Chess History And Reminiscences
looked upon you as a Rukh, and herself as a mere Pawn,
therefore she submitted to pay you a tribute more than the double
of which she ought to have exacted from you. All this has
been owing to female weakness and timidity. Now, however,
I insist that you immediately on reading this letter repay to me
all the sums of money you ever received from her. If you
hesitate, the sword shall settle our accounts."
In reply to this pithy epistle, Harun in great wrath wrote on
the back of the leaf:
"`In the name of God the Merciful and Gracious.' From
Harun the Commander of the Faithful to the Roman dog,
Nicephorus.
"I have read thine epistle, thou son of an infidel mother. My
answer to it thou shalt see not here. Nicephorus had to sue for
peace, and to pay the tribute as before."
The above is adduced as tending to confirm by the familiar
allusion to Rukh and Pawn that the game was known to the
Greeks and Arabians in the eighth century.
NOTE. The unknown Persian philosopher in his M.S. presented by
Major Price, the eminent Orientalist to the Asiatic Society
attributes the invention of chess to Hermes, who lived in the
time of Moses. This M.S. which is the one upon which Bland mainly
bases his admirable treatise on Persian Chess is imperfect, many
pages being missing, including that in which the title, name of
author and date would doubtless appear if the M. S. was perfect,
what exists however is singularly curious and interesting. It
commences with a description of the author himself, and his
prowess and achievements. It then sets forth under ten headings
the advantages of chess, explains its terms, and describes it
fully, gives the names of great players with many positions,
including some of Al Mutasem, eighth Khalif of Abbaside, (833 to
842) and 18 by Ali Shaturanji the Philidor of Timur's time. Bland
assigns about the Tenth century, between the time of the death of
Al Razi the physician of Bagdad, and that of the poet Firdausi, as
the age of the document. Forbes strongly contends that it was
more probably written in the time of Tamerlane, between 1380 and
1400 A.D. and hints that it may have been prepared to please that
monarch himself with an illustration of the great game called the
Complete or Perfect Chess of Timur (with 56 pieces and 112 squares)
to which he had become much attached. Blindfold play by the author
and others is described in the M.S. as well as the giving of odds,
there being no less than thirteen grades of players enumerated.
Anna Comnena was born 1083 and died 1148, she was the daughter of
the Emperor "Alexis Comnenus" and "The Empress Irene." During the
latter years of her life she composed a work to which she gave
the name of Alexius, which is divided into 15 books, and has
been more or less esteemed by critics, generally, and is called
a memorable work by all.
The Biographical Dictionary 1842 describes it as one of the most
important and interesting works of the time, and the chief source
for the life of Alexius I, mention is made of her great beauty and
extraordinary talents, also of her learning, and that her palace
was the rendezvous of the most eminent Greek scholars, poets,
artists, and statesmen, and was surrounded by many of the
distinguished barons of the first Crusaders, on their appearance
at Constantinople; reference is made to her attachment to arts and
sciences, but as to chess or music, or the diversions, or recreations,
common to the period, or favoured at the Court not one word is said,
and this seems very remarkable, as due prominence is given to her
notice of chess by chess writers. The article is initialed W. P.
William Plate, L.L.D., M.R., Geographical Society of Paris. This
gentleman may have been unacquainted with chess, and so may Don
Pascual de Gayangos and Dr. Sprenger, the other writers in the
Biography, but it happens that many of the articles in the same
volume are by Duncan Forbes, who in other works so prominently
makes due mention of Anna Comnena and her references to chess, and
the fact that her father Alexius was in the habit of playing
the game.
We are told by Hyde that the Princess Anna Comnena relates, in
the Alexius a work written by her in the beginning of the 12th
century, "that the Emperor (Alexius), her father, in order to
dispel the cares arising from affairs of state, occasionally
played chess at night with some of his relations or kinsfolk.
She then says that this game had been originally brought into use
among the Byzantines from the Assyrians." The fair historian says
nothing as to the time when the game came from Assyria, which may
have been five centuries before she wrote, her statement, however,
proves that it came from Persia, and not from Arabia, for Assyria
formed an important portion of the Persian Empire under the
Sassassian dynasty, and in fact was for some centuries a kind of
debatable land, and alternately occupied by the Persians and Romans,
according as victory swayed to one side or the other. The term
Assyria, then, denoting Persia in general, is used here in a well
known figurative sense "per synecdechen," a part taken for the
whole, just as the term Fers is employed to at this day to denote
the whole of Persia, whereas it is only the name of a single
insignificant province of that kingdom. Finally, the once splendid
empire of Assyria, of Media, and of Persia, had all passed away
long before Anna Comnena wrote, so that one name is just as
likely to be employed by her as another. (Forbes.)
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