Libro de los juegos
Encyclopedia
The Libro de los Juegos, ("Book of games"), or Libro de acedrex, dados e tablas, ("Book of chess, dice and tables", in Old Spanish) was commissioned by Alfonso X of Castile
, Galicia
and León
and completed in his scriptorium
in Toledo
in 1283, is an exemplary piece of Alfonso’s medieval literary legacy.
Consisting of ninety-seven leaves of parchment
, many with color illustrations, and contains 150 miniatures
. The text is a treatise that addresses the playing of three games: a game of skill, or chess
; a game of chance, or dice
; and a third game, backgammon
, which combines elements of both skill and chance. The book contains the earliest known description of some of these games, including many games imported from the Arab
kingdoms. These games are discussed in the final section of the book at both an astronomical and astrological level. Extrapolating further, the text can also be read as an allegorical initiation tale and as a metaphysical
guide for leading a balanced, prudent, and virtuous life. In addition to the didactic, although not overly moralistic, aspect of the text, the manuscript’s illustrations reveal a rich cultural, social, and religious complexity.
It is one of the most important documents for researching the history of board games. The only known original is held in the library of the monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial near Madrid
in Spain
. The book is bound in sheepskin and is 40 cm high and 28 cm wide (16 in × 11 in). A 1334 copy is held in the library of the Historical Academy of Madrid.
context. He conceives of gaming as a dichotomy between the intellect
and chance. The book is divided into three parts reflecting this: the first on chess (a game purely of abstract strategy), the second on dice (with outcomes controlled strictly by chance), and the last on tables (combining elements of both). The text may have been influenced by Frederick II
's text on falconry
.
s and variants
. Among its more notable entries is a depiction of what Alfonso calls the ajedrex de los quatro tiempos ("chess of the four seasons"). This game is a chess variant for four players, described as representing a conflict between the four elements
and the four humors. The chessmen
are marked correspondingly in green, red, black, and white, and pieces are moved according to the roll of dice. Alfonso also describes a game entitled "astronomical chess", played on a board of seven concentric circles, divided radially into twelve areas, each associated with a constellation of the Zodiac
.
The book describes the rules for a number of games in the tables
family. One notable entry is todas tablas, which has an identical starting position to modern backgammon
and follows the same rules for movement and bearoff. Alfonso also describes a variant played on a board with seven points in each table. Players rolled seven-sided
dice
to determine the movement of pieces, an example of Alfonso's preference for the number seven.
) side of Folio 2 depicts the transmission of the game of chess from an Indian Philosopher-King to three followers. The full-page illustrations are almost exclusively on the verso side of later folios and are faced by accompanying text on the recto side of the following folio. The significance of the change in miniature size and placement may indicate images of special emphasis, could merely function as a narrative or didactic technique, or could indicate different artisans at work in Alfonso’s scriptorium as the project developed over time.
Having multiple artisans working on the Libro de juegos would have been a typical practice for medieval chanceries and scriptoria, where the labor of producing a manuscript was divided amongst individuals of varying capacities, for example the positions of scribe, draftsman, and apprentice cutting pages. But in addition to performing different tasks, various artisans could have labored at the same job, such as the work of illustration in the Libro de juegos, thereby revealing a variety hands or styles. The Libro de Juegos offers such evidence in the difference in size between the half- and full-page illustrations in addition to changes in framing techniques amongst the folios: geometrical frames with embellished corners, architectural frames established by loosely perspectival rooftops and colonnades, and games played under tents. Other stylistic variances are found in figural representation, in facial types, and in a repertoire of different postures assumed by the players in different folios in the manuscript.
