games-msg - 2/13/08
Medieval board games. Rules. References.
NOTE: See also the files: games-cards-msg, games-SCA-msg, golf-msg, sports-msg, cloved-fruit-msg, darts-msg, Tarot-Crd-Ruls-art, T-H-Dreidel-art.
************************************************************************
NOTICE -
This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.
This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.
The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.
Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).
Thank you,
Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
************************************************************************
From: jmike at asylum.SF.CA.US (J. Michael Hammond)
Date: 29 May 90 16:18:40 GMT
Organization: The Asylum; Belmont, CA
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Greetings to milady Awilda and all others interested in organizing
celebrations of the King of Games! I crave your indulgence as I throw
in my two farthings' worth from my perspective as a certified
tournament director in the United States Chess Federation.
The first important question to resolve is what *exact* versions of
period chess do you want to support? I have seen articles and spoken
with players who have some somewhat suspect opinions as to valid forms
of the game. I recommend the source "A History of Chess" by Murray.
It is a great big 900-pager, copyright 1913, and is still available
through U.S. Chess. Their catalog number is C905MH, their price is
$39.95 (but well worth it), and their phone number is (800) 388-KING.
I believe the book is also available through other mail-order houses
but do not have any other information at hand. {I hope I'm not
breaking netiquette with this endorsement; I make no kickback
thereby.}
Damiano della Greccia
From: mfy at sli.com (Mike Yoder)
Date: 1 Jun 90 16:07:44 GMT
Organization: Software Leverage, Inc., Arlington, MA
Llwyd ap Tentor of Myrkdfaellin asks:
>Interesting.... I wonder what real chess pieces were made out of at first??
Some existing chess sets from period with descriptions follow. The heights
given are those of the Kings unless otherwise stated. These are all from
_Chess Sets_ by F. Lanier Graham.
Arabic, 8th-9th C. bone, 1 9/16".
Persian (Nishapur), early 9th C. ivory, some stained green, 1 3/8".
Arabic, 9th-10th C. wood turned on a lathe.
Nordic, 9th-10th C. ivory, 2 5/16".
Spanish-Arabic(?), 10th C.(?) carved and plain rock crystal, 2 3/4".
Anglo-Saxon bishop, 10th C. whalebone, 4 1/8".
Nordic bishop, 10th-11th C. hartshorn, 3 1/8".
German bishop (Cologne), 12th C. ivory, 1 3/4".
Southern Italian, c.1100 ivory, 2 11/16".
French(?) queen, 11th-12th C. ivory, 3 7/16".
Scandinavian or Anglo-Saxon, c.1200 walrus bone, 4".
Southern Italian vizier (queen), late 11th C. ivory painted red, 4 13/16".
Southern Italian pawn, late 11th C. gilded ivory, 3".
Danish(?) rook (guard), 12th C. hartshorn, 1 5/8".
Arabic, 13th C.(?) rock crystal and smoky topaz with gold foil setting.
Danish or German bishop, 13th C. walrus bone, 2 1/4".
Nordic bishop and knight, 13th C. bone, 1 7/16".
German knight, 14th C. ivory or hartshorn, 3 11/16".
Scandinavian, 14th C. bone turned on lathe, 2 15/16". The design of the set
was almost entirely based on the physical requirements of lathe turning.
Burgundian, late 14th-early 15th C. rock crystal and smoky quartz with silver
gilt setting, 2 5/16".
German bishop(?), early 16th C. limewood, 4 1/8".
--
Franz Joder von Joderhuebel (Michael F. Yoder) [...uunet!sli!mfy]
From: karplus at TURTLE.UCSC.EDU (Kevin Karplus)
Date: 19 Jun 90 00:17:10 GMT
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Some evidence for dice chess:
From "A Short History of Chess" by Harold J. R. Murray (written 1917,
copyright 1963, Oxford University Press). This is not an abridgement
of his 900-page "history of Chess", but a separate work. I'll have to
look up the longer work later.
p29.
It is probable that the first Italian players often played
chess with the help of the dice, an evil habit that lasted
in Europe into the thirteenth century.
(Note the bias of a modern chess player against games of chance.)
No indication is given in this source of HOW dice were used in chess.
Knud Kaukinen Kevin Karplus
inactive in the West teaching at UC Santa Cruz
karplus at ce.ucsc.edu
From: BOYDJ at QUCDN.QUEENSU.CA (Jeff Boyd)
Date: 27 Nov 90 18:46:00 GMT
Responding to Matt Stum's questions ...
