|
For more information about how some of these games were played, see these links. You can also find rules for these and other games.
See also Game-Boards and Gaming-Pieces in the Northern European Iron Age, Tableaux ayant pour sujet les échecs, Jon’s Antique Chess Collection, and representations of game tables before 1500.
- Early chess pieces
The British Museum has a few early chess pieces in its collection, including some from Samarkand (7th-8th century), Egypt (10th-12th century), 82 of the Lewis Chessmen (later 12th century), and other early games and game-pieces.
An article on the first European chessmen includes photos of most of the known extant medieval chess-pieces throughout Europe, with pages on the Butrint Chessman (6th century Albania), the Charlemagne Chessmen (late 11th century Salerno), and the Lewis Chessmen, among several other interesting pieces.
- Glass and amber game pieces from Storhaug, a Norwegian ship burial dated to AD 690-750
- Viking-age game board (also front and back) found at Årby, Sweden
- Chess pieces (bishop, queen, and castle); dice; and game pieces; from Colletire, France, early 11th century
- Various gaming-pieces from the 11th-16th centuries found in York
- Charlemagne's Chessmen, late 11th century Salerno; the BNF website has good photos of the kings, queens, rooks, elephants, knights, and pawns, the Indian elephant, the vizier, and more information here.
- Bone and antler playing pieces from a so-called 'tables (or tabula) set' found in excavations at Gloucester Castle, c. 1090-1120
- Ivory chess-piece (elephant), southern Italy, c. 1100
- Ivory chess-piece (king and his counselors), southern Italy, c. 1100
- Tables board found in the bottom of a waste pit in Saint-Denis, made in the early 12th century
- Gaming board (probably for hnefatafl), and antler gaming-counter, both c. 1150; found in Waterford, Ireland
- Ivory chess-piece (king), Norway, 1170-1200
- Bone chess piece, 12th-13th century; found in London
- Chess piece in walrus ivory, from Salisbury, early 13th century
- Ivory chess-piece (Adam and Eve on one side, combatting knights on the other), France, 13th century
- Playing a board game, Bible moralisée (British LIbrary Harley 1527, fol. 34v), second quarter of the 13th century
- Two men play trictrac in the Carmina Burana, c. 1230
- Stone chess-piece (king), 13th century northern Germany
- Ivory chess-piece of St. George and the dragon, England, between about 1240 and 1260
- The Book of Games of Alfonso X, 1251-1282
Most of the games depicted in the book are chess, but there are illustrations of dice, tables, nine men's morris, and other games too.
- Trictrac board and playing-pieces, made after 1278, found in Freiburg
- A game of chess in the Devine Bestiary (BNF Fr. 14969, fol. 5), third quarter of the 13th century
- Crusaders playing chess in Song of the Crusaders of the First Crusade, 13th century (BNF Fr. 12558, fol. 143v), second half of the 13th century
- Ivory chess-piece (king), Cologne, 14th century
- La prise de Defur (BNF Fr. 12565), 14th century:
Alexander and one of Candace's followers play chess (fol. 69),
Cassiel and Phesona play chess (fol. 78v), and
Cassiel and Phesona play chess (fol. 80v)
- Crusaders playing chess in William of Tyre's History of the Holy War (BNF Fr. 2824, fol. 94v), beginning of the 14th century
- Cassiel and Phesona play chess, The Romance of Alexander (BNF Fr. 790, fol. 125), first quarter of the 14th century
- Garin playing chess, chansons of the cycle of Guillaume d’Orange (British Library Royal 20 D XI, fol. 1), first quarter of the 14th century
- Fols. 141r and 268v, the Maastricht Hours (Brit. Lib. Stowe 17), first quarter of the 14th century
- A couple plays chess or checkers, The Queen Mary Psalter (British Library Royal 2 B VII, fol. 198v), c. 1310-1320
- Boys playing a board game in a bas-de-page in a breviary (Getty Ludwig IX 2, fol. 142), c. 1320-1325
- A man and woman play a board game (tables?) in a garden, the Luttrell Psalter (Brit. Lib. Add. 42130, fol. 76v), c. 1325-1340
- The Manesse Codex (UBH Cod. Pal. germ. 848), 1300-1330: Markgraf Otto von Brandenburg plays chess (fol. 13r); Herr Goeli plays tables (fol. 262v).
- Some 14th century ivory mirror-cases, such as this one at the Cleveland Museum of Art, depict a couple, presumed to be Tristan and Isolde, playing chess
- An ivory coffer-plaque with a couple playing chess, Paris, c. 1325-1350
- Several board games appear in the base-de-pages of the Romance of Alexander (Bodley 264), c. 1338-44, including
chess (fols. 60r, 92v, 112r, 121v, 126r, and 145v),
nine men's morris (fols. 60r and 112v),
and alquerque (fol. 76v; thanks, Bartok!).
