Chess History And Reminiscences
BUCKLE'S CHESS REFERENCES
Buckle's Chess References, which are not so full as we could
wish contain the names of Gerbert (Pope Sylvester, 2) (992, 1003),
Cranmer, Wolsey, Pitt and Wilberforce, as chess players, but do
not refer in any way to Beckett, Luther, or Voltaire, names
mentioned in Linde, neither think of Alcuin, or consider the
chess probabilities of the contemporary reigns of Offer, Egbert,
Charlemagne, Harun, and Irene.
Van der Linde assigns the 13th Century for first knowledge of
chess in England, and places it under the head of Kriegspiel,
but on what grounds, or what he conceives this Kriegspiel to be,
or how it differs from chess does not clearly appear in his book,
his space being rather devoted to sneers or dissent from the
statements and conclusions of previous writers, than at advancing
any distinct theory of his own.
He labours much to cast doubts on Charlemagne's knowledge of
chess, and to infer that the chess men preserved and considered
to have belonged to him, reported upon by Dr. Hyde, F. Douce,
and Sir F. Madden, are of comparatively recent date.
Einhard, the historian of Charlemagne, he says does not mention
chess, Cranmer, Wolsey, Pope, Pitt, Chatham, Fox,
Wilberforce, and other well accredited names which interest us are
absent from his list, which is surprising, considering his mass of
petty detail.
More than two-thirds of these volumes are devoted to descriptive
catalogues of books and magazines from Jacobus de Cessolus, the
first European work devoted to chess in the 13th century, down
to the various editions of Philidor, Sarratt, Allgaier, W. Lewis,
G. Walker, the German handbooks, and Staunton's popular works.
------
INTERDICTIONS OF CHESS
Al Hakem Biamri Llah, or Abu Ali Mansur, sixth Khalif of
the dynasty of the Fatimites or Obeydites of Egypt, 996-1021,
according to some authorities interdicted chess. Mr. Harkness
in Notes to Living Chess implies that he had some put to death
for playing it. Sprenger, Gayangoz, and Forbes do not mention
or confirm this, besides, though this Khalif did not much regard
the Koran, kept dancing-women and singers, indulged in all sorts
of frivolous pastimes, and was very much addicted to drinking,
as well as cruelty and tyranny, he was not a bigot. The more
famous Al Mansur (962-1002), the celebrated General and Minister
of Hisham II, tenth Sultan of Cordova, of the dynasty of Ummeyah,
was more likely to have issued such a mandate, for we read "in
order to gain popularity with the ignorant multitude, and to court
the favour of the ulemas of Cordova, and other strict men, who
were averse to the cultivation of philosophical sciences, Al
Mansur commanded a search to be made in Al Hakem's library, when
all works treating on ethics, dialectics, metaphysics, and
astronomy, were either burnt in the squares of the city, or
thrown into the wells and cisterns of the palace. The only books
suffered to remain in the splendid library, founded by Al Hakem,
II (fourth of Cordova, 822-852, the enlightened humane and just
Rahman, II) were those on rhetoric, grammar, history, medicine,
arithmetic, and other sciences, considered lawful."
Any scholar found indulging in any of the prescribed studies,
was immediately arraigned before a Court composed of kadhis
and ulemas, and, if convicted, his books were burnt, and himself
sent to prison.
I can find no other notice of a ruler or Khalif likely to have
forbidden chess, but in 1254 Lewis, IX, in France, is recorded to
have interdicted the game.
------
IRELAND
The word, chess, whatever it may have signified, was
common in Ireland long before it is ever found in English
annals. The quotation from the Saxon Chronicle, of the Earl of
Devonshire and his daughter playing chess together, refers to
the reign of Edgar, about half a century before Canute played
chess; but in Ireland the numerous references and legacies of
chess-boards are of eight hundred years' earlier date.
Several scholars in Ireland have discussed the question of
probable early knowledge of chess there.
Fitchell, a very ancient game in that country, was uniformly
translated, chess.
O'Flanagan, Professor of the Irish language in the University of
Dublin, writing to Twiss about the end of last century in
Reference to Dr. Hyde's quotations, thought Fitchell meant chess.
J. C. Walker wrote:--"Chess is not now (1790) a common
game in Ireland; it is played at and understood by very few;
yet it was a favourite game among the early Irish, and the
amusement of the chiefs in their camps.
© 101ChessTips.com. All Rights Reserved.
