By Sergio Ernesto Negri
Note published in Spanish in the magazine JotDown Sport (September 13, 2023), in the following link: https://sport.jotdown.es/2023/09/13/el-origen-de-la-reina-en-el-ajedrez-que-no-es-espanol-sino-de-todos/ (translated into English by the author)
«Queens are better than kings, because under kings women govern, but under queens, men»
(John Stuart Mill)
National Museum of Scotland (Photo: Cordon Press)
There are two fundamental historical questions about ancient chess. One is in trying to determine its origin; the other lies in unraveling the moment when the late appearance of the queen’s piece occurred, which, in its further evolution in terms of its movement on the board, will give way to the appearance of modern chess.
Paraphrasing Simone de Beauvoir, for whom «One is not born, but becomes a woman», we could say that chess is not born with the queen’s piece anymore, but only from her presence, the game will become so. At least in its final version. Revolutionizing it.
Hanna Arendt said: «Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it». Following this postulate, let’s talk, then, about how, since when, and under what characteristics, this late appearance of the queen’s piece was verified in an activity that for so long had ignored it, a mirror reflection of other broader realities in which they were also excluded or postponed in their claims.
In search of precision, of course, we will try to move away from reductionist views, often tinged with localisms with which it is intended to attribute to a people, a figure, or a location, all the merit of an event that, in any case, occurred successively in different places.
It is not a question of forcing the facts, only trying to describe them and put them in context, knowing that we are in the presence of a phenomenon that, due to its complexity and relevance, ascribes to a cultural process of the successive tract, and not to specific acts of creation due to a univocal and providential force.
That happened with the origin of a chess that has clear signs of having arisen by concurrent civilizational contributions, within the framework of a cultural syncretism that was verified in the East at some point of the Silk Road. And, anticipating the conclusions of this work, the same happened with the appearance, in the intrinsic design of the game, of a piece with a woman’s face .
The first question we could ask ourselves is why it was not taken into account in the original prototypes. Probably, beyond the patriarchal tendencies of many societies, before, now, and after, and not only in those where the pastime could arise or first evolve (India, Persia, China, and the Arab world), everything has had to do simply by the association of chess with battle. As women did not participate in the armed actions, to be reliable, it should not have a female piece in its design.
In Christian Europe, the game was adapted assigning a general aspect that, without forgetting its primitive association with the war, now became a better social metaphor so that the pieces were adapted in their name and configuration to the new cultural signs (https://sport.jotdown.es/2023/08/11/las-piezas-de-ajedrez-y-su-evolucion-en-el-tiempo/).
The tower, for example, will replace the chariot or ship; the bishop to the elephant, and, being so, the vizier was the most exotic figure, so it could well be eliminated leaving the space to another that was closer. And what better than that place to be occupied by one with a female face following the current cultural and political model in which the queens in the courts accompanied, if not replaced, the imperturbable kings?
We have said it many times. Chess is not only part of the culture, it also reflects it. In Europe in the middle Ages, it was a perfect image of society and, for that to happen; the queen had to break in. From that omission of the Eastern past, we pass without a stop to a necessity that the present demands. The vizier, then, will disappear, to give way for the majestic queen.
At first, the new piece inherited the restricted movement of the one it replaced (only one-step diagonally) but, over time, it will have to be empowered (it will move like a rook and bishop), giving them the appearance of modern chess. But, as we shall see, a long time elapsed between one phenomenon and another.
It could then be said that the queen’s piece took about five centuries to appear and as many to assume its definitive power. In any case, the queen’s piece is a contribution of Christian Europe that occurred only from the second millennium, giving the old chess definitive cultural format.
What was the first time the queen’s piece was mentioned in medieval literature?
The first written record that mentioned chess on the European continent corresponds to a poem in Latin entitled «Versus de Scachis» («Poem of Einsiedeln») which, although it does not have exact dating, can be placed at the end of the tenth century. The one that was found in two manuscripts (codices 319 and 365), of an anonymous author (most probably a monk), in whose verses the existence of the queen’s piece (regina) in chess is already contemplated.
Einsiedeln Abbey, Switzerland (Photo: Kecko/Wikipedia/CC)
We are located in the heart of the Holy Roman Empire, in a location that currently belongs to Switzerland (canton of Schwytz). As chess had entered Europe by the boundaries (Byzantium, Spain, and Italy; and following the course of the Volga River), that we are in such a central place of the continent speaks clearly that by the beginning of the second millennium, the game was already widespread.
