Scachs d’amor: The poem that first portrayed the modern rules of chess

By Sergio Negri

A poem written in Valencian by Francesc de Castellví, Bernat Fenollar and Narcís de Vinyoles was the first literary work to describe a game with the modern rules — the queen could move multiple squares in all directions and the scope of the bishops widened importantly.

| Image: A chessboard illustrated in Jacobus de Cessolis’ «De ludo scachorum».

Part 1: Introduction

In Hobra intitulada scachs d’amor feta per don Franci de Castellvi e Narcis Vinyoles e Mossen Fenollar, frequently abbreviated as Scachs d’amor, a chess game with the modern rules is portrayed in the Western world for the first time in history.

The poem is written in Valencian, and was discovered as a thirteen-page codex at the chapel of the Palau de Barcelona in 1905 by Ignacio Casanovas (1872-1936), a Spanish philosopher. The original was later lost, but a photograph of the text has been kept at the Biblioteca Cataluña in Barcelona.

It is not completely certain when it was written. Firstly, it was thought to be composed in 1497, although new research points to 1475 as the correct date of its composition — this date was proposed, with his argument base, by José Antonio Garzón Roger (b. 1963), a Spanish researcher. However, there are opinions to the contrary with what is an aspect as crucial as it is still pending final determination.

But this question, so important in itself, since it could mark an order of precedence in terms of texts that contemplate the appearance of the rules of modern chess in comparative vision, is far from settled. Without going any further, for example, his compatriot José Luis González Sanz, in a 2006 work with a strongly critical tone entitled The Endless Story, disagrees on the point and, alluding to those who support that hypothesis, ends by assuring:

«At this point and in absolute need of some evidence that in some way affects the hypothesis of Queen Elizabeth, the authors believe they have found an «irrefutable proof» through the interpretation that they themselves make of a stanza, as metaphorical as the others , of course. This makes them date the manuscript to the year that suits them, namely 1475, for no other reason, avoiding explaining and therefore resolving many of the questions that this would raise…».

The also Spanish Ricardo Calvo Minguez (1943-2002), a renowned scholar of the poem, in 1999 presented The poem Scachs d’amor (15th century), the first preserved text on modern chess (Madrid: Editorial Jaque XXI), which in its time It was quite a revelation. More recently, there is another book on the subject, which is due to the Dutch (based in Spain) Govert Westerveld (born 1948).

Scachs d’amor was composed by Francesc (Franci) de Castellví y Vic (c. 1435- 1506), Narcis de Vinyoles (c. 1442-1517) and Mossén (Bernat de) Fenollar (1438-1516), three well-known Valencian public figures. Castellví was an advisor in the court of King Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516); Vinyoles was married to Brianda de Santángel, niece of the banker Luis de Santángel who financed the voyage of Christopher Columbus; Fenollar was an abbot at the Valencian Cathedral and used to host poetic gatherings with notorious public figures from his community.

We can interpret that the roles of the noblemen in the game corresponded to a certain extent with their roles in real life. Castellví was a well-known chess player, so it makes sense for him to win the contest; Vinyoles was an influential lawyer and poet, so he was probably the one writing most of the verses in the poem; and Fenollar was an abbot and a kapellmeister in the court of king Ferdinand, so he met the requirements to serve as arbiter, one that would do his job rigorously and with utmost fairness.

The late 15th century was very important for chess not only due to this poem, as the royal game was also portrayed in other literary works. In Italy, Luca Pacioli (1447-1517) published Ludo scacchorum, which includes illustrations that might have been designed or perhaps even drawn by Leonardo da Vinci; in the Spanish kingdom, meanwhile, two texts that served as cornerstones for the spreading of chess appeared: Llibre dels jochs partits dels schacs en nombre de 100 by Francesch Vicent (c. 1479-1523), published in Valencia in 1495 and now sadly lost, and Repetición de amores y arte de ajedrez by Luis Ramírez de Lucena (c-1465-1530), published in Salamanca in 1497.

These three texts and Scachs d’amor all portray chess with its modern rules (Pacioli’s Ludo scacchorum includes games that follow the rules used in the past as well), if we adhere to three criteria:

The inclusion of the queen instead of the exotic vizier, which was present in the previous Eastern prototypes.
The empowerment of the queen, which went from moving one square diagonally to moving as many squares as it could vertically, horizontally and diagonally.
The more dynamic role of the bishop, which used to move two squares diagonally skipping the one in between and now moved diagonally as many squares as it could.

In Scachs d’amor castling is not yet a possibility. However, the en passant rule and the demand to let the opponent know his or her king is being checked are already included.

