Statuta de ludo

Organised as a guide to ludic practices current in the urban and village communities in this period, it is an indispensible research tool for study of the history of ludicity. The intricate web of regulations reconstructed here evinces not only a resolute commitment to controlling ludic activities and thus protecting communities from the ‘dangers’ they represent, but also an inescapable and ubiquitous need for games; it also illustrates the authorities’ ‘discovery’ of the opportunities they could offer, including their economic potential. The research records an extraordinary wealth of ludic terms – primarily concerning games of chance, but also games of skill and ingenuity, pastimes, ‘armed’ competitions between groups or individuals, the palios of the great saint’s-day festivities and dance – and provides telling evidence of the breadth and complexity of the ludic system as a whole.