christians, and the international import-export, banking & courier service triangle that existed between Barcelona - Bruge - Florence could account for quick and widespread distribution (and some of the earliest references are from Spain, Italy and Belgium). For Germany there is the route with Bruge in the North and the Alpine trade route with Northern Italy in the South.

(3) Madurell quotes descriptive notes from the fifteenth century referring to, for example,”... I joch de naips domasquins ...” and “... X jochs de naips moreschs”. (4) He seems to interpret “naips domasquins” as a reference to their quality but if the adjective is taken to literally mean ‘of Damascus’ we are precisely at the heart of the Mamluk empire from where, we now know, came the distinctive Islamic cards of which examples still survive.
Perhaps 'of Damascus' could be also 'higher quality', more akin to the painted Mamluk Kanjifa (possibly also of Damascus? I am not sure of the reason for specifying Egypt. And Amir Mahmood who is stated to have played Kanjifa was for the most part based in Damascus before he became Sultan.)

SteveM

"During the 12th Century to the end of the 14th Century the Catalans based in Barcelona controlled and commercially exploited a empire that included the Balearic Islands, Sicily, Malta, Sardinia, most of Greece and a minor segment of France. Also, their maritime control was so great that most of the Mediterranean trade was regulated by them. In fact, King Jaume I in 1259 compiled and established Europe’s first maritime code, Llibre del Consulat del Mar. In the early 14th Century the fighting and marine qualities of the people of Cátalunia was legendary throughout the Mediterranean with the most opulent city in all of the peninsular with a very large shipbuilding industry and its boats sailing to places such as the Black Sea and down as far as Senegal on the west coast of Africa."

*re-import export houses and courier services:
https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=LO ... &q&f=false

https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=bV ... C&pg=PA374

Re: Pratesi 2016 series, Playing cards in Europe before 1377

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Yes, very reasonable, for Aragon's being the point of crossover, from Andalusia, where Mamluks or other mercenaries would have gone. Thanks for the links, too. I assume that there was extensive traffic between the two places, and that personal items such as decks of cards would have been allowed through, one way or another.

These conditions wouldn't have existed in Northern Italy, I presume. Or would they, in the form of a permanent Muslim presence in Genoa, etc.. with much going back and forth between Muslims there and relatives or friends in Muslim lands?

Re: Pratesi 2016 series, Playing cards in Europe before 1377

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Some of the earliest extensive couriers services were set up c.1357 by a conglomeration of Florentine merchants. The primary merchant triangle, overland by couriers, merchandise via sea was early defined with Florence - Barcelona - Bruge.

Here is a map of early Intercity Courier routes late 14th century:

Image


Source: Taylor PJ. World City Network, A Global Urban Analysis. London: Routledge, 2004, p.10
Last edited by SteveM on 01 Sep 2016, 21:01, edited 3 times in total.

Re: Pratesi 2016 series, Playing cards in Europe before 1377

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mikeh wrote:Another thing is your extensive quotation for what "tafuria" means. I am not sure I understood. If "a species of tribute, or of precious things", does that mean a tax, as opposed to a prohibition?
Great book! I think 'tafuria' just means gambling, or gamblers, it is often accompanied by 'joch' as if in ordinancies against games and gamblers.

example:
Ítem, que algú no gos tenir tafuraria, sots ban de cccc.

Item, that nobody shall gamble at dogs, deputy edict of cccc.

Re: Pratesi 2016 series, Playing cards in Europe before 1377

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SteveM wrote:
Great book! I think 'tafuria' just means gambling, or gamblers, it is often accompanied by 'joch' as if in ordinancies against games and gamblers.
I think, you mean this (?) ...
https://archive.org/stream/bibliofiliar ... 7/mode/2up
especially the surrounding of ...
https://archive.org/stream/bibliofiliar ... 0/mode/2up
p. 181-207

Earlier I had this to it 8-x ...
The often noted word "Tafuraria" is explained here:
"DuCange, Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis (1883-7)
TAFURIA, Tafuraria, Species tributi, aut pensitationis, apud Catalanos. Petrus II. Rex Aragon. in Charta ann. 1283. pro Libertatibus Catalaniae: Statuimus, quod Tafuraria tollatur perpetuo, et eam revocamus. In titulo Capituli scribitur Tafuria. Fori Arag. lib. 1. tit. Privilegium generale Regni Arag.: Aquello mesmo de las Tafurerias, que sian deffeytas (show full text)

show full text leads to:
DuCange, Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis (1883-7): TAFURIA

