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Knightly Virtues
December 15, 2004

 

Moses Sephardi was born in 1062 in Huesca, a town in the Kingdom of Aragon. He was born a Jew but converted to Christianity. He was the doctor to Alfonso I, King of Aragon and when he converted, Alfonso stood sponsor at his baptism on St. Peter's day - 29 June, 1106. He took the name Petrus Alfonsus. (for St. Peter and King Alfonso I). He wrote several works. One of them, Petri Alfonsi Disciplina Clericalis,  has been translated into several languages and is still preserved in its original manuscript. Petrus Alfonsus died in 1110.

Petri Alfonsi Disciplina Clericalis means A Training-school for the Clergy by Petrus Alfonsus.
 

The Disciplina Clericalis had been adapted over the years as a model for knights, as well as clerics, and within are listed the Seven Virtuous Disciplines: (De septem artibus, probitatibus, industriis)

Probitates haec sunt, equitare, natare, sagittare, cestibus certare, aucupari, scaccis ludere, versificare.

This translates:

These things are advisable, riding, swimming, archery, fencing, hunting (or falconry), chess playing,  poetry (or music)
 


 

 

 


 

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