Nor is it surprising that we are in the presence of a site that constitutes a crossroads. Just as chess was born on the Silk Road, the queen’s piece appears at another point of cultural confluence. It is that this European location belonged to the Christian pilgrimage route to and from Italy, having as a point of reference the old German diocese of Constance and as its final destination Rome.
The main specific mentions made in these manuscripts of the novel female piece are the following: «In quorum medio rex et regina locantur» and «Nam sic concordant: obliquo tramite, desit Ut si regina, hic quod et illa queat», that is, pointing out that «the king and queen are placed in the middle equal in appearance but not in scope». The scope refers to the fact that, as said, the queen moves one-step diagonally (like the vizier), while the king does one in any possible direction.
The text also provides that, when the pawn reaches the eighth rank, only if the original queen had previously been lost, can take the place of this at the time of a move that, from this moment, may well be designated, as it will be consecrated later, of «queening».
Fragment of Codex 319, Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 319-645 (Photo: e-codices.ch)
Following the historical track, the American writer Marilyn Yalom (1932-2019) concluded that the incorporation of this female figure constitutes a tribute to Adelaide of Italy (931-999) and/or to the Byzantine Theophane Skleraina (960-991), respective wives of the emperors Otto I (912-973) and Otto II (955-983), all protectors of the Monastery of the Benedictine order.
Statue of Adelaide of Italy, in Seltz, France (Photo: Ralph Hammann – Wikimedia Commons)
Ivory relief depicting Otto II and Theophane/Theophany crowned by Christ (Cluny Museum, Paris, France)
However, in addition to this first mention, the process of acceptance of the female piece should be consolidated. Its progressive acceptance in various geographies had much to do with the recognition and visibility of notable female exponents in the courts, particularly that of perhaps the most powerful of them of medieval times, Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204), who was the queen of France and England (as well as cultural patron and amateur of the game).
In addition, the spread of Marian worship in the late Middle Ages (particularly in France) and the appreciation of other relevant women such as Joan of Arc (c. 1412-1431) greatly influenced. The presence of the woman made itself felt. Now from inside and for some time off the board. Even on spiritual planes, such is the case of Mary who was seen as the Queen of Heaven and, in that character, the epitome of the queen’s piece in chess.
The Queen’s Piece Invoked Early in European Literature
To this first known mention of the queen’s piece in «Versus de Scachis» can be added others, from different points of the European continent, accounting for an increasingly widespread acceptance.
Later, these expressions of culture will be taken to the form of books, thanks to the invention of printing, which will ensure a greater circulation of knowledge and, in this case, the dissemination of the practice of play, of course preferably in the educated classes of the time, who could access these sources and who had space for leisure.
However, it is worth clarifying the analytical scope of these sources. For now, we should not fail to consider that we are in the presence of testimonies in which the author in any case records a reality, but does not consecrete it. We could see them as copyists, attentive observers of what was happening, and/or compilers, but not as demiurges. That a Benedictine monk records the appearance of the queen’s piece does not imply that he is the generator of that finding.
Moreover, knowing that we are resorting to writings of the middle Ages, we should not ignore that at that time only the events of greatest relevance to the church, the nobility, or the rulers could be quickly recorded by professional scribes. In the rest of the situations, and the concept applies of course to chess, the written reproduction of a phenomenon of reality should inexorably wait.
From this, it follows that a record located in a time surely corresponds to a previous fact and that, being located in a place, does not necessarily exclude other possible territorial sources.
Consequently, following the example, that the piece of the queen is mentioned for the first time in Einsiedeln at the end of the tenth century, does not lead to the conclusion that this was the site and the chronological moment of its appearance. It could have been another place and, surely, well before the time of his first presence. In any case, we must never ignore that these civilizational and cultural issues must be understood as a process.
This relativization, which applies to «Versus de Scachis», is applicable, we go ahead to say, for everything that has to do with the much later consecration of modern chess and its link with Isabella the Catholic (1451-1504) with the empowerment of the piece. When this is said, it cannot fail to be stated that the Spanish monarch had nothing to do with the appearance of the queen’s piece, even though this anachronistic and erroneous hypothesis has been wielded.
Following the chronology, after that mention of the queen’s piece, which in the absence of any evidence to the contrary must be considered foundational; others will follow in various European geographies, giving a sign of an increasingly widespread acceptance of the game with the incorporation of a female piece.