TAFURIA, Tafuraria, Species tributi, aut pensitationis, apud Catalanos. Petrus II. Rex Aragon. in Charta ann. 1283. pro Libertatibus Catalaniae: Statuimus, quod Tafuraria tollatur perpetuo, et eam revocamus. In titulo Capituli scribitur Tafuria. Fori Arag. lib. 1. tit. Privilegium generale Regni Arag.: Aquello mesmo de las Tafurerias, que sian deffeytas a todos tiempos. Exstat aliud Statutum Ferdinandi I. Regis, quo eadem Tafureria exstinguitur et aufertur. Sebastianus Cobarruvias: Tahur, el que continua mucho el juego; que si se repite Tahur, Tahur, dize hurtar, porque muchos de Tahures dan en ladrones, quando non tienen que jugar. La Ley 6. tit. 14. part. 7. dize assi en confirmacion desto: E a todo home deue asmar, que los Tahures, e los bellacos usando la trahirfreria, por fuerça, conviene que sean ladrones, e homes de mala vita. La Ley 8. tit. 16. part. 3. llama a estos Tafures, y los cuenta entre los infames y sera bien que se vea. La Ley final tit. 5. part. 2. donde se afea mucho el juego que passa de conversacion y entreteniemento, y como particularmente deven huyr deste vicio los Principes y grandes Senores. Lusitanis Tafularia, est alea: quomodo etiam Tafureria apud Raymundum Montanerium cap. 237. et in Foris Aragonensibus, apud Michaëlem del Molino in Repertorio Fororum Aragon. V. Ludus. Rursum Hispanis Tafuria, vel Tafurea, est navis hippegus, para passar los cavallos, ut habet Antonius Nebrissensis.
Well, something installed by "Petrus II. Rex Aragon. in Charta ann. 1283" ...
... actually Peter III in this counting ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_III_of_Aragon

The year is 1283, and a time, when the son Sancho of Alfonso X the Wise (of Castile; who arranged the famous chess book) rebelled against his father. Curiously it's also the birthyear of the chess book. There's a complex story in these years, which led to a war and a papal excommunication. Peter III died 1285, Alfonso 1284, Sancho followed his father. For getting help from his nobility members, Peter III had to agree to some laws and installations, in this the relevant book played a role.

So there is some context to games and gambling, but it's not sure (to me), what precisely the following book with its gambling collections was good for. A sort of regulation for games and gambling somehow in the context of the game book of Alfonso.
I found it in this context:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1089&p=16748&hilit ... lia#p16748

Recently I wrote:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1111&p=17289&hilit=sancho#p17289
Added

Well, I've pointed earlier to the condition, that 1277 (English prince and king Edward) and 1283 (Alfonso's book) are close in time, reason to suspect, that both events belong possibly to one connecting action. Which would have been "prince Edward in the Levante having diplomatic contact to the Mongols in 1271". Short after this Edward for some time in Sicily, and ... what I didn't earlier state ... Sicily getting a Sicilian Vesper in 1282 (which solved the problem of a French dominance) and so getting an Aragon influence.

1282, 30th of March .... Sicilian Vesper
1282 ... Peter is at a military operation with 15.000 warriors in Tunis. He gets news about the Sicilian Vesper ...
1282, 30th of August .... Peter III of Aragon arrives at Sicily
1282, 4th September .... Peter III crowned as king of Sicily

The French king Philip III started then a crusade again Peter III, assisted by a pope with French orientation (1284-85)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aragonese_Crusade

Recently we talked about Peter III ...
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1097&p=16967&hilit ... iii#p16967
... in the question of a "Tafureria", which we didn't understand. It seems, that this Tufereria or Tuferia later contained later a lot of documents, which were related to games. This was installed around 1283, just, when the game book of Alfonso was declared to be finished.

How does this installment of the Tuferia by Peter III (Aragon) refer to the "book publication" of Alfonso (Castilia) ? Who finished the book?
Alfonso had trouble a longer time with his son Sancho (later Sancho IV). Sancho seems to have declared Alfonso as crazy (in 1282 at the opportunity of a political meeting in Valladolid, as I understand it at 21 April; which would be 3 weeks after the Sicilian Vesper and the news of the event might have reached already Valladolid, about 1100 km at sea from Palermo, 750 km at land). The news was naturally of highest importance and should have been transported very quick.
Peter III seems to have reached a political agreement with Sancho soon. Sancho, already in a marriage contract, married in July 1282 an aunt, Maria de Molina, which was disputed by others a longer time. Alfons seems to have lost a lot of his power in relative short time. I don't know much about the details, but I think, that this "situation of the game book 1283" should be studied.
Huck
http://trionfi.com