- A game of chess, Liber de Moribus hominum (BNF Fr. 1165, fol. 2v), 14th century. The Liber de Moribus hominum is an allegory, comparing society to chess; see also illustrations of a king, queen, alfin (bishop), knight, rooks, laborer, carpenter, tailor, a pawn who carries out the measurements, apothecary, tavern-keeper, city guard, gameplayer/messenger, a chessboard and how it is made, and Xerxes inventing chess in BNF Fr. 1166.
- A game of chess, Liber de Moribus hominum (BNF Fr. 580, fol. 34), 14th century
- A game of chess, Liber de Moribus hominum (BNF NAF 720, fol. 17)
- Game-board, Venice, first half of the 14th century
Alla certosina: inlaid wood, jasper, chalcedony, bone, painted clay reliefs, miniatures under rock crystal. The caption indicates that the board is for chess on one side, and backgammon on the other, though this webpage indicates the second board is for trictrac, not backgammon.
- Cassamus upsetting the chess game of Fesonas and Cassiel, Voeux du paon (PML G.24, fol. 25v), c. 1350
My boldnesse is turned to shame, For fals Fortune hath pleyd a game … Atte ches with me she gan to pleye; With hir false draughtes divers She stal on me, and took my fers. And whan I saw my fers aweye, Alas! I couthe no lenger playe, But seyde, “Farewel, swete, y-wis, And farwel al that ever ther is!” Therwith Fortune seyde, “Chek here!” And “Mate!” in mid pointe of the chekkere With a poune erraunt, allas! Ful craftier to pley she was Than Athalus, that made the game First of the ches: so was his name. The Book of the Duchesse,
ll. 617-618, 652-664 - Ivory chess-piece (knight), England, c. 1370
- Blioberis and the messenger of Gaunes, Guiron le Courtois (BNF Nouvelle acquisition franaise 5243, fol. 3v), c. 1370-1380
- King Arthur plays a game of chess with Bedevere (fol. 3v), Guiron le Courtois (BNF NAF 5243, fol. 3v), 1370-1380
- The knight Cifar observes the enemy camp playing chess, illustration in Roman du chevalier Cifar by Juan de Carrion, 14th century Castille
- Illustration of men playing chess, 14th century (15th?)
- Achilles playing chess in a tent, Ancient History until the Reign of Caesar (BNF Fr. 301, fol. 111v), 14th-15th century
- Three board games found during the restoration of Rothen Tower in Switzerland, including a morris game, 14th-15th centuries
- A game of chess, Liber de ludo scaccorum (BNF Fr. 1172, fol. 1), beginning of the 15th century
- Ulysses playing chess, Epistle of Othea to Hector (BNF Fr. 606, fol. 39), c. 1406
Leve now al thy foly and thy rebawdry, As tables and merelles and the hazardry, And draw thee to the company of honest men and good. The Tale of Beryn, ll. 1249-1251 - Tristan and Yseult play chess, Tristan de Léonois (BNF Fr. 97, fol. 57v), first quarter of the 15th century
- Playing trictrac, a fresco in South Tyrol, c. 1415-1425
- A game-board for chess and tric-trac with tournaments, hunts, and other scenes carved in ivory around the board, made in 15th century Burgundy
- A chessboard from a 15th century edition of Jacques de Cessoles' Liber de Moribus hominum (BNF Fr. 2471, fol. 70)
- Ulysses plays chess in his tent, L’Épître Othéa (British Library Harley 4431, fol. 133), c. 1410-1414
- St. Thomas Aquinas with a townswoman, Blumen der Tugend (ÖNB 13567, fol. 149v), 1411
- Anichino and Beatrice Galluzzi play chess, The Decameron (BNF Italien 63, fol. 221), 1427
- Chess players in a stained glass window (from Villefranche-sur-Saône, hôtel de la Bessée), 1430-1440
- Anichino seduces Beatrice over chess in the Decameron (BNF Ars. 5070, fol. 260v), 1432
- Box for board games, paint and gilt on wood, with chess board set into the box’s underside; French or German, 1440-1470
- Cassiel and Phesona play chess, History of Alexander the Great (BNF fr. 9342, fol. 48v), mid-15th century
- Ivory trictrac board/box, Venice, 15th century
- Embriachi bone and wood alla certosina gaming box with boards for chess and backgammon made by the Embriachi workshop in Italy in the 15th century
- Husraw I and his vizier Buzurdjmihr, presented with a chess-board from envoys from India (fol. 456) -- the poet Firdawsî, in relating this story from the sixth century, describes the board as being made of ebony, and the pieces of ivory and teak;
and Husraw I and Buzurdjmihr play trictrac (fol. 457);
Shâh-nâma (BNF suppl. persan 493), 1441
- A couple playing backgammon (tables) in a book of hours (Walters W.269.16R ), c. 1460
- A game of chess that degenerates into murder, Renaut de Montauban (BNF 5073, fol. 15), c. 1462-1470
- A chess game on a panel (from a cassone?) by Liberale da Verona, third quarter of the 15th century
- German illustration of two men playing chess, c. 1464-1465
- Detail from The Sermon of John Capistrano, c. 1465-1475