For the English researcher Harold Murray (1868-1955) the texts in which chess was invoked in the middle Ages were of three types: didactic; moralizing, and gambling problems. Among the first, we have «De naturis rerum et in Ecclesiasten», a philosophical work that was placed for the year 1180, by the Englishman Alexander Neckam (1157-1217), which includes a chapter (the CLXXXIV) entitled «De scaccis».
There, the rules of the hobby are described including the movements of all the pieces. When speaking of that of the queen (reginae), its oblique way of proceeding is consecrated: «Reginaegeminatcursum, gressumobliquans, tanquaminsidiator» («Fold the course of the queen, turning the step, like an ambush»).
Neckam, deeply Catholic, in the context of the prevailing values of the time, gave space to moral debates linked to the coronation of the pawn. It is that in that act a situation of bigamy (also of polygamy) could be generated, in addition to an evident transsexualization from its masculine origin. For the former, it was solved by denoting the pawn crowned with the mythological name of iphis (in line with a game believed to have been invented by the Greek Ulysses); for the other, «sed sexus privilegio destituividetur» was expressly clarified, so it was prescribed to abandon the privilege of sex.
Alexander Neckam´s De naturisrerum
Settled on an island that since the eleventh century had fallen under Norman influence, we have from the middle of the twelfth century the so-called «Poem of Winchester» («De Shahiludio: Poema tempore Saxonumexaratum») consisting of thirty-six lines written in Latin, where the regina is mentioned as a piece, placing it at the beginning to the right of the king (rex). To avoid the question of the multiplicity of royal consorts the crowned pawn is called ferzia, a name phonetically linked to the Persian farzin or the Arabic firzān with which the vizier was called in the oriental versions.
This presence of the queen’s piece in England is consistent with the Norman influence, a people who will take chess on their excursions of dominance through other geographies, including distant Sicily. We will see this reflected in how a piece with a woman’s face could be carved in very early times in the southern portion of Italy, so that the model with the piece of the queen could be extended, gradually, from one point to another on the continent.
From the twelfth century (or even earlier), corresponding to a geography and an undetermined author, there is a Latin text called «Elegia (‘Quicupit’) de Ludo Scachorum» (almost homonymous with the later work of Luca Pacioli), of which there are several manuscripts, where the female figure is also mentioned.
Murray knew of the existence of several of these, but he probably relied on MS Digby 53 which is in Oxford (others are located in Munich, Wolfenbüttel, Reims, Naples, and Florence), in which the king and his spouse are spoken of in these terms: «Rex manet incaptus, subtracta coniuge solus, / Coniuge subtracta, nil ualet in tabula» («The king remains uncaptured / his wife instead can be. / If that happens, nothing has value on the chessboard.»)
Elegia de Ludo Scachorum, manuscript: MS Clm 14836, MS Mun. Emeram K 6
From this paragraph arises a poignant idea: the queen can be eliminated, but, if this were to happen, desolation would invade the space as a whole. Thanks to the poet, we understand something that is not always noticed: the introduction of the female piece can lead, as another side, to the possibility of its loss. The woman is in her sacrificial dimension, unlike a king who can be cornered (checkmate), although never captured.
For its part, regarding the crowning of a queen pawn, the poem tells: «Et si quando datur tabule sibi tangere summa, / Regine solitum preripit officium. / Vir factus mulier regi ferus arbiter heret, / Imperat et regnat, hinc capit, inde labat» («And if ever {a pawn} reaches the end of the chessboard, / takes for himself the usual duties of the queen, / The man-made woman, as a fierce arbiter stands close to the king, / Mandates and rules, here he seizes, where he produces»). «Man-made woman», is an epochal definition for a figure that in its evolution ceases to be masculine.
The Queen’s piece is definitively consecrated when it is included in the influential «Ludus Scacchorum» by Iacoppo da Cessole
One of the most emblematic texts of the middle Ages referred to chess. It is the compilation of the sermons of the Dominican friar Iacoppo (Jacobo) da Cessole (1250-1322) in a manuscript entitled «Libellus de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium ac populum super ludo scacchorum» (abbreviated «Ludus scacchorum») that had much significance, to the point that it was the second book published in England, only behind the Bible, once the printing press arrived. It is of clear moralizing tone, returning with the reference to that classification given by Murray.
Ludus Scacchorum de Cessole in the book printed in 1474 by William Caxton in England
Its importance lies because chess in that context is seen as a model of medieval society, assuming each piece, including pawns, and social positions, is analyzed in their desirable and avoidable behaviors. On the other hand, the board was a representation of the mythical city of Babylon with communities arranged on both sides made up of the nobility (the main pieces) and the people (the pawns).
