Check mates: analysis of medieval chess sets reveal vision of equality and mutual respect
On the chessboard, black and white pieces are lined up against each other for an unrelenting battle. But in the middle ages, the game was not a metaphor for racial tension – but often a vehicle for equality and mutual respect, research has found. Analysis of medieval manuscripts, paintings and chess sets by University of Cambridge historian Dr Krisztina Ilko has revealed a vision of a “just world” where intellectual exchange – and not race or religion – mattered most. Libro de axedrez, an illustrated 13th-century treatise on chess produced for King Alfonso X of Castile, features dozens of depictions of players from Africa, the Middle East and Asia that defy preconceptions of medieval social attitudes. In one scene, a Black player is depicted on a finely decorated bench, a bottle of wine close at hand, about to defeat his white opponent in a friendly game. In another image, one of four Mongol men – often depicted as violent warriors in the medieval imagination – leans casually on his sabre, his weapon more ornament than threat, with combat confined to the checkered board. A Muslim and a Jewish player sit down to a game in another scene from Libro de axedrez, just one text that reveals that while political conflict, religious differences and medieval notions of race were a fact of life, chess offered a way of bridging divides.
In her paper, Ilko writes that rather than projecting “some sort of fictitious image of an egalitarian medieval society which could put aside racial prejudices”, chess was “an imaginary space that did not eradicate preconceived social norms and hierarchies but rather empowered players to challenge them”. Ilko said: “When people with non-white skin colour are depicted in medieval images, scholars have tended to see them in either exalted or subdued positions. Chess reveals a different, more complex story. “Chess operated on a different plane where people could engage with each other as equals, irrespective of their skin colour. What mattered was ‘who’s smarter?’, ‘who can win?’, not ‘who’s more powerful or socially superior?’” Ilko’s study Chess and Race in the Global Middle Ages, published in American medieval studies journal, Speculum, has been awarded the Medieval Academy of America’s Article Prize in Critical Race Studies. “Medieval sources repeatedly state that chess is war without bloodshed, and that it represents a just world,” said Ilko, a medieval historian from Queens’ College, Cambridge. “Chess became a representation of the known world, the people in it and how society should function through orderly moves. Chess was a powerful vehicle for people hailing from widely different places to interact with each other. It was an intellectual exchange.”
Ilko points out how King Alfonso’s court eagerly acquired and translated Islamic knowledge. Of 103 chess problems depicted in his treatise, 88 follow the Muslim playing style. Ilko says other depictions of chess in medieval works – from a late 14th century altarpiece from the demolished church of San Nicolás in Portopí, Mallorca, to illustrated versions of Persian epic the Shahnama, challenge “value systems that privileged whiteness,” by depicting royalty and intellectuals with darker skin. Chess is believed to derive from Chaturanga, a board game played in 7th century India, whose pieces were inspired by sections of the Indian army – infantry, cavalry, chariots, and elephants. But as chess-style strategy games spread across different civilisations, pieces took on human features. “Chess boards immediately had two contrasting colours and the opposing chess pieces were also differentiated through colour,” Ilko said. “This allowed medieval people to project ideas of skin colour and race on to the game. “Chess was a game of war, which prompted not only an occasion for social interaction but also an active and competitive challenge between two players who each had an equal opportunity to win, regardless of status, wealth, or skin colour. “So much has changed since the middle ages but chess is more global than ever. Chess reveals a more diverse and fun middle ages.”