- Tristan and Yseult play chess, Tristan de Léonois (BNF Fr. 102, fol. 66), c. 1470
- Tristan and Yseult drink a love-potion as they play chess in an illustration from Tristan de Léonois (Fr. 112, fol. 239), 1470
- Chess game from Master Ingold's Game of Gold, Augsburg, 1472
- Scipio and Leulius playing chess, Les Fais et les Dis des Romains et de autres gens (British Library Harley 4375, fol. 151v), c. 1473-1480
- William Caxton's Game and Playe of the Chesse, 1474
- The Chess Players by Liberale da Verona, c. 1475
- Backgammon, Der Renner (PML M.763, fol. 134v), last quarter of the 15th century
- Playing tric-trac, Schachzabelbuch ÖNB 3049, fol. 158r), 1479
- Cifar observes the enemy camp (playing chess), The Knight Cifar (BNF Espagnol 36, fol. 19), fourth quarter of the 15th century
- Trictrac board in wood (with relief-carving and intarsia) made in Germany between 1475 and 1500 (also here)
- German illustration of two trictrac players at the gaming table, 1479
- Chessboard known as the chessboard of St. Louis, rock crystal, silver-gilt, bronze-gilt, and cedar, made between about 1480 and the 17th century
- Liber de Moribus hominum (BNF Fr. 2000), 1480-1485: Sermon on the morality and duties of men playing chess; the king, queen, alfin (bishop), knight, rook, laborer, carpenter, tailor, fourth pawn carrying scales, apothecary, tavern-keeper, city guard, and game-player/messenger; and the chessboard and how it is made.
- A game of chess, Liber de moribus hominum (BNF Fr. 24274, fol. 37v), 15th century
- Box of games with game pieces, late 15th century
A two-part box, with a game board on each side. Two sliding boards make it possible to play six different games, including checkers, nine men's morris, fox & geese, trictrac, and glic.
- A knight and lady play checkers, Les Sept Saiges de Romme (BNF Arsenal 4 BL 4235 Rés), 1492
- Évrard de Conty and the chess-players, Échecs amoureux (BNF Fr. 143, fol. 1), c. 1496-1498
- A fool plays trictrac with a woman, La Nef des folz du monde (BNF Arsenal 4 BL 2142, fol. LXVIv), 1497
- The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1500 (trictrac board and dice visible in the bottom of this detail from the right wing)
- Ivory chess-piece (knight), Flanders, c. 1500
- A misericord with two men playing tables, Manchester Cathedral, c. 1500
- An ox plays tric-trac in a Viennese fresco, c. 1500-1525
- Detail from a tapestry with a nine men's morris game and fruit harvest, 16th century
- A game of chess with allegorical figures representing the pawns, Liber de Moribus hominum (BNF Ars 4 S 45 76 rés.), 1504
- The Chess Game by Lucas van Leyden, 1508
- Shams ud-Din Tabrizi playing chess, Madjâlis al-ushshâq (BNF suppl. persan 776, fol. 135v), 16th century
- Men playing tables in the January mural, Die Augsburger Monatsbilder, Germany, 1520s
- Games board, teak veneered with ebony, citronwood, ivory, and sadeli, possibly from India or Pakistan, 16th century. The board is configured on one side for chess, and on the other for tric-trac.
- Ornately-carved and inlaid trictrac board made by Hans Kels the Elder in Kaufbeuren, c. 1537
- Backgammon board with pieces from the carpenter's cabin of the Mary Rose, 1545
- Kurfürst Johann Friedrich der Altere von Sachsen plays chess with a Spanish nobleman by Anthonis Mor, 1549
- Game-board (and back), 16th century
- Satire of the merchant's greed by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, c. 1550-1560
- A game-box with boards for morris, chess, and tables, c. 1550-1570
- Trictrac board and boards for chess and morris in ivory with mother-of-pearl and brass inlay, made in Germany between 1550 and 1600
- Albert, Duke of Bavaria Playing Chess With His Wife by Hans Muelich, 1552
- The Artist's Sisters Playing Chess by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1555
- Playing the game of Glück from Melancolia in the Garden of Life by Matthias Gerung, 1558
- Detail from The Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1562
- A wise man explains the game of chess, Shâh-nâna (BNF suppl. Persan 2113, fol. 458), 1567
- Chess Game by Lucas van Leyden
This illustrates a medieval game known as Courier Chess.
- Game-table made in Venice in the second half of the 16th century
- Game-table made in Augsburg in the second half of the 16th century
- A sheikh plays chess with a young Christian, Meetings of the Lovers (BNF suppl. persan 1150, fol. 101v), 1581
- A family playing games by Hans Bol, 1583
- Two Chess Players by Ludovico Carracci, c. 1590
- The Cardsharps by Caravaggio, 1596
- Presentation of a game of chess to a Sassanid king, Shâhnâma (BNF suppl. persan 490, fol. 378v), 1604
- Gameboard (chess and nine men's morris, tables/backgammon) in ebony with ivory inlays, Augsburg, c. 1615
|