For example, in a comparison of two miniatures, found on Folios 53v and 76r, examples of these different styles are apparent, although the trope of a pair of gamers is maintained. In Folio 53v, two men are playing chess, both wearing turbans and robes. Although they may be seated on rugs on the ground, as suggested by the ceramic containers that are placed on or front of the rug near the man on the right side of the board, the figures’ seated positions, which are full frontal with knees bent at right angles, suggests that they are seated on stools or perhaps upholstered benches. The figures’ robes display a Byzantine
conservatism, with their modeled three-dimensionality and allusion to a Classical
style, yet the iconic hand gestures are reminiscent of a Romanesque
energy and theatricality. Although the figures are seated with their knees and torsos facing front, their shoulders and heads rotate in three-quarter profile toward the center of the page, the chess board, and each other. The proximal, inner arm of each player (the arm that is closest to the board) is raised in a speaking gesture; the distal, outside arms of the players are also raised and are bent at the elbows, creating a partial crossing of each player’s torso as the hands lift in speaking gestures. The faces reveal a striking specificity of subtle detail, particular to a limited number of miniatures throughout the Libro de juegos, perhaps indicative of a particular artist’s hand. These details include full cheeks, realistic wrinkles around the eyes and across the brow, and a red, full-lipped mouth that hints at the Gothic
affectations in figural representation coming out of France
during the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.
The style in the miniature in Folio 76v is markedly different from the style in Folio 53v. In this case, the framed miniature contains two men, perhaps Spanish, with uncovered wavy light brown hair that falls to the jaw line. The men seem young, as the player on the left has no facial hair and his face is unlined. In both folios, both pairs of players are playing backgammon and seem to be well-dressed, although there is no addition of gold detailing to their robes as seen in the wardrobes of aristocratic players in other miniatures. These players are seated on the ground, leaning on pillows that are placed next to a backgammon board. In this miniature, the figure on the left side of the board faces the reader, while the figure on the right leans in to the board with his back to the reader. In other words, each player is leaning on his left elbow, using his right hand to reach across his body to play. In the miniatures of this style, the emphasis seems to be more on the posture of the player than the detail of their faces; this crossed, lounging style is only found in the folios of the Libro de tablas, the third section of the Libro de juegos which explicates the game of backgammon, again perhaps indicative of the work of a particular artist.
Other visual details contemporaneous of Alfonso’s court and social and cultural milieu infuse the Libro de juegos. Although some of the miniatures are framed by simple rectangles with corners embellished by the golden castles and lions of Castile and León, other are framed by medieval Spanish architectural motifs, including Gothic and Mudéjar
arcades of columns and arches. At times, the figural depictions are hierarchical, especially in scenes with representations of Alfonso, where the king is seated on a raised throne while dictating to scribes or meting out punishments to gamblers. Yet a contemporary atmosphere of Spanish convivencia is evoked by the inclusion nobility, rogues, vagrants, young and old, men, women, Christian
, Muslim
, and Jewish characters. Alfonso himself is depicted throughout the text, both as participant and spectator and as an older man and as a younger. The pages are filled with many social classes and ethnicities in various stages of solving the challenges presented by games.
In the thirteenth century, chess had been played in Europe
for almost two hundred years, having been introduced into Europe by Arabs around the year 1000. The Arabs had become familiar with the game as early as the eighth century when the Islamic empire
conquered Persia, where the game of chess was alleged to have been originated. It is said that a royal advisor had invented the game in order to teach his king prudence without having to overtly correct him. As Arab contact with the West expanded, so too did the game and its various permutations, and by the twelfth century, chess was becoming an entertaining diversion among a growing population of Europeans, including some scholars, clergy, the aristocracy, and the merchant classes; thus, by the thirteenth century, the iconography and symbolism associated with chess would have been accessible and familiar to Alfonso and his literate court culture, who may have had access to the private library, and manuscripts, of Alfonso, including the Libro de juegos.
The Libro de juegos manuscript was a Castilian translation of Arabic texts, which were themselves translations of Persian manuscripts. The visual trope portrayed in the Libro de juegos miniatures is seen in other European transcriptions of the Arabic translations, most notably the German Carmina Burana Manuscript: two figures, one on either side of the board, with the board tilted up to reveal to the readers the moves made by the players. The juxtaposition of chess and dice in Arabic tradition, indicating the opposing values of skill (chess) and ignorance (dice), was given a different spin in Alfonso’s manuscript, however. As Alfonso elucidates in the opening section of the Libro de Juegos, the Libro de ajedrex (Book of chess) demonstrates the value of the intellect, the Libro de los dados (Book of dice) illustrates that chance has supremacy over pure intellect, and the Libro de las tablas (Book of tables) celebrates a conjoined use of both intellect and chance. Further, the iconographic linkage between chess and kingship in the Western tradition continued to evolve and became symbolic of kingly virtues, including skill, prudence, and intelligence.