There are several (very similar) variants to this game, the most common
name being "Tablut". Board sizes range from 9x9 to 25x25 (of the ones
I've seen or read about). Some answers to your questions:
1) In some variants, the game is OVER when the king reaches the edge of
the board :-). The more challenging version has the king needing to
reach a corner, and in this case trapping against the edge is a win.
This is sufficient, the sole objective is to trap the king; the
king's protectors may still be running rampant.
2) You can't capture more than one warrior at once. Adjacent warriors of
the same colour are thus safe from capture (adjacency is either
vertical or horizontal, not diagonal).
Goffrid the Obtuse
Greyfells, Barony of Skraeling Althing, Midrealm
Jeff Boyd, BOYDJ at QUCDN.QueensU.CA
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Queen's University (Northern Center for Studies in Pretentiousness)
Canada
From: zebee at ucs.adelaide.edu.au (Zebee Johnstone)
Date: 16 Nov 91 00:07:25 GMT
Organization: Information Technology Division, The University of Adelaide, AUSTRALIA
grm+ at andrew.cmu.edu (Gretchen Miller) writes:
>I've recently started looking into period games, both atheletic and
>otherwise. Unfortunately, aside from "The Compleat Gamester", which is
>about 20 years out of period, and a few mentions of football, bowling,
>tennis, and various card and dice games, I have been able to find very
>little.
I have a translation of a Hungarian book.
Fun and Games in Old Europe, by W.Endrei and L.Zolnay.
published by Corvina.
ISBN 963 13 2386 2
C 1986
printed in Hungary 1988.
Back flap has "orders to
Kultura
Budapest 62
P.O.B 149
H-1389
I found it remaindered by who knows what devious route!
Selfran
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Zebee Johnstone |
Adelaide City Council | Motorcycles are like peanuts -
zebee at itd.adelaide.edu.au | who can stop at just one?
From: rkister at lonestar.utsa.edu (Robert F. Kister)
Date: 18 Nov 91 22:56:43 GMT
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio
Heilsa! Greetings come from Gunnora Hallakarva, writing in the Barony of
Bjornsborg, Ansteorra, to Margaret Macdubhsidhe.
At the risk of starting to look like the "Viking Answer Lady", I've been
doing some games research in preparation for constructing a series of Tafl
games. My bibliography includes some listings that will be of help to you.
As a suggestion, look for books on games in public libraries, or college
libraries only if they have a Child Development of Education department. In
general, the public library (and/or InterLibrary Loan) is your best bet.
Murray, H.J.R. _A History of Board-Games Other than Chess_. Oxford. 1952;
New York: Hacker Art Books. 1978.
Murray, H.J.R. "The Medieval Games of Tables." _Medium Aevum_. 10:2 (1941)
pp. 57-69.
Bell, R.C. _Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations_. 2 vols. London:
Oxford U.P. 1960, 1969.
Botermans, Jack, Tony Burrett, Pieter van Delft and Carla van Splunterer.
_The World of Games_. New York: Facts on File. 1989.
Murray's books are absolutely exhaustive, and give copious historical notes.
Bell is very similar, although not so comprehensive, while Botermans et. al.
is illustrated with great color photos of reconstructed game boards.
Gunnora Hallakarva
c/o Christie Ward
From: mfy at sli.com (Mike Yoder)
Date: 18 Nov 91 19:11:38 GMT
Organization: Software Leverage, Inc., Arlington, Ma.
Good day to all, gentles. The following material is probably only of interest
to chess mavens; it describes the rules to be used for the chess matches in the Carolingian Challenge III (sometimes called Duello). It is the result of
research done at the behest of Danulf Donaldson (he, as the autocrat, asked me
to look into period chess rules).
One gentle spoke recently of investigating period games. In any such endeavor
it is probably best to divide games into chess and all others -- Murray opined
that the literature of chess probably exceeded that of all other games
combined, and it would be difficult to gainsay him. For chess itself, Murray's
massive tome contains extensive quotations from period sources (in various
languages), and problems from period collections. I have leaned on it heavily
in producing the following; a full bibliography is at the end.
PERIOD AND MODERN CHESS RULES
"Others may talk of the Round Table with its fifty knights, but I greatly
prefer the Square Table with only four knights." -- Fiske
Although it is often said that medieval chess and modern chess are very
different in character, this statement is somewhat misleading in the context of the Society because it creates the impression that modern chess rules are out of period. The statement is true, but "period" goes beyond the traditional end of the medieval era by some hundred and fifty years; what fails to be "medieval" may still be period.
