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garos
7/30/2008
01:01:14
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 Subject: Medieval Chess
Message:
I am currently looking into chess in the medieval period (approx 500AD - 1500AD)as a university research project. I would be grateful for any suggestions for reputable books, websites etc. you may know. There is a lot of information out there, (much of it useless!) so if it can be narrowed down a little it would help immensely.
One interesting point I have noticed so far is that in paintings of chess games of the period, the board is usually set up with a black square at each players' right-hand corner. Is this a mistake on the part of the artist? Did it matter during this period which way the board was oriented? Did it change at some stage? When did it become usual (or the 'rule') to set up with a white square on the right?
I would also appreciate any information about the 'mad queen', so called when the rules were changed so the queen could move around the board freely, as she does now.
If anyone has an interest in this chess from this era I would be pleased to hear your views.
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maca
7/30/2008
09:09:55
[ report abuse ] | Very interesting
Message:
You have a very nice topic right there. Unfortunately, I don't have much information about the chess on that era. Most written history of chess (in terms of chess books or game notations) start at 17th century if I remember correctly.
Regarding the "mirrored board", I believe this is fairly widespread mistake that is sometimes made even today. For some reason, H8 is often set up as white, not black. I never knew this went that back in the past, though. I wouldn't be surprised if the way the board was set up had changed in the past, and I'd expect the could even be local variation in this. With no written rules, this seemingly insignificant detail could have easily been not taken into by the carpenters who made the chess boards, but could have had very little information about the game itself. In arts, it would seem plausible that artists would use each others' paintings as models, which could partially explain why the "mistake" is so wide-spread.
As for the Vizor-Queen transition, I believe Queen was already a well-established piece when the written history of chess began. Therefore, I would guess it happened at the range of 15th-16th century, but a quick search at the books or Internet could easily beat my estimate in here.
Here are some ideas you might look into. Mostly speculation from my part, though:
- In Middle-Ages, chess was an integral part of the training of knights and other nobility in some countries. You could search the cultural effects of chess starting from this.
- The Oriental trade strongly influenced the culture in Europe, and chess is not an exception. Chess was a very popular game around India, and I think they crafted a lot high-quality chess sets.
- Chess is a special game in that it was rarely banned by church, due to the fact that it was considered excellent training for warfare. You could look into the relationship of chess and religion.
Regards,
MaCa.
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chessnovice
7/31/2008
15:59:57
[ report abuse ] | some suggestions
Message:
Maca is right that you'd be lucky to find works from the medieval period, since most of chess history is written from a retrospective point of view. A good idea if you're running low on sources in a research project is to look at the work of someone who preceded you (like "A History of Chess" by H. Murray), and look through the acknowledgments of works he cited. Then find the works that you find most applicable, and look through the acknowledgments of those works cited.
I'd also recommend Henry Bird's "Chess History & Reminiscences" for some basic insight. You can find the full text online, here: <img src="/img/ext-link.gif"
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