The title of the text (Chess of Love) is somewhat suggestive yet ambiguous. If we consider the fact that the game was played between two noblemen, Franci de Castellví and Narcis Vinyoles (Mossen Fonellar was the arbiter), the title might be hinting at some sort of homoerotic tension, which would not have been welcomed at all during the Inquisition era.

Instead, we should relativize the interpretation and consider that maybe the «love» in the title is directed to the act of playing chess, as it arouses devotion from those playing the game, no matter their genre. Or, even better, as the chess players were merely actors representing Mars and Venus — under the supervision of Mercury — the act of love might signify a conflict between the god of war, sexuality and virility and the goddess of love, fertility and beauty.

It is also noteworthy that the contenders were identified with the colours red and green, which correspond perfectly with the colours of the celestial bodies they represent — Mars and Venus respectively.

As Mercury is also present, we notice that all the planets closest to the Sun are taking part. The Earth is also depicted, as the place where the game takes place. In fact, the confrontation is set up when Mars, which represents Love in the poem, and Venus, which represents Glory, meet in a temple, a place that is associated with the firmament. Mercury is also present in the meeting.

One of the main reasons why it is considered that this poem was conceived in 1475 lies in the fact that on May 30 of that year there would have been an astral conjunction from which it could be seen from Earth to the three planets: Mercury; Mars and Venus (on this point there is a finding that calls into question this statement based on the study carried out by the renowned astrologer Silvia Méndez, one of the editors of the site AJEDREZ LATITUD SUR, which is reproduced at the end of this document ).

That year, additionally, there were several astronomical episodes that could have influenced the authors: on April 5, a total eclipse was recorded by which the sun was hidden for 2 minutes and 8 seconds; and on September 30 there was a partial solar eclipse. Apparently, as Scachs d’amor is well responsible for reflecting, it was a time to pay close attention to the heavens…

The poem exhibits several precise elements that connect it with the chess universe:

1. It consists of sixty-four chained verses (which follow the ABAB /BAB/CC metric rhyme), the same number of squares on a chess board.

2. The story begins thus, giving the poem its name: «Trobant se Març ab Venus en un temple, / ensemps tenint Marcuri (en) sa presencia, / ordi hun joch de scachs, ab nou exemple: (…)«

As Mars met Venus in a temple,

While having Mercury in their presence,

He devised a game of chess, with new example:

The expression «with new example» is key, as it gives a clear indication that this is the modern form of the game and, in that sense — adding the details that we will mention below — the poem can be considered to be a work that outlines the rules of chess.

3. It is noteworthy that colouring the squares is presented as a novelty. And in fact it was! In the Eastern versions, the squares were single-coloured — they were usually white. In the poem:

Mercury, always ready in his ways,
Painted the board with hues clear and dark:
And made it Time, split into days and nights,
A box to bring the first enclosures.

4. The idea of the squares being associated with time («pintà•l ‘taulell de sorts clares y escures» and «partis per nits y diez«, in the original), is in line with the famous quatrains of the Persian Omar Khayyám (1048-1131), who wrote in his Rubáiyát: “

But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays
Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days;

[Translation by Edward FitzGerald (5^th edition, 1889)]. Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) invokes the work of the Persian in one of his sonnets:

The player also is a prisoner
(The saying is Omar’s) of another board
Of black nights and of white days.

[Image: Narcis de Vinyoles]

5. Each piece is given specific characteristics. Red pieces were described thus:

Taking Reason as King without preeminence;
Will for Queen, with great potency;
Thoughts he deems for his Bishops;
His Knights, praises of sweet eloquence;
Rooks are desires to flare up one’s memory;
Pawns are servers striving to Victory.

Bishops, who are associated with Thoughts, were usually representations of wise, old men, who gave advice to the monarch.

6. Green pieces, on the other hand, were depicted as follows:

Desired for her Rooks cautious reserve;
For Knights, disdains of deserved return;
Her Bishops, glances of delightful sight;
For her Lady she took most pleasing beauty;
And her King, following the tale of love,
Was Honor, his life ever in danger;
For faithful Pawns he took courtesy,
All armed and clad with ostentation.

7. The queen’s mobility is expanded «ab gran potencia» («with great potency), as you can witness in the game presented below.

8. As we could imagine, fairly classical ideas of medieval moral values are followed. Reason and honour are attributed to the king; to the queen, the most feminine virtues of will and beauty; in the case of the rooks, the gift of desires contrasts with the representation of shame; a kind of contradiction occurs in the case of the knight, between praise and disdain; bishops are attributed, for both the red and green pieces, positive qualities: thoughts and delightful sight; while the humble pawns are relegated in the social hierarchy, as can be expected within the framework of the rigid courts, considering them as mere servants — although they seem to be vindicated by being associated with courtesy (which should, of course, be given to their masters) and by being given the chance to be promoted.

