.p06 0 115 100

.p12 0 145 100

.p18 0 178 100

.c


.fg

Mediaeval Chess




.h28

chess in western europe

.n


      

Islam brought;

.si
 
shatranj;

.si
 
to

.c

Europe through Italy and Spain.

Chess may also have entered through
the Byzantine Empire, though this is
unlikely.

The Moorish ancestry of
 chess in the Iberian Peninsula is
evident by considering its name,

.c

.si
   
ajedrez;

.si

, which evolved from the
 Arabic;

.si
 
ash-shatranj;

.si

, 'the chess'.

.c

Elsewhere in Europe the name for
 chess was taken from the Arabic
 word for check, shah, the name of

.c
         
the;

.si 
shatranj;

.si
 
king.

.gu094 068 01 017

.gu224 148 02 017

.n

 
     

The;

.h26
 
old game;

.h00
 
was considered

.c

slow, particularly in the opening
phase.  

Consequently, many of the 
changes made in Europe were
 in tended to quicken opening play.


The Alfon so manuscript, which
 described chess as it was played in 
Spain around 1280, showed some of 
the new rules that were tried.


Pawns, for instance, were allowed 
a double step on their first move
as long as a capture had
 not yet occurred in the game.

.gt083 030 146 037 5 30 0

.n


.gp045 010 228 149 armies:art/Alphonso
.cut


.h19

.gb045 010 228 010 

.m000 0170


.h28

.fg

.c

From the Alfonso MS.

.n



.c

The mediaeval game in Spain
also allowed its fers (the mediaeval

.c

.h26

queen;

.h00

) a leap to certain squares

.c

for its first move. 

This 'queen's 
leap' was used throughout Europe
 during the Middle Ages and was
 probably the first experimental 
move tried in Western Europe.

.c

Different rules (;

.h26

assizes;

.h00

) were tried

.c

in different regions, but
 generally the mediaeval game was

.c

.si
    
shatranj;

.si
 
with the addition of

.c

assorted privileged moves.

.gu274 098 03 017

.gt018 050 058 057 5 37 0

.gt153 110 209 117 5 06 0

.n




.c

While the mediaeval player s
changed the rules of chess
 only slightly, they changed 
the perception of chess
s ignificantly.  

The Muslim and FarEastern chess-players saw the game
as a representation of armies in
war.  

The Western Europeans 
gradually changed it into a
 portrayal of their feudal society,
 complete with knights standing for 
the nobility and bishops for
the Church.


.gu202 148 04 017

.n




.c

Despite initial censure by
the Church, chess was accepted by
the priesthood, who used the game's
 symbolic nature in religious


.c
  
writings called;

.h26
 
moralities.;


.h00
 
These

.c

Churchly works were allegories 
that linked the judgments and
moves of players and pieces to
moral and political issues.

For
instance, the oldest of these chess

.c
 
moralities, the;

.si
 
Innocent Morality;

.si

,

.c

regarded a king in check as a man 
who had fallen into sin.

.gt152 070 238 077 5 29 0

.n




.c

.fg

In this game the Devil says 
'Check!' when a man falls into
sin; and unless he quickly
 cover the check by turning to
 repentance, the Devil says
 'Mate!' and carries him off
to hell, whence is no escape.


.h28

--Innocent Morality 

.gu242 152 05 018

.n




.c

These mediaeval works of
 literature helped popularize chess
 in Western Europe. 

The most famous 
of these moralities was written
in the 13th century by Jacopa
Da Cessole, a Dominican monk.  

This
work, translated into several
 languages, was widely circulated by 
the early Renaissance.  

William
 Caxton's translation appeared as
one of the first books printed in

.c
 
English under the title of ;

.si

The Game

.c

and playe of the chesse.

.n


.h0

.gb072 012 248 133
.h20
.go072 012 176 121 armies:art/Caxton.brush

.h0

.m000 148

.c

.h28


.fg

A woodcut from Caxton's
 translation of Cessole

.n




.c

The Islamic and early mediaeval 
pieces were simple and solid.


Generally, the king and fers were
 shaped as throne chairs with the
king made a little larger.  

The fil
was cylindrical with two horns that 
may have represented the tusks of an 
elephant.  

The horse was also 
cylindrical and had one large knob
on top.  

The rook was a thin 
rectangle with two points on top.


And the pawns were small 
thimble-like pieces.


.gu238 148 06 018

.n



.c

The Europeans, who were not 
rest rained by orthodox Islamic law
from depicting living things in art, 
developed chessmen that appeared
more realistic.

The Lewis chess men
were examples of the new chess
 pieces that were created.

These 
pieces were found on the Isle of 
Lewis in Scotland in 1831 and were
probably made by Scandinavians in 
the 12th century.

These pieces can
be further contrasted with a
modern Staunton set.
.n


.h00

.go055 015 203 134 
armies:art/king
.cut


.h19

.gb055 015 120 015


.h28

.fs

.m000 133

.c

ISLAMIC                                
STAUNTON



.fg

Lewis King

.n

.h00

.go055 016 203 134 
armies:art/knight
.cut


.h19

.gb055 016 120 016


.h28

.fs

.m000 133

.c

ISLAMIC                                
STAUNTON

.fg

Lewis Knight

.n


.h00

.go055 014 203 134 
armies:art/bishop
.cut


.h19

.gb055 014 120 014


.h28

.fs

.m000 133

.c

ISLAMIC                                
STAUNTON




.fg

Lewis Bishop

.n




.c

The new symbolism that the 
Europeans gave chess was expressed
 in the shapes that they gave
 the chess men and in the
 chess moralities.

Chess in the 
Middle Ages served as a metaphor
and an art form, as well as a
 pastime for the nobility.

Though
chess gained popularity during
 the mediaeval period, the standard
 of play never rose to the level of
 the Muslim players until after 
the modern game was invented.

.n




.fg

.c
notes

.gr049

.ft

.c


 

1 Eales, ;

.su

Chess, the History of

.su
   
;
.su

a Game;

.su

, pp. 40-43.

 

2 Murray, ;

.su

History of Chess;

.su

, p. 395.

 

3 ;

.su

Ibid.;

.su

, p. 459.

 

4 Eales, p. 64.
.n

.fg

.c
notes

.gr049

.ft

.c


 

5 Murray, p. 530.

 

6 ;

.su

Ibid.;

.su

, p. 764.