Ludus Regularis: The Clergy Game

Abstract

Abstract Ludus Regularis is a board game with dice, from the 10th century, which came to our knowledge through literary sources. The rules of the game were kept by the historian Balderic, in the 11th century, in a book edited in 1615 by Colvener: Chronicon Cameracense et Atrebatense, and reedited in 1834 by André Le Glay, in Paris: Chronique d’Arras et de Cambrai. By studying the probabilities involved in the dynamics of the game Ludus Regularis, it is possible to advance that the author’s concerns were mainly centred on presenting a game that followed Catholic doctrine. Ludus Regularis is a carefully conceived game, using dice commonly inaccessible to members of the clergy, in a context of deep Christian religious symbolism.