Chess iconography

Huck

Title: Game and Playe of the Chesse
A Verbatim Reprint Of The First Edition, 1474
Author: Caxton
(First printed English variation of the "Liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium sive super ludo scacchorum ('Book of the customs of men and the duties of nobles or the Book of Chess')" by the Italian Dominican monk Jacobus de Cessolis circa 1300.

Cessolis' work was translated into many other languages (first printed edition at Utrecht in 1473) and was the basis for William Caxton's The Game and Playe of the Chesse (1474), one of the first books printed in English.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10672/10672-h/10672-h.htm

The text contains the original woodcuts of Caxtons edition

(The "player pawn" is the pawn of the rook at the Queen's side. One can regard him as the prototype of the Magician in the Tarot iconography.)

(The "farmer pawn" is the pawn of the rook at the King's side. One can regard him as the prototype of the Fool in the Tarot iconography.)

The woodcuts follow the iconographical tradition created by the earlier text of Cessolis.

The professions ("pawns") were arranged according their position.

Rook pawn (King's side) = Farmer (the rook was regarded as the king's representative "outside of the capital")
Knight pawn (King's side) = Smith (cause the knight needs iron work)
Bishop pawn (King's side) = Barber and Clothmaker
King pawn = Moneychanger, Banker and Merchant (cause the king needs money)
Queen pawn = Physician and Chemist (cause the Queen needs them for her health)
Bishops pawn (Queen's side) = Inn keeper
Knight pawn (Queen's side) = Keeper of the town (he needs the knights to protect the city)
Rook pawn (Queen's pawn) = Messenger and Player ("outside of the capital")

****

Note: Queen and Bishop (the figure was generally seen as advisor) were limited in their movements according the old rules. The Rook had already his far reaching moves ... according his function "outside of the capital".
 

gregory

ER - Huck - best find out how to link...! Gutenberg seems displeased.
 

cardlady22

Oh! Lovely info, Huck! Thank you so much for posting. I'm going to have to dig out my copy of The Royal Card Game of Asha and its companion book* to see if this info sheds any light on some of Edmond S. Bordeaux's stuff.

ETA: found the book
The Essene Book of Asha by Edmond Bordeaux Szekely
 

Mabuse

In French, the "Bishop" is the "Fool"

Huck said:
Title: Game and Playe of the Chesse
A Verbatim Reprint Of The First Edition, 1474
Author: Caxton
(First printed English variation of the "Liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium sive super ludo scacchorum ('Book of the customs of men and the duties of nobles or the Book of Chess')" by the Italian Dominican monk Jacobus de Cessolis circa 1300.

Cessolis' work was translated into many other languages (first printed edition at Utrecht in 1473) and was the basis for William Caxton's The Game and Playe of the Chesse (1474), one of the first books printed in English.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10672/10672-h/10672-h.htm

The text contains the original woodcuts of Caxtons edition

(The "player pawn" is the pawn of the rook at the Queen's side. One can regard him as the prototype of the Magician in the Tarot iconography.)

(The "farmer pawn" is the pawn of the rook at the King's side. One can regard him as the prototype of the Fool in the Tarot iconography.)

The woodcuts follow the iconographical tradition created by the earlier text of Cessolis.

The professions ("pawns") were arranged according their position.

Rook pawn (King's side) = Farmer (the rook was regarded as the king's representative "outside of the capital")
Knight pawn (King's side) = Smith (cause the knight needs iron work)
Bishop pawn (King's side) = Barber and Clothmaker
King pawn = Moneychanger, Banker and Merchant (cause the king needs money)
Queen pawn = Physician and Chemist (cause the Queen needs them for her health)
Bishops pawn (Queen's side) = Inn keeper
Knight pawn (Queen's side) = Keeper of the town (he needs the knights to protect the city)
Rook pawn (Queen's pawn) = Messenger and Player ("outside of the capital")

****

Note: Queen and Bishop (the figure was generally seen as advisor) were limited in their movements according the old rules. The Rook had already his far reaching moves ... according his function "outside of the capital".


I want to point out that only in English is that diagonal moving piece called a "Bishop" In German the name is "Läufer" or "Runner" The French name happens to be "Fou" meaning "Fool" the same name given to this card in both divinatory Tarot and in the French Tarot card game.