Consider then the question, "What is the closest period equivalent to modern
chess?". The answer is, for all practical purposes, "modern chess."
There was, to be sure, much more variation in chess rules within period than
there is now; but the mainstream pretty rapidly converged to a set of rules
which has not changed significantly in more than four hundred years.
The transition from the old chess to the new was quick wherever the latter
sprang up: this can be measured by the rapidity with which terms to distinguish the two forms vanish. In all cases, the new game very quickly just becomes "chess" with no modifiers; during the transition period it is typically named by a term which translates as "queen's chess" or "chess of the furious queen." This refers to the fact that the queen in the old rules was a very weak piece, whereas the new queen "In a straight line spreads her destruction wide, / To left or right, behind, astride." (Hmm, reminds me of a lady I knew...)
The traditional date for the start of the transition from the old to the new
chess is 1475, but this is a rather arbitrary choice, and Murray thinks it too
early by about a decade. The oldest surviving book dealing with practical
play, Lucena's text of 1497 (probably), describes both forms. Luis Ramirez
Lucena was a young student in Salamanca at the time.
In any case, those of you who have worried that modern chess is out of period
can relax. For all practical purposes, modern chess is period.
*Timed* chess matches, on the other hand, aren't period as far as is known.
They are a practical necessity for completing large tournaments in less than a
day, however. Time limits were introduced about the middle of the 19th
century, but the penalty imposed was often a monetary fine rather than the loss of the game! Sandglasses were used initially, but in the 1880s were replaced by clocks.
Living chess is recorded as far back as the 15th century; frequently the moves
of the game are determined beforehand, but I do not know whether this occurred
in period. According to legend, such a game was played in 1454 in Marostica
(situated between Venice and Lake Garda) for the hand of a lady.
THE DUELLO RULES, AFTER RUY LOPEZ
These rules are the same as modern rules, except that (1) en passant capture is forbidden if it gives discovered check; (2) there is no "draw by 3 repetitions" rule; (3) there are no exceptions to the 50-move rule in which more than 50 moves are permitted before a draw can be claimed. (It may surprise some to learn that the 50-move rule is period. But it is derived from a 70-move rule used in its predecessor, Shatranj; and Lopez may be responsible for reducing the number, since he argues that 50 moves are sufficient.)
In addition, it is not true that white always moves first; in period it was
typical to choose lots both for move and for color, and at some point the black pieces came to be considered lucky. (I do not know if this was within period.) The modern custom came about from a suggestion by G. Walker in 1835 that the player who lost first move should get the black pieces as compensation. For the Duello I will use the rule that the person who has second move may choose their pieces' color.
ON RUY LOPEZ
Ruy Lopez de Segura (his last name is pronounced Lopeth) was a Spanish priest
from Zafra, Badajoz; he is commonly reputed to have become a bishop, but in
fact he merely sought this post without achieving it. His _Libro de la
invencion liberal y arte del juego del Axedrez_ (Alcala, 1561) was to prove of
great importance in the development of chess.
In a tournament played in the court of Philip II of Spain in 1574-5, Ruy Lopez
and Alfonso Ceron (reputedly Lopez' equal) were defeated by Leonardo Di Bona da Cutri of Calabria and Giulio Cesare Polerio. (This is the first documented
chess competition.)
Reuben Fine calls Lopez' book "hardly worth much by modern standards" and makes a convincing case for this assessment.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following works, except for Chernev's _Companion_, each contain at least
some information on period chess or chessboards. The _Companion_ is the source for the quote from Fiske, who wrote on the history of chess, particularly in Iceland. Murray's work is virtually a necessity for anyone who would study the history of chess.
_The World's Great Chess Games_: Ed. by Reuben Fine; Crown Publishers, New
York, 1951.
Andy Soltis, _Chess to Enjoy_, Stein and Day, New York, 1978.
Alex Hammond, _The Book of Chessmen_, William Morrow and Company, New York.
Irving Chernev, _The Chess Companion_, Simon and Schuster.
F. Lanier Graham, _Chess Sets_, Studio Vista Ltd., London.
David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, _The Oxford Companion to Chess_, Oxford
University Press.