A chapter is dedicated to each piece, including one, and very detailed, to the queen, a clear guideline that its insertion in the game already by then (the original manuscript is from the early fourteenth century) was very widespread.
She is assigned (and this should be considered a novelty), an expanded mobility in the first move, at which time she can perform as a bishop (elder or judge, the respective piece is called here), that is, two squares diagonally, skipping the middle; or also as a tower, in an orthogonal sense, but only up to two squares. That is, in any case, it retains the original coloration (a detail, Cessole when explaining the movement of the pieces always assumes that he is describing the black and not the white ones).
This is possible, says the author, since the wisdom of the sovereign is similar to that of the elders, and her power is comparable to that of the towers. We see here a clear advance regarding the very restricted possibility of displacement of the vizier who had been replaced by the queen. Moreover, it is said that it will not move like horses, since the nature of these is fighting and warrior (typically manly energy).
That initial dynamism, is subsequently restricted, in the consideration that he should not go too far since, at home (at least for medieval society), he has greater freedom. For more, you should not sit at the gates of the gardens, avoid venturing through the streets, and do not forget about your woman manners.
It is assumed that the queen, like the king, fulfills honorific functions, and that «she has by grace what the king naturally has».
It is endowed with four virtues: that of behaving maturely way, with impeccable manners (modest and thoughtful, but not audacious); that of being pure and chaste (thus being the mirror in which the behaviors of other women are reflected); that of being reserved (speaking carefully and being able to keep secrets) and, as was expected for the middle Ages (with future repercussions), that of being occupied in educating children (in the way of virtue, good manners and purity).
The queen and the king at work in Cessole
The religious had in view the format of Lombard chess (those were times when the game did not have a single codification so its practices differed in the various geographies). As its place of performance was developed in the northern part of the Italian peninsula (he ended its days in Genoa) it must be inferred that, at least in those regions, by the end of the thirteenth century and the beginning of the fourteenth, in which these sermons were given, the introduction of the queen’s piece was quite consolidated.
Cessole’s text had multiple translations, for example, the one made by Jehan Ferrron and Jehan de Vignayltaking it into French in the mid-fourteenth century. There are some Italian and Dutch dialects, in anonymous versions, that appeared by that date and, only shortly after, another in German. The queen’s piece, then, will appear increasingly in all parts of the continent.
In the case of Spain, according to the researcher José Antonio Garzón Roger, there is a translation into Catalan, dated 1385, where the spelling regina is used (although in future versions the denomination of reyna will be additionally incorporated). It is with this incorporation that the first mention of the queen’s piece in that territory would have occurred, from a text outside the country, and not by one of its own.
It could be concluded that, by the fourteenth century, the piece of the queen already predominated in much of the European continent, with the only exception perhaps of Russia where this situation occurred later, in a process that was guaranteed, although it was already known from a previous time, thanks to the emblematic tsarina Catherine the Great (1729-1796).
Other mentions of the Queen’s piece in literary texts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
From a nineteenth-century find in Benediktbeuern, Bavaria (Germany), it was learned of the existence of «Carmina Burana» («Codex Buranus»), a collection of goliard songs of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that are an irreplaceable medieval cultural source. Within the extensive collection of poems, chess is mentioned.
As for the pieces, there is talk of the queen, who is given three denominations: femina, to allude to her first appearance; regina, when it arises because of the coronation of a pawn, and conjunx, when it is captured.
Although the feminine piece can be put into circulation of the game far from the point of origin, given her natural attachment to the king it is ensured that that situation generates for her husband the possibility of an irreparable loss, according to the look of the worried poet.
Carmina Burana
In the case of France, a very old reference to the piece of the queen is that made by the monk Gautier de Coincy (1177-1236) who, collecting old Marian legends, wrote in the thirteenth century a poem of about 30,000 verses, called «Les Miracles de Nostre Dame» («Miracles of the Holy Virgin») in which she is presented as Virgin.
In times of the rise of Marian worship, especially in that geography, there is a chess game between God and the Devil being the fierce Virgin (in original language too fierce), as well as the virgin (vierge). After all, it will be she who strikes the respective checkmate to the Evil, denoting her relevance and her ferocity in defending the values of God.
