# Chess Player's Chronicle/Series 3/Volume 2/Number 14/Some Observations on the Origin and Progress of Chess

Some Observations on the Origin and Progress of Chess. By Dr. Duncan Forbes Chapter XIII.—(Continued from our last Number.)
Now when we consider that Chess was known in Scandinavia more than half a century before the time of Athelstane, a period during which the Danes and Saxons were almost intermixed in England; above all when we consider the residence of Prince Haco and that of the French Louis at the English court—and Finally the intimate relations of that court with various continental powers—when, I say, we consider all these circumstances, it is absolutely impossible not for us not to infer that the game of Chess was then introduced into this island.
The following anecdotes refer to the beginning and middle of the eleventh century, at which period Chess must have become quite common both in England and Italy. Sir Frederic Madden states in p. 280:—"Snorre Sturleson relates an anecdote of King Canute which would prove that monarch to have been a great lover of the game. About the year 1028, whilst engaged in his warfare against the kings of Norway and Sweden, Canute rode over to Roskild, to visit Earl Ulfr, the husband of his sister. An entertainment was prepared for their guest, but the king was out of spirits and did not enjoy it. They attempted to restore his cheerfulness by conversation, but without success. At length, the earl challenged the king to play Chess, which was accepted, and, the Chess-table being brought, they sat down to their game. After they had played awhile, the king made a false move, in consequence of which Ulfr captured one of his opponent's knights. But the king would not allow it, and replacing his piece, bade the earl play differently. On this, the earl (who was of a hasty disposition) waxing angry, overturned the Chess-board and left the room. The king called after him, saying: 'Ulfr, thou coward, dost thou thus flee?' The earl returned to the door, and said, 'You would have taken a longer flight in the river Helga, had I not come to your assistance, when the Swedes beat you like a dog—you did not then call me a coward.' He then retired, and some days afterwards was murdered by the king's orders. This anecdote is corroborated by a passage in the anonymous history of the monastery of Ramsey, composed, pro-Etheric coming one night at a late hour on urgent business to King Canute, found the monarch and his courtiers amusing themselves at the games of Chess and dice."
​Twiss in vol. ii. p. 77, one the authority of Verci, says, that "the following adventure happened to a Bishop of Florence, who according to Ughelli Ital. Sac. tom. 3, was Gerard who died in 1061. It is told by Peter Dmaianus, Bishop of Ostia and cardinal, in his epistles, and is confirmed by Baronius and Lohner. 'These two prelates were traveling together, and on a certain evening when they arrived at their resting place, Damianus withdrew to the cell of a neighbouring priest in order to spend the time in a pious manner; but the Florentine played at Chess all night among seculars or laymen, in a large house of entertainment. When in the morning the cardinal was made acquainted with this, he sharply reproved the prelate, who endeavoured to excuse himself by saying that Chess was not prohibited like dice. 'Dice,' said he, 'are prohibited by the canon laws, Chess is tacitly permitted.' To which the zealous cardinal replied, 'the scriptures do not speak of Chess, but both kinds of games are expressed under the comprehensive name of Alea. Therefore when the scripture prohibits the Alea, and does not expressly mention Chess, it is undoubtedly evident that both kinds, expressed in one word and sentence, are therby equally condemned.'
"The bishop who was very good natured, stood corrected, and submitted cheerfully to the penance imposed on him by the cardinal, which was, that he should thrice repeat the psalter of David, and wash the feet of twelve poor men, likewise bestowing certain alms on them, and treating them with a good dinner; in order that he might thus for the glory of God and benefit of the poor, employ those hands h he had made use of in playing the game."
By this last anecdote we see that Chess must have been well known in Italy for several generations before the period there alluded to. It must have taken some considerable time before the game became so common as to be played at "houses of entertainment among seculars or laymen." Yet strange to say, Twiss in his first volume, p. 109, alluding to the same story, says:—"The following singular passage from an Epistle of Peter Damianus, an Ecclesiastical writer of the eleventh century to Heldenbrand (Pope Gregory VII. which was since occurred to me,) looks as if the game of Chess was, in his days, a thing quite new and strange; instead of being transmitted to modern Europe from either the contemporaryies of Jason of those of Palamedes!" It is quite needless to offer any comments on Twiss, whose two volumes ​entitled "Chess," are upon the whole more entertaining than instructive. They for a mere "Olla Podrida" of matters relating to Chess in general; some good, some bad, and some indifferent. He was a mere collector of Chess anecdotes, without a particle of judgment of his own; he simply considered as veritable fish, all things of this kind that came into his net. The Italians may have acquired their knowledge of Chess immediately before or during the ninth century, in three different ways. First, from the Saracens by way of Sicily and Naples; second from the Saracens by way of Marseilles, and lastly, from their intercourse with the Greeks of Constantinople.
I conclude this chapter by a few remarks on the celebrated set of Ivory Chessmen supposed to have once belonged to Charlemange, and presented by him to the Abbey of St. Denis where they were preserved till the French Revolution some seventy years ago. I avail myself, in the first place, of Sir Frederic Madden's description entire, as the account is far too valuable to be either overlooked or abridged. To this I shall append a few notes of my own (marked F), and then add some apparent inconsistencies, in which the subject appears to me to be involved.
Sir Frederic says:—"But the strongest proof that the game of Chess was introduced into France during the period of the Carlovingian dynasty, is to be found in the Ivory Chessmen still preserved in the Cabinet of Antiquities, in the Bibliothèque du Roi at Paris, which have been hitherto regarded too lightly. This has arisen from two causes, the first from their never having been seen by any English writer except Twiss; and secondly, from the strange mistake of Dr. Hyde, who represented the pawns as bearing muskets (sclopetos) on their shoulders, and consequently of very modern workmanship. These pieces were formerly deposited in the treasury of the abbey of St. Denis, and in a History of the Abbey, published in 1625, are thus noticed:—"L'Empereur et Roy de France, sainct Charlemagne, a donné au Thresor de Sainct Denys un jeu d'eschets, avec le tablier, le tout d'yvoire; iceux eschets hauts d'une paulme, for estimez: le dit batlier et une partie des eschets ont esté apportex de l'Orient, et sous les gross eschets il y a des caractéres Arabesques."
* ↑ Saga of Olafi hinom Helga, capp. 162, 163, tom. ii p. 275, 276. The sister of Ulfr was wife to Earl Godwin, and mother of Harold, King of England.
* ↑ "Ipse [Æthericus] quoque mannum, curiam aditurus, ascendens, ipsumque calcaribus urgens, Regem adhuc tesserarum vel scacorum ludo longioris tædia noctis relevantem invenit." Hist. Rames. ap. Gale, vol. 1. p. 442
* ↑ The good cardinal's reasoning does not appear to be very cogent. He seems to have been like his eminence Muhammad, the apostle of the Arabs, unacquainted with the game he condemns. The Muhammadan casuists would have speedily confuted his argument in consequence of the lameness of his Logic, to say nothing of its sheer absurdity
* ↑ It is strange that these ancient relics should not have been noticed in any of our Chess magazines, French or English, withing the last quarter of a century. I have been given to understand that they were dispersed and lost sight of during the great Revolution; and I cannot help thinking that such has been the case, from the total silence respecting them on the part of the contributors to the French monthly periodical, entitled Le Paladème, as well as those of our own Chess Player's Chronicle.
* ↑ Historie de l'Abbaye de S. Denis, par Jacques Doublet, Religieux de la dite Abbaye, 4to, Par. 1625
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