texts or classical Jewish medicinal texts. As a result, very few original works were produced by this scholar-king, relative to the huge amount of work that was translated under his auspices. This enormous focus on translation was perhaps an attempt by Alfonso to continue the legacy of academic openness in Castile, initiated by Islamic rulers in Córdoba
, where the emirate
s had also employed armies of translators in order to fill their libraries with Arabic translations of classic Greek texts. Alfonso was successful in promoting Castilian society and culture through his emphasis on the use of Galaico-Portuguese and Castillian, in academic, juridical, diplomatic, literary, and historical works. This emphasis also had the effect of reducing the universality of his translated and original academic work, as Latin
was the lingua franca
in both Iberia
and Europe; yet Alfonso never desisted in his promotion of the Castilian vernacular.
, on the Mediterranean coast south of Valencia
, for his father, King Alfonso IX, thereby unifying the kingdoms of Castile and León, bringing together the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula under one Christian throne. With the Christian "re-conquest" of the Peninsula underway, inroads into Islamic territories were successfully incorporating lands previously held by the taifa
kingdoms. The arts and sciences prospered in the Kingdom of Castile under the confluence of a strong Arabic tradition of liberal academic curiosity as Alfonso sponsored scholars, translators, and artists of all three religions of the Book (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) in his chanceries and scriptoria. Clerical and secular scholars from Europe turned their eyes to Iberian Peninsula as the arts and sciences prospered in an early Spanish "Renaissance" under the patronage of Alfonso X, who was continuing the tradition of (relatively) enlightened and tolerant convivencia established by the Muslim emirate several centuries earlier.
As an inheritor of a dynamic mixture of Arabic and Latin culture, Alfonso was steeped in the rich heritage of humanistic philosophy, and the production of his Libro de juegos reveals the compendium of world views that comprised the eclectic thirteenth century admixture of faith and science. According to this approach, man’s actions could be traced historically and his failures and successes could be studied as lessons to be applied to his future progress. These experiences can be played out and studied as they are lived, or as game moves played and analyzed in the pages of the Libro de juegos. It is a beautiful and luxurious document, rich not only in workmanship but also in the amount of scholarship of multiple medieval disciplines that are integrated in its pages.
Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
, Galicia
Kingdom of Galicia
The Kingdom of Galicia was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Founded by Suebic king Hermeric in the year 409, the Galician capital was established in Braga, being the first kingdom which...
and León
Kingdom of León
The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...
and completed in his scriptorium
Scriptorium
Scriptorium, literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the copying of manuscripts by monastic scribes...
in Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
in 1283, is an exemplary piece of Alfonso’s medieval literary legacy.
Consisting of ninety-seven leaves of parchment
Parchment
Parchment is a thin material made from calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin, often split. Its most common use was as a material for writing on, for documents, notes, or the pages of a book, codex or manuscript. It is distinct from leather in that parchment is limed but not tanned; therefore, it is very...
, many with color illustrations, and contains 150 miniatures
Miniature (illuminated manuscript)
The word miniature, derived from the Latin minium, red lead, is a picture in an ancient or medieval illuminated manuscript; the simple decoration of the early codices having been miniated or delineated with that pigment...
. The text is a treatise that addresses the playing of three games: a game of skill, or chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
; a game of chance, or dice
Dice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
; and a third game, backgammon
Backgammon
Backgammon is one of the oldest board games for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and players win by removing all of their pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...
, which combines elements of both skill and chance. The book contains the earliest known description of some of these games, including many games imported from the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
kingdoms. These games are discussed in the final section of the book at both an astronomical and astrological level. Extrapolating further, the text can also be read as an allegorical initiation tale and as a metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
guide for leading a balanced, prudent, and virtuous life. In addition to the didactic, although not overly moralistic, aspect of the text, the manuscript’s illustrations reveal a rich cultural, social, and religious complexity.
It is one of the most important documents for researching the history of board games. The only known original is held in the library of the monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial near Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The book is bound in sheepskin and is 40 cm high and 28 cm wide (16 in × 11 in). A 1334 copy is held in the library of the Historical Academy of Madrid.
