[med hist, phil/law] Found it! ("Alea Jacta Est [...]" D. E. Carpenter)
AHA! I successfully tracked down (i.e. it occurred to me to search for) a paper I saw presented almost twenty years ago, despite not remembering who it was by or what the title was, or when it was published to more accuracy than a decade (10 > X > 20 years ago). It gave me many thinky thoughts, and I've thought about it off and on in the intervening in *looks at date* 18 years. I think I may have mentioned it in a comment here.
Turns out it was Dwayne Carpenter's 'Alea jacta est': at the gaming table with Alfonso the Learned [PDF], Journal of Medieval History, 24(4), pp 333-345, 1998.
I haven't read it yet. Mostly I'm just posting to share my excitement to get a hold of it after so long. Also, I do recall it as a fascinating window into a completely other side (i.e. non-musical) of Alfonso's storied reputation, so my med hist peeps may also be interested in it. Grab a copy now if you're interested; it looks like the kind of thing which may fall off the net at any time.
ETA: Oh, I neglected to mention: it concerns the legal, moral, and theological status of gambling, as reflected in Alfonso El Sabio's legal edicts and writings. A substantial part of my interest in it has to do with the history of atheism and medieval European beliefs about fortune/luck/fate and time, which I don't think are directly addressed in the paper.
Turns out it was Dwayne Carpenter's 'Alea jacta est': at the gaming table with Alfonso the Learned [PDF], Journal of Medieval History, 24(4), pp 333-345, 1998.
I haven't read it yet. Mostly I'm just posting to share my excitement to get a hold of it after so long. Also, I do recall it as a fascinating window into a completely other side (i.e. non-musical) of Alfonso's storied reputation, so my med hist peeps may also be interested in it. Grab a copy now if you're interested; it looks like the kind of thing which may fall off the net at any time.
ETA: Oh, I neglected to mention: it concerns the legal, moral, and theological status of gambling, as reflected in Alfonso El Sabio's legal edicts and writings. A substantial part of my interest in it has to do with the history of atheism and medieval European beliefs about fortune/luck/fate and time, which I don't think are directly addressed in the paper.