Note 74 — Chapter II · INTRODUCTION OF CARDS INTO EUROPE.

John of Salisbury—Joannes Saresberiensis—was born in England about 1110. He went to France when he was about seventeen years old, and remained in that country several years. He subsequently visited Rome in a public capacity. On his return to England, he became the chaplain and acquired the friendship of Thomas à Becket. After the murder of à Becket—of which he was an eye-witness—he withdrew to France, in order to shun the hostility of his patron's enemies. From his attachment to à Becket, no less than from his reputation as a learned and pious man, he was elected Bishop of Chartres, where he died in 1182. The work by which he is principally known is that referred to in the text. The general title of it is, 'Policraticus sive de Nugis Curialium, et Vestigiis Philosophorum, libri octo.' The chapter on gaming, "De Alea, et usu et abusu illius," is the fifth of the first book. Edit. Leyden, 1639.