Because of how it is presented, and because of the outcome in which it plays such an important role, although it is not possible to affirm it for sure, it gives the impression that the piece can move more ambitiously concerning the conventional one at that time. The Virgin is distinguished from other fers (autres fierces), those who only assume the radius of action from one square to another.
Les Miracles de Nostre Dame
Remaining in Gallic territory, in this thirteenth century, we know another text of that origin in Latin, «De vetula» («The old lady»), which is believed to be due to the French philosopher and troubadour Richard de Fournival (1201-1260). In this work, when explaining the movement of the pieces, the queen emerges with her restricted oblique movement.
In England appears «Quaedam Moralitas de Scaccario» («Morality in chess»), attributed in its time to Pope Innocent III (1160-1216), although it is now assumed that its authorship corresponds to the Franciscan monk John of Wales (died 1285). This work, also of moralizing tone, in which it is prescribed that each person/piece must behave away from the world of sins, the queen is included.
It is claimed that any horizontal or vertical movement is virtuous, while an oblique one is immoral. Given that the queen moved diagonally, how should we interpret the essence attributed to her character given the etiology of her movement? More kindly and all-encompassingly, the work included the famous and beautiful sentence «The world is a chessboard» («Mundus iste totus quoddam Schacharium est»).
We have already seen that, at least for the first move, in some texts, including especially that of Cessole, an extended displacement of the queen’s piece was admitted, which makes an abrupt cut concerning the eastern vizier whom he came to replace. This possibility is also expressed in «Gesta Romanorum», a Latin writing of the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, of diffuse authorship and origin, and may come from England, Germany, or France. Because of his immense popularity, it contributed much to the continental spread of its vision of the game.
Here, when talking about the way of moving the chess pieces, it is described that the queen can access squares of both colors for the first time, which could be deduced that she no longer only moves diagonally as before. But the paragraph is neither conclusive nor clear since, later, some contradiction is noticed on that point.
Gesta Romanorum
The passage in question is as follows: «Quintus, qui in isto scacario ludit et nominatur, est regina, cujus progressus est de albo in nigrum, et ponitur juxta regem; et quando recedit a rege, capitur. Que cum mota fuerit de proprio quadro nigro, ubi primo fuit locata, non potest procedere, nisi a quadro in quadrum unum, et hoc angulariter, sive procedit, sive retrocedat, sive capiat, sive capiatur» («The fifth piece of the game is the queen; it moves from white to black and is located next to the king; and, when she moves away from him, she is captured.)
When it moves from the black square where it is at the beginning, it cannot do except from one frame to another and diagonally, whether it advances, backward, captures, or is threatened with being captured.
In «Gesta Romanorum», Jesus Christ (the King of Kings, both in Heaven and on Earth) assumes the figure of the king, while that of the queen corresponds to the Virgin Mary, who is defined by her characteristic and spirit of being merciful to all.
The Queen’s piece is ignored in the emblematic popular books of the middle Ages
In contrast to what has already been indicated, it must be said that, when reviewing the technical books, the third class of medieval texts on chess according to Murray’s classification, those that include problems and games, we warn that the queen’s piece is ignored, having to wait for those that emerged in the late fifteenth century for this to happen.
How could this divergence be interpreted? These kinds of texts, very scarce, by the way, in the case of the pioneers, were rather translations and adaptations, in some cases extensions, concerning bibliography that came from the East, in particular on problems (the recognizable arab´s mansubat).
As in this source, it was certainly the vizier who accompanied the kings, in the subsequent transcriptions made by European copyists opted to continue with the original model. On the other hand, poets, philosophers, intellectuals, and metaphysicians, did not have this kind of ties so, in Cessole, and in all the other works already referenced, one could speak unambiguously of the existence of a piece with a woman’s face, allowing to extend the scope of the metaphor.
Moreover, in this, we see no contradiction, despite what it might appear at first. Culturally, the queen’s piece progressively replaced the vizier, and so it would happen, not only in the literature that we could call non-specialized, but also in the designs of the pieces that were used (as we will see later). At the same time, at the technical or dissemination level, the vizier could continue to appear, with names that were progressively mutating, to get closer to what should inexorably happen: that the queen’s piece definitively broke into chess.
In this line of analysis, which is considered the first informative chess text that emerged in Europe, «Bonus Socius», which belongs to Boncompagno da Siena (c. 1165/1175-died after 1240), written in Latin, and the respective piece, is still called fercia, so the influence of the oriental vizier is present. This work was later translated into several Romance languages, in some of which, little by little, realizing the inevitable replacement, the respective piece will be referenced as queen.
