Cheers
Joram

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quote:

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Originally posted by Joram van Essen:
So, does anyone have rules for dice games suitable for the late 15th century?

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Hmm. The two dice games that are popping into my head are Glückhaus (see rules online by Gerry Adams or David Salley) and Hazard (see rules online by Julie Adams, David Salley, William Wilson, or Isenfir).

I am unsure whether Glückhaus was played outside of Germany or before the 16th century, but Hazard at least dates to before the 15th century (among other places, it's referenced in The Canterbury Tales, in the Pardoner's Tale, lines 303-342, though it may be a reference to gambling in general and not necessarily specific to Hazard). The name "Hazard" is derived from the Arabic for "the die," al zar.

There are several dice games illustrated and discussed in the 13th century Book of Games.

While gambling & playing dice games was illegal in late 15th century England (at least among the lower classes), that certainly does not mean it never took place: this record from 1483 lists several men and a woman from Nottingham who "regularly and usually host individually in their houses at night disorderly gatherings, receiving and welcoming the servants of various men who in their houses, using the goods of their masters, play at dice, cards, and other illegal games prohibited by the statute issued on that matter, to the serious detriment of their masters and contrary to the king's peace."

On the other hand, this law from a village in Oxfordshire in 1451 tells us that "if anyone of the town plays a ball-game on holidays or festivals while divine service is underway, from now on any officer present at the occurrence has full power to distrain [on the players] and impose [a fine of] four pence, towards supporting the lights of St. Mary, Henley, whenever and however often this occurs. Also, the same thing applies to those playing at dice, except at Christmas time."

So, even within Anglocentric late 15th century reenactment, the legality of dice-gaming depends on your location and what era -- and even what day it is.

[ 06-03-2003: Message edited by: Karen Larsdatter ]

I did a search on goggle and this links page came up, don't have any further information on any of the sites so use with care!
http://www.geocities.com/MedievalWorld/LinksEntertainment.html

Enjoy...

[ 06-03-2003: Message edited by: Caliburnus ]

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If anybody else has any games please let me know, particularily anything suited to Burgundy (especially the county of Holland) around 1473.

Cheers
Joram

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quote:

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Originally posted by Brian:
I know that they are not dice games, but I just saw some backgammon pieces from the 14th and 15th centuries. I think that other games were also played on the same table as backgammon, but I don't recall exactly what.

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The 15th century ancestor of backgammon -- at least as it was known in England -- was a game known as tables (in the Paston letters, there is a reference to "pleying at the tabyllys and rebesse and cards"). Celine van Dumerand has published some rules online.

As to backgammon-related games and their depictions in illustrations, there's examples in the Book of Games of Alfonso X (ca. 1251-1282), the Luttrell Psalter (early 14th century), and the Manesse Codex (ca. 1300-1330). I seem to remember it appearing in the Romance of Alexander (Bodley 264, ca. 1340), but I can't recall the page number. There is an elaborate game board configured for chess on one side and a backgammon-related game on the other, ca. 1500, which can be found here.

But since Joram is indicating that he's more interested in looking more towards Burgundy and Holland -- are you interested in board games too? -- I would also suggest looking at a game called trictrac, which seems to have been popular in France in general in the 15th century. There's an impressive 15th century box of games in the collection of the Musée de Moyen Age which features boards for checkers, nine men's morris, fox & geese, trictrac, and glic; another game board in the collection of the V&A is configured on one side for chess, and on the other side for trictrac (to find the board, go to V&A Access to Images and search for Museum Number 1961-1899). For more information on trictrac, see The Trictrac Home Page or join the Trictrac YahooGroup.

Glic might be another game to consider looking into -- it's a sort of gambling game (the aforementioned 15th century game-box has a board for glic). The only rules I can find online are a version from the Games Guild of Ealdormere, but they may be able to point you towards sources that discuss the period versions that led to the creation of their "variant."

Check out Wheeling and Dealing: Motifs of Fortune and Gambling in the Old French Moralités -- which discusses "late medieval French moralités, a corpus of some seventy surviving plays dating from the period 1400-1550." In that paper, there are mentions of glic, hazard, and marelles (aka nine men's morris), among others.

Nine men's morris may be another game to consider, and it too pops up a lot in period artworks -- again in the 13th century Book of Games of Alfonso X, and also in the 14th century Romance of Alexander (IIRC). The aforementioned 15th century game box includes a board for nine men's morris, but less formal boards were also made -- York Archaeology's "Secrets Beneath Your Feet" webpage on domestic life in medieval York includes a photo of a board for nine men's morris "scratched on the underside of a wooden coffin lid." There are similarly improvised boards for the game that date back far earlier (there's one that's supposed to date back to the 15th century BC). There are online rules available from several sources -- David Salley and the Museum of Games have pretty clear instructions, and you can find brief descriptions of the 13th century variants in the Book of Games here -- and also there is a YahooGroup.

[ 06-04-2003: Message edited by: Karen Larsdatter ]

I will post a pic when I get home.

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