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Medieval Period is particularly interesting, concerning Chess History because this is exactly the time where Chess appears In Europe for the first time. Chess game was rather popular through the Islamic Empire. According to many sources the Arabs learned to play chess from the Sassanians when they conquered them, and probably the Sassanians learned it from the Indians. Finnaly the Indians themselves seem to have learned at least some version of chess from the Chinese. Everyone know the surprising and beautiful Ivory Chess set called "Jeu d'Échecs de Charlemagne", entered into collections of the "Bibliothèque Nationale de France" in 1793. A legend affirms this precious chess set has been offered to Charlemagne, in 800, for his crowning, by Haroun al-Rachid Caliph of Baghdad. But isn't true! We say now this chess set don't come from Orient, but was built, at the end of the XIth century, by an Italian workshop, perhaps in Salerme. According to the "Bibliothèque Nationale de France" (BNF) web site: «Having an unusual size, this chess pieces are too imposing to be manipulated on a chessboard: they are display or pomp pieces, make to be hoarded into a royal or ecclesiastical treasure. Their function isn't play but symbolic. The game himself, for the medieval society, constitute an exemplary symbolic system permitting to apprehend the place of everyone.» Introduce in Spain during the VIIIth century, by Moorish conquerors, chess developed through Europe between 800 and 1100 AD. For exemple chess was introduced in France around 1000 AD, two centuries after Charlemagne's crowning! Hence in court of the capetian King Robert Le Pieux (970-1031), or during the reign of his son Hugues Capet, the chess game became with hunting the favourite amusement. At the same period people find first texts referring to chess. Without any doubt the first one in Europe was the Testament du Comte d'Urgel's, Ermengaud Ier (Catalonia). This noble offered a chess game at the Saint-Gilles du Gars Abbey, near (about 12 miles from) Nimes. Writed around 1030 the Ruodlieb is a romantic poem in Latin belonging to the Old high German Literature. His autor was a monk from the Tegernsee Abbey in Upper Bavaria. Regarding chess origin, in Europe, it's the first reference we know to chess game (ludus scachorum) in German literature. This poem narrate the adventure of a knight in the company of an enemy king (perhaps King Henry II or King Robert of France, is not sure at all!), which was obliged to affront at chess and finally beat him. There is also another testament in 1038, coming from the countess of Barcelona, mentioning equally the legacy of a chess game. In primitives rules mobility of pieces was reduced and consequently every game began by long preliminaries. Nevertheless, some original and interesting combinatorial precepts, coming from Arabic masters, was tranlated into Latin, under the name of jocus partibus (separated game).Then, using this combinations chess became more attractive. Anyway, after is fast development in the high European society, chess reached equally other classes and was also played by ordinary peasants. It's obvious names of chess pieces evoked both the Art of War and the social structure of the Mediaval Epoch. This interpretation is particularly clear in the following passage extracted from: "ChessSets.com: History of Chess": «By 1400 AD, the game of chess was well-established across Europe, and the rules for chess were almost identical to those still accepted today. The names and ranks of the pieces represent the very way in which both ordinary people and persons of rank lived their lives in Europe back in that time.» «The pawns on the chess board represent serfs, or laborers. These pieces are often sacrificed to save the more valuable pieces, and there are more of them on the board than any other piece. In medieval times, serfs were considered simple property of landowners, and were often left unprotected during times of war. During battle, serfs were often traded, used as diversions, or even sacrificed to keep landowners out of harm’s way.» «The knight in chess represents the professional soldier of medieval times, whose purpose was to protect persons of rank. In the game, knights are more important than pawns, but rank lower than bishops, kings, or queens. Their purpose in the game is to protect the more important pieces, and like pawns, they can be sacrificed to ensure the safety of the ranking officials.» «The castle piece is the home, or refuge, just as it was hundreds of years ago. The bishop, who represents the church, was an important figure in medieval times, a figure of power. Behind the king and queen, the bishop is the highest ranking piece on the board. The most powerful piece in the game of chess is the Queen, and it is the only piece that represents a female figure. Many people are unaware that queens in medieval times often held great influence with the kings, who relied on them for support and advice. There are many instances in history of queens working either for or against their kings, and behind the scenes some queens held more power than the kings themselves.» «In chess, just as in medieval times, the king must be defended at all costs. Surrender of the king means defeat, and hundreds of years ago, defeat of the king meant loss of the kingdom to invading armies. So it was to everyone’s advantage, from the lowest serf to the highest ranking bishop, to keep the king safe from harm. The king is the most important, but not the most powerful piece in chess. Loss of the king…means loss of the game.» We have to notice that, at this time, growing success of chess involved some social troubles. Effectively, playing chess aroused a strong passion with some peoples. Hence commonly, in inns or taverns, was engaged bets about a chess game. But bets was equally practised in the high society and, sometimes, very important sums was gambled. Then chess game risked to disturb social peace. For this reason public and religious authorities wished to intervene. Considering playing chess was able to provoke the contempt of God, Church wanted to ban it, in particular for ecclesiastics. In 1061, accused by St Pierre Damien, the Bishop of Florence was condemned, by Pope Alexander II, to a penitence for having play chess during all a night in a tavern. According to Bill Wall, in 1291 the Archbishop of Cantebury, John Peckman, was forbidding chess. ... Later (Cf. "Le Grand Livre del'Histoire des Echecs, A.Capece, Editiond de Wecchi, Paris, 2001) the Archbishop of Paris, Eude de Sully, and the Archbishop of Bourges, Guy de Sully, condemned equally the chess game ; and in 1212 chess was forbided under penalty of anathema by the Council of Paris. But the most significant decision of this time was the prohibition of chess by St Louis (Louis IX) 1254, four years after he was made prisoner in Mensoura (Egypt), during the VIIth crusade. The most important sovereign for chess devlopment was certainly Alphonse X of Castile (1221-1284). This King was a great humanist very interested, in particular, by the chess game. He got various works from Arabic authors and made translate them. Then he wrote a treatise: the "Codice Alfonsino", with the original title: "Libro de Axedrez, Dados y Tablas con sus explicationes, ordonados por mandado dem rey Alfonso el sabio".According to Jean-Louis Cazaux: «Compiled by King Alfonso X El Sabio from Castilla (Spain), this codex was realesed in 1283 and consits of 98 leaves with wonderful illustrations. It gives details about Chess (with 103 problems) and other games as dice games, Tables, Merrels, Alquerque, and Chess variant as "El Grande Axedrez" on a chess-board of 12x12 squares and 48 pieces or the "Acedrex de los quatro tiempos" (Four Seasons Chess), a game four players very similar to the Indian 4-handed Chaturanga. The book also includes Escaques, an astronomical game.» You get some complementary informations about the "Libro de Axedrez, Dados y Tablas" in the: "Elliot Avedon Museum and Archive of games, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: «The original is kept in the Library of Philip II (d.1598) in the Monastery of San Lorenzio del Escorial, in the foothills of the Guadarra Mountains, about 50 miles northwest of Madrid. The Library houses over 40,000 volumes, of which 2,700 are illuminated manuscripts such as the Libro de Juegos. The Monastery of Escorial is the burial place of Spanish kings and queens since Carlos I. It is extensive and consists of many buildings and galleries.» «Complete reproductions of the entire 98 page Libro de Juegos are not available. The original was bound in sheepskin and included 0ver 150 drawings. (It is to be noted that this was before the printing press was invented, and so each page was hand painted and illuminated.)»
Main references about Medieval Chess History
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