In the western portion of the continent, Alfonso X of Castile, the Wise (1221-1284) offered the precious «Juegos diversos de Axedrez, dados, y tablas con sus explicaciones, ordenados por mandado del Rey don Alfonso el sabio» («Alfonso X’s Book of Games»). There he proceeded to codify the games of the time, among them chess, at no time is the existence of a piece of the queen alluded to.
Alfonso X’s Book of Games
It speaks instead of the alferza, that is, a name phonetically related to al-firzān, the Arab vizier (in Andalusian Arabic al-farza, and Catalan alfersa), a male figure that will allude to the bearer of the royal standard. Which is presented in the text as follows: «Ell alferza anda a una casa en sosquino, e esto es por aguardar al rey e no sen partir d´él…» (moving only one step).
Under these conditions, the restricted movement of this piece is clear, although, for the beginning, it is admitted that it can jump «“a tercera casa o en derecho o en sosquino, e aunque esté otro trebejo en medio…” (to a third house, included jumping another piece). In addition, when the pawn crowns, there is what is considered «alferzada», at which time the jump of two squares can be made, but then it could only march obliquely forward or backward, taking a single step.
The Queen’s piece in archaeological findings from the eleventh century
In addition to the literature, it is possible to inquire about the moment in which the piece of the queen broke into the game from the archaeological findings. While there are relatively sophisticated techniques to arrive at the most correct dating, it must be said that their use has not always been documented.
But, in all the cases that we will have to cite here, there are strong investigative inferences to maintain that we have chess pieces with female faces that correspond at least to the eleventh century and immediately subsequent period, which is perfectly consistent, by the geographies in which the objects were found, with the written records that we have already reviewed (and other concordant).
In the erroneously named «Charlemagne chess», which is exhibited in the Cabinet des Médailles of the National Library of France in Paris, there appears a female piece, sculpted in elephant ivory, which is from the eleventh century (and certainly not the eighth or ninth century in which the emperor ruled). It was most likely designed in the Italian city of Salerno (or in Amalfi), in Nordic style (remember the dominion of Vikings in the southern portion of Italy since the year 1076).
The queen’s piece (on the left, note the difference with that of the king next to her) in Charlemagne’s chess (S. XI), Cabinet des Médailles, Paris (France)
By the way, according to legend, Irene of Athens (c. 752-803) would have given it to the Gaul clarifying that the incorporation of the queen’s piece also had extended mobility, a synecdoche of the own weight that the empress reserved in case the betrothal with a Charlemagne were concretized. He, wisely, feeling threatened in his absolute power, refused the invitation.
To that same century would correspond another beautiful object, which represents the piece of the queen, exhibited in the National Museum of the Middle Ages or Cluny Museum in Paris, also made of ivory, which comes from the Cathedral of Reims, a walled city in prevention, precisely, of the Norman invasions. However, the iconography could not be Viking on this occasion, since a scene alluding to Jesus Christ is presented, so it could be ascribed to a Marian cult in vogue in the area.
Ivory piece (S. XI) in the Museum of Cluny, Paris, France
Although, at least by literary references, the piece of the queen appears in the Hispanic tradition somewhat late, a very interesting case of one would be able to correspond to that culture, which could be from the twelfth century. The piece is exhibited at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, USA.
It is of the Romanesque style, with Byzantine influences. Because of that, it is believed that it is of that origin attending to the headdress, which is the style of the Spanish queens and women of that time (a tight hood that surrounds the face, which is supported by a diadem). However, as it was built with walrus ivory, it has been argued that it could have an alternative, perhaps German, origin.
Piece of the Spanish queen? (twelfth century) at the Walters Museum of Art in Baltimore, USA
Many other cases could be listed showing that, at least at the ornamental level, the queen’s piece was present in chess games since the first centuries of the second millennium. Let’s give one more, that of another ivory, which would be from the twelfth century, which could allude to Matilda of Canossa (1016-1115), an influential woman from Tuscany, which is part of the Sculpture Collection of the State Museum of Berlin (Germany). However, it would not be native to the area, but would come from Salerno, ratifying the importance of the Viking connection.
Piece of the queen (S. XII) in the State Museum of Berlin, Germany
Faced with these isolated discoveries of pieces with a woman’s face, a spectacular and massive finding leaves no doubt about the full incorporation of the queen’s piece, at least in Nordic culture, since very pioneering times.