H. J. R. Murray, _A History of Chess_, Benjamin Press, Northampton, Mass.
--
Franz Joder von Joderhuebel (Michael F. Yoder) [...uunet!sli!mfy]
From: rkister at lonestar.utsa.edu (Robert F. Kister)
Date: 26 Nov 91 01:37:17 GMT
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio
Greetings to Fiacha from Gunnora Hallakarva:
Just as a note, Linnaeus was travelling in Finland, but the Tablut
game he describes belongs not to the Suominen, but to the Lapps. They still
play it even today.
Sources for this game:
The best is H.J.R. Murray's _Board Games Other than Chess_ (full bibliographic
info was given in my reply about board games). Murray discusses all the
"Tafl" group of games, including Tablut, Alea Evangelii/Hnefatafl,
Tawlbrwdd, etc.
Difficult (but possible) to obtain is D. Willard Fiske's Victorian treatise
on _Chess in the Icelandic Sagas_. It does contain amazing amounts of
information from the sagas which applies to hnefatafl, but incorrectly
assumes that the game so described is draughts or backgammon.
Alea evangelli: the complete description, in both Latin and in English
translation is to be found in Henry Armitage's _The Time of St. Dunstan_.
The Alea passage is a complex correspondence of the gospels, such as was
a favorite philosophical diversion of the clerical scholars of the day.
If you know the rules of hnefatafl already, it makes sense, but no one
could easily reconstruct the rules from the description as given.
Some of the other sources I listed in my board games note also describe
these games. I'm currently (among my other projects) working on a set with
the pieces carved of ivory nut (I'd use walrus ivory if I could amputate my
conscience).
::GUNNORA::
Subject: Period games and magic_
Date: 10 Feb 92
From: salley at niktow.canisius.edu (David Salley)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization: Canisius College, Buffalo NY. 14208
Margaret Macdubhsidhe writes:
> I've recently started looking into period games, both atheletic and
> otherwise. Unfortunately, aside from "The Compleat Gamester", which is
> about 20 years out of period, and a few mentions of football, bowling,
> tennis, and various card and dice games, I have been able to find very
> little. Besides Master Samalluh's (please pardon the mangled spelling) book,
> does anyone know of any good secondary or primary sources for games
> descriptions? Is anyone else researching card, dice and athletic games
> (outside of tourney/fencing/martial arts)? Want to share
> research/ideas/sources?
Duncan MacLeod writes:
> I am also looking for period sources for slight of hand magic, Both of these
> requests are for children who are trying their best to be patient, so
> swiftness of response would be much appreciated!
Actual period sources are rare, I only know of one:
_The Art of Iugling [Juggling] or Legerdemaine_ by Samuel Rid, to be
sold by him in his shop in London, 1612. To get this manuscript, go to a
University with a _U.S. Govt. Doc. Microfilm Collection_ and ask for Reel 971,
Cat# 21027, Pr 1121.U6, MiU F63-378. Grainy photocopies of microfilm of
nearly illegible blackletter calligraphy of Old English grammar and spelling
make this difficult reading, but it's worth the effort.
Some very scholarly secondary sources include:
_Medieval Games_ by Salamallah the Corpulent, Raymond's Quiet Press
ISBN 0-943228-03-4,$10.00. I've also managed to track down about 3/4 of the
books he lists in the Bibliography. Among them, I'd recommend the following
two:
_Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland_ by Alice Gomme,
pub. London 1894. in 2 vol. Normally, I avoid Victorian books as the
scholarship usually tends to be nearly non-existant. These books however,
are very well researched. I can't quote a price or ISBN, because I don't
own them.
_Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations_ by Richard C. Bell,
Dover Pub., ISBN 0-486-23855-5, $6.50. My edition is "revised edition - two
volumes bound as one" which makes it a bit confusing as the sequence goes;
table of contents, text, bibliography, index, table of contents, text, biblio-
graphy, index.
Some additional books:
_Games of the World: How to Make Them, How to Play Them, How They
Came to Be_ edited by Frederic V. Grunfeld, Holt Rinehart & Winston Pub,
ISBN 0-03-015261-5. My copy doesn't have the price listed on it. Richard
Bell (see listing above) is listed as one of the consultants for the book.
The book is documented to the nth degree with photographs of museum pieces
and medieval manuscripts. Instructions on building boards and playing pieces
are well written, well diagrammed and often photographed in intermediate stages
of construction. Games are categorized into: Board & Table Games, Street &
Playground Games, Field & Forest Games, Party & Festival Games, & Puzzles,
Tricks & Stunts. Additionally the table of contents has cross-indexed each
game for: Indoor or Outdoor; Solo, Pair or Group; Mental, Physical or Chance;