9. The knights are given a place of nobility, when the author says:

For a Knight, mostly one of noble breed,Should not wish to stain an honest fame.

10. In addition to clarifying the way in which the pieces move, some regulations that continue to this day are mentioned, like the touch-move rule («Diu que lo tocat se hagia de jugar»).

The first rule you must abide by
Is, in this game, that a piece once touched
Firmly, admitting neither debate nor confront,
By any player, true, must be played.

The rule is then justified by making a parallelism with life itself:

It falls to reason: for a lover’s thoughts
Having chosen, cannot freedom afford
Or doubt, but take full submission.
Thus the saying: “Courage and folly
In every move, as once done, done it is!”

[Image: Bernat Fenollar]

11. The game begins with the king’s pawn moving two steps ahead:

He moved towards the field of the beautiful
The most valiant Pawn in conquest:
He moved two paces towards her.
By this move the King discovers Reason
And opens the road of Will.

So, while the monarch may become unprotected, the queen is allowed to show her strength, and the fight begins….

12. The previous mention clearly denotes that the game begins — according to the prevailing chess notation — with e4 (P4K, in descriptive notation). And so it will be from then on: each stanza is easily associated with a specific move, so we can follow the sequence of the game, in which the red pieces will end up clearly imposing their strength over their green counterparts.

13. Three paths to victory are mentioned. Some are not in use nowadays, as the «mat offegat» (stalemate), which later would not lead to defeat but to a draw, and the «mat robat«, when the king is left alone, with no piece of his army left over the board (this is not enough to win a game in modern times). The prevalent «mat comú» is also mentioned, which happens when the king cannot move to any square and none of his pieces can help him (while being threatened at the same time, i.e. the classic checkmate).

14. Another rule that might seem strange to us, which the arbiter Fenollar points out, is that the empowered queen cannot capture her colleague and that catching her counterpart loses the game. It is prescribed that the queen must be at the service of the king since:

If Will won’t placate Reason,
It stands to sense that the captured be felled.

15. As for the king, the so-called «leap of joy» is considered, as the following passage shows:

The next decree for this our game
Is that Kings to their third house,
At first shot, keeping within measure,
May jump in total freedom;

In an older form of chess, šatranj, the piece known as fers was allowed a similar jump — it could move three squares backwards when it was the product of a sarbaz (pawn) promotion.

16. In some medieval versions of chess — and despite the fact that when exposed it was in a very dangerous position — the king was given the ability to jump. Ruy López de Segura (c.1530-1590) mentioned this possibility in his Libro de la invención liberal y arte del juego del ajedrez, published in Alcalá de Henares in 1561: «…the first time you can jump three houses through the path you wish finding the path cleared; and this neither above a piece, or a pawn, own or else’s, as long as it is not to capture the opposite: because the King cannot jump and seize…» [Own translation].

17. This «king’s leap», in any case, can be considered to be a predecessor to castling. In this sense, this leap served as a model to the modern manoeuvre, since it can only take place under three conditions: a) that the king cannot capture any piece in the jump; b) that the king cannot jump over other pieces; and c) that the jump cannot be made when the king is in check.

18. As often happens, the intricacies of the game offer poets a chance to give lessons or moral advice, such as the following:

The enterprising one, to get his way / will not be stopped by turns or thrusts.
One who takes action must look, to learn, / to not being hit by the aims he’s taken.
So the one in love, when inflamed by passion, / should not attempt to damage the goods of honor; / and, if he dared do so, as she flees, his plan is broken.
By its nature fire is always burning, / but water will make it dance back to measure.
Thus showing the world that in meting punishment or revenge / they must blend mercy with wrath, / and not overflow their understanding; / for, if they are great with their wings of potency, / greater they’ll be by using clemency.
Conformity is the most certain bet / as among lovers it feeds their friendship.
For a discreet flight is better / than to fall prisoner because of rash concerns.
…disaster never follows / one who can sense the scent.
We are all equal, in death and birth: / so equal musty our fearing be.
The winner, in winning, watches his shot / for often the foe, in turning, overcomes.
One who would force a victory will only find defeat.

…among others.

The game lasted 21 moves, with De Castellví checkmating Vinyoles while marshalling the red (white) pieces. The complete poem translated to English can be found here

The existence of this poem, and its disputed and debatable dating, that of 1475 are taken as proof that the expansion of the queen’s mobility is related to the reign of Isabella I of Castile (1451-1504). In 1474, she was anointed as sovereign of Castile and, when she married Ferdinand II of Aragon years later, she became a powerful figure, with vast worldwide significance.