The reference is to the so-called pieces of Lewis, discovered in the nineteenth century, which correspond to a vast set of fourteen boards and ninety-three pieces (eighty-two are exhibited in the British Museum and eleven in the National Museum of Scotland; being seventy-eight in the form of statuettes and fourteen flat discs). They would be from the second half of the twelfth century. to the west of Scotland, in the homonymous Sea (arm of the Atlantic Ocean) and, again, was by then under Viking rule (it was between 1079 and 1266, belonging to the Kingdom of Mann).
The pieces, of Romanesque style, were made mostly of walrus ivory (probably from Greenland), being others of whale teeth, carved in Norway, in the city of Nidaros (now Trondheim) although, in some other hypothesis, the place of origin is located in Iceland.
In that set eight images correspond to the queen, who is portrayed enthroned in ornate chairs (similar to those used by kings), crowned in simple form, wearing a veil over her hair, which falls over her shoulders.
In all cases, she wears a tunic, with short sleeves underneath, wearing band-like ornaments on the wrists. The right hand, which rests on the cheek, in an expression that is considered surprise, is very emblematic, and recalls a drawing found in the ruins of a Norwegian palace in the aforementioned city of Nidaros, the capital of the kingdom.
Kings and Queens (bottom) and the astonished queen (top) from Lewis’ set of pieces
The Nordic connection is so powerful in its link with the queen’s piece that it invites us to wonder why the phenomenon of its rapid acceptance and diffusion in that culture could have occurred.
In principle, let’s say that it is not known for sure how chess entered these northern territories of the European continent. This could have happened in two logical ways, given the proximity: from Germany to Denmark (and then further north) or, complementarily, by a route starting in Russia, passing from there directly to what will be the Kingdom of Norway and the rest of Scandinavia.
It has also been speculated that it could have been the initial route of contact in Byzantium, given that in the ninth century there used to be Norwegian guards in a Byzantine world in which chess arrived as we know very early (probably from the seventh or eighth century).
The truth is that the powerful King Canute II (995-1035) of Denmark (he was also of England, Norway, and Sweden) is remembered as a chess fan. Although some understand that the pastime alluded to in the stories was hnefatfl, another board game that ended up being displaced in the Nordic world by chess.
What there is the absolute certainty of is how the Vikings (the Norse who were oriented overseas), within the framework of their conquests, will carry chess, emulating what the Muslims had done long before when they brought shatranj to Europe.
In this way, they contributed to its diffusion or were directly responsible for its entry, into territories so distant that they went from southern Italy to England, passing through Iceland, France, and the Netherlands. In all those cases, their boards and pieces included the queen’s piece.
Another question we can ask ourselves is why it could have been given that the recognition of the piece of the queen was so widespread in Nordic culture. We are in the presence of a society that, in many ways, was more egalitarian from the perspective of gender than other contemporary societies on the continent. Their women, for example, participated in battles without too much fuss (albeit in the context of the predominance of patriarchal values).
Perhaps, in that possibility, a woman could participate in war actions in the Viking world, and since the game was seen from its origins as an image of battle, the replacement of the eastern vizier by a piece with a female face could have been facilitated.
For more, for example, in Icelandic accounts, the most representative women tend to be strong, independent, and aggressive, as shown in “Heiðarvíga”, an ancient saga that would be from the eleventh century. A more present and empowered woman, then, deserved to appear in chess from which she was absent. The Nordics were perhaps the first to understand this. In addition, the main people in spreading it.
The Queen’s piece will have to be empowered with the technical texts that consecrate modern chess
It is a matter of analysis for another work the details of how the appearance of modern chess was given, a process that occurred since the end of the middle Ages, in the late fifteenth century, from the Spanish contribution, although also in Italy there are pioneering records on the point.
Jade Regner moves the Queen (Photo: Cordon Press)
Since one of the central characteristics of the new chess, which is inherited from the previous one (and from the prototypes, starting with the distant chaturanga and xiangqi, passing through chatrang and shatranj), is that the queen’s piece was endowed with greater mobility, many researchers ascribe this phenomenon to the figure of Isabel I of Castile. The powerful queen of the period was someone who, together with Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516), achieved the expulsion of the Muslim invaders consolidating the territorial integrity of a kingdom that would project itself as one of the main emerging powers.
In any case, the first texts where modern chess is recorded correspond to Spanish regions, starting with the poem «Scachs d’Amor», the first writing in which the queen’s piece is mentioned in its extended mobility (which also happened with the bishop). It is in the Valencian language, being its authors Francesc de Castellví y Vic (c. 1435-1506), Narcis de Vinyoles (c.1442-1517) and Mossén (Bernat de) Fenollar (1438-1516).
From its verses, we can represent a game, from end to end, where the queen moves majestically, far from her original house and assailing, in the case of the white pieces, the mate to the rival. The work is usually dated in the year 1475 although, this dating, is a matter of contrast, being in the presence in any case of a work corresponding to the last portion of the century.
It is interesting that here she is mentioned ambivalently in her character as strictly queen («reyna«) and lady («dama«), a concept that will only later occur in her evolution, particularly in the Latin world (in the poem for case in a verse is included that reads “Juga lo roch del rey en la casa de la dama”).
Leaving the poetic field, it will be in the Iberian Peninsula where the first popular texts of modern chess also emerged. One lost, which is from 1495, attributed to Francesch Vicent (1450-1512), also in Valencian language, entitled «Llibre dels jochs partits dels schacs en nombre de 100»; and another that has crossed the border of time, which is from 1497. Written by someone surnamed Lucena (c.1465-c.1530) published in Salamanca, under the name «Repeticion de Amores e Arte de Axedrez con CL iuegos de partido».
In both (in the first it is speculated, in the second it is known for sure), a piece of the queen definitively replacing the vizier is worn, and already with its displacement extended. This novelty, however, corresponds to a reference that exceeds the Iberian Peninsula given that Lucena at a certain point ensures that the openings he presents are the best he has seen play in Rome, the rest of Italy, France, and Spain.
Chinese Grandmaster Hou Yifan (Photo: Cordon Press)
In this country it is argued, most probably not without reason, that the empowerment of the queen had much to do with the influence of Isabella the Catholic, as has been reflected in many historical texts and even in fiction (as in the recent novel «El tablero de la reina» by Luis Zueco Giménez, 2023). But, as we said before, if there is any monarch to whom the appearance of the piece itself could be attributed, strictly speaking, the gaze should be directed to two, from another geography and from another time: Adelaide of Italy and Theophane Skleraina, the consorts of the emperors Otto I and Otto II.
From the less monarchical Italy, for about the same time that Queen Elizabeth exerted her great influence and that of the first written mentions of modern chess, comes another work in which the queen looks empowered. This happens in «De Ludo Scachorum» (or «Schifanoia») by Luca Pacioli (1447-1517).
It contains precious images attributed to the great Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), in which there are transcriptions of games of the previous form («old man’s chess», with the queen developing in a restricted way) and of the modern form («ajedrez a la rabiosa», that is to say «angry chess», alluding to the now considered crazy walk of the lady).
Under these conditions, and since the Modern Age with these contributions, and many others that would occur throughout Europe subsequently and consistently way, the queen’s piece would be installed in its definitive version, empowered and accommodating the definitive modern chess.
Today, no one remembers the former vizier anymore. Today, no one doubts that the queen is the most important piece of the game, considering her power, except a king who should never fall from grace. Today, the queen accompanies the king from the moment he undertakes the battle.
It could be believed that the expanded movement of the queen, when it was forged, reflected in her departure from home the possibility, not only of attributing more power but, better, of endowing her with the possibility of exploring new horizons, far from home, very much in line with a Modern Age that will be encouraged to explore other geographies.
A Modern Age that, from the arrival in America by the European conquerors, will begin to give the possibility of accommodating a world that had begun the first process of globalization. The world was expanding and becoming more fluid. Chess, was also empowered, and became more dynamic with its intrinsic chiaroscuro, those that so well reflect the contrast between black and white squares.
From that slow and rigid chess, prototypical expression of the middle Ages, we see how it has passed to this other design, much more dynamic, which was activated from a piece of the queen that could strongly leave its initial position, showing its acquired aggressiveness. In a clear parable of a world that from the modern Age will begin to extreme the limits of the given to try to conquer the distant (even in blood and fire).
The woman, then, only from the modern Age, and with the Western contribution, was integrated into the mythical game, of oriental roots, that which did not contemplate her. A piece of a woman that, when it appears, will revolutionize the practice of chess, allowing us to explore new horizons and assume renewed challenges as a game. In addition, above all, allowing completing, from a cultural perspective, a game that has always been and will be a mirror of reality, the quality of the metaphor. Under these conditions, chess could not and did not have the right to continue ignoring her.
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