This thesis is certainly very persuasive, as it takes into account the strength that the still-to-come Kingdom of Spain would eventually gain. Moreover, we must admit that Isabella played a role in making the expanded movement of the chess queen socially and culturally acceptable. However, she did not do it by herself, as we will clarify by referencing to other historical events from the time. In other territories, foreign to the Iberian Peninsula, previous literary mentions to a piece with a female face prove this point.

The existence, in what would later become Italy, of Pacioli’s [pictured] Ludo scacchorum — contemporary to the works of Vicent and Lucena (posterior to Scachs d’amor) — prompts us to think that the modern rules of chess might have been the product of a process that occurred in relative simultaneity in various territories. And, by pointing this out, we do not mean to lessen the worthiness of the Valencian School which, without a doubt, had a powerful impact insofar it transmitted the innovations made to the rules of chess in written form.

What must be completely ruled out is the theory that the queen in chess appeared due to Isabella I of Castile, as it has been defended with more enthusiasm than proof. Many previous references to the piece were made in Medieval Literature, beginning with Versus de scachis, a Latin poem from the late 10^th century, where a Regina is mentioned. The text was conceived in a monastery of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in a territory that nowadays belongs to Switzerland.

Similar mentions were made in other works. In England, De scaccis by Alexander Neckam (1157-1217) and the Winchester Poem — both from the 12^th century — are two examples. In France, in Les Miracles de Nostre Dame by Gautier de Coincy (1178-1236) and in the poem De vetula, once attributed to Ovid but actually written by Richard de Fournival (1201-1260). In Germany, Hugo von Trimberg (c. 1230-1313) compared life to chess in Der Renner, noting that God is «playing a silly game with us».

We should not lose sight of the contribution of Jacobus de Cessolis (c. 1250-1322), a Lombard settled in Genoa who wrote the book that served as the biggest tool for the propagation of the game during the Middle Ages, Liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium super ludo scacchorum (‘Book of the customs of men and the duties of nobles or the Book of Chess’). A large section of this work is entirely dedicated to the queen.

Back to Scachs d’amor

Returning to Scachs d’amor, which is what this is about, the poem exhibits several merits. Firstly, the Valencian poem is of a moving beauty, both in its conception and in its execution. Secondly, it presented the modern rules of chess. And, finally, it is completely indisputable, at least in the current state of investigation, that the game that it portrays represents the first complete transcript of an encounter that followed the chess regulations which would become the norm since the 15^th century of the Christian era.

Given the geographical location of this poem and that of Vicent’s text (which emerged in the same region but perhaps a little later), it is entirely plausible to conclude that, just as chess was born somewhere in the East — in a place and time indeterminate, with the undoubted contribution of India and, almost certainly, with the influence of games coming from China and, perhaps, the Hellenic culture — and then underwent a process of dissemination in which, in addition to the Italic and Iberian Peninsulas, Persian, Arabic and Byzantine cultures advanced the game of chess, the so-called «Valencian School» made valuable contributions to the modernization of the royal game.

Therefore, Scachs d’amor is a clear, irrefutable and perhaps pioneering proof of the Hispanic contribution to the definitive delineation and universalization of chess.

An astrological clarification

It was stated:

One of the main reasons for which this poem is considered to have been conceived in 1475 has to do with the fact that on the 30^th of May of said year an astral conjunction made the three planets — Mars, Venus and Mercury — visible from the Earth.

Silvia Méndez, a certified astrologer since 1989 and a personal friend, analysed this claim. She concluded that the conjunction of the three planets (Mercury, Mars and Venus) was only verified on April 3^rd, 1475, and that this phenomenon could be seen from the Northern Hemisphere.

Likely, this discrepancy with the date found in other sources has to do with the fact that in that century the Julian Calendar was still in use (Julius Caesar adopted it in 46 BC). This calendar was only modified in the 16^th century by Pope Gregory XIII (1502-1585). The difference between the two is approximately ten days.

As for the astronomical precision, we should take into account that Scachs d’amor does not have a definite publication date, and that giving 1475 as the year of its conception is still a subject of speculation.

In any case, given this divergence, we should, preferably, interpret the reference to the date it was conceived in a metaphorical sense.

References

Gómez Redondo, F. (2014, February 10). Scachs d’amor. El ajedrez y la literatura (20). Centro Virtual Cervantes.

Gómez Redondo, F. (2014, February 10). Lances de amor y de ventura. El ajedrez y la literatura (21). Centro Virtual Cervantes.

Gude, A. (2017, January 22). El poema «Scachs D’Amor».

López de Segura, R. (1561). Libro de la invención liberal y arte del juego del ajedrez. Casa de Andrés de Angulo, Alcalá de Henares (España).

Ferrando, A. (1978). Narcís Vinyoles i la seua obra. Universitat de Valencia.

Negri, Sergio (2021/2022)

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