Background
Alfonso was likely influenced by his contact with scholars in the Arab world. Unlike many contemporary texts on the topic, he does not engage the games in the text with moralistic arguments; instead, he portrays them in an astrologicalAstrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
context. He conceives of gaming as a dichotomy between the intellect
Intellect
Intellect is a term used in studies of the human mind, and refers to the ability of the mind to come to correct conclusions about what is true or real, and about how to solve problems...
and chance. The book is divided into three parts reflecting this: the first on chess (a game purely of abstract strategy), the second on dice (with outcomes controlled strictly by chance), and the last on tables (combining elements of both). The text may have been influenced by Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
's text on falconry
Falconry
Falconry is "the taking of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained raptor". There are two traditional terms used to describe a person involved in falconry: a falconer flies a falcon; an austringer flies a hawk or an eagle...
.
Chess
The Libro de juegos contains an extensive collection of writings on chess, with over 100 chess problemChess problem
A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle set by somebody using chess pieces on a chess board, that presents the solver with a particular task to be achieved. For instance, a position might be given with the instruction that White is to move first, and checkmate Black in two...
s and variants
Chess variant
A chess variant is a game related to, derived from or inspired by chess. The difference from chess might include one or more of the following:...
. Among its more notable entries is a depiction of what Alfonso calls the ajedrex de los quatro tiempos ("chess of the four seasons"). This game is a chess variant for four players, described as representing a conflict between the four elements
Four elements
Four elements may refer to:* Classical elements, such as air, fire, earth and water* 4 Elements, an album by Chronic Future* Group 4 element, one of the chemical elements in Group 4 of the periodic table...
and the four humors. The chessmen
Chess piece
Chess pieces or chessmen are the pieces deployed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. The pieces vary in abilities, giving them different values in the game...
are marked correspondingly in green, red, black, and white, and pieces are moved according to the roll of dice. Alfonso also describes a game entitled "astronomical chess", played on a board of seven concentric circles, divided radially into twelve areas, each associated with a constellation of the Zodiac
Zodiac
In astronomy, the zodiac is a circle of twelve 30° divisions of celestial longitude which are centred upon the ecliptic: the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year...
.
Tables
Tables (board game)
Tables is a general name given to a class of board games similar to backgammon, played on a board with two rows of 12 vertical markings called "points". Players roll dice to determine the movement of pieces...
family. One notable entry is todas tablas, which has an identical starting position to modern backgammon
Backgammon
Backgammon is one of the oldest board games for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and players win by removing all of their pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...
and follows the same rules for movement and bearoff. Alfonso also describes a variant played on a board with seven points in each table. Players rolled seven-sided
Pentagonal prism
In geometry, the pentagonal prism is a prism with a pentagonal base. It is a type of heptahedron with 7 faces, 15 edges, and 10 vertices.- As a semiregular polyhedron :...
dice
Dice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
to determine the movement of pieces, an example of Alfonso's preference for the number seven.
Libro de juegos as a work of art
The miniatures in the Libro de juegos vary between half- and full-page illustrations. The half-page miniatures typically occupy the upper half of a folio, with text explaining the game "problem" solved in the image occupying the bottom half. The back or second (verso) side of Folio 1, in a half-page illustration, depicts the initial stages of the creation of the Libro de juegos, accompanied by text on the bottom half of the page, and the front or first (rectoRecto
The recto and verso are respectively the "front" and "back" sides of a leaf of paper in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet. In languages written from left to right the recto is the right-hand page and the verso the left-hand page...
) side of Folio 2 depicts the transmission of the game of chess from an Indian Philosopher-King to three followers. The full-page illustrations are almost exclusively on the verso side of later folios and are faced by accompanying text on the recto side of the following folio. The significance of the change in miniature size and placement may indicate images of special emphasis, could merely function as a narrative or didactic technique, or could indicate different artisans at work in Alfonso’s scriptorium as the project developed over time.
Having multiple artisans working on the Libro de juegos would have been a typical practice for medieval chanceries and scriptoria, where the labor of producing a manuscript was divided amongst individuals of varying capacities, for example the positions of scribe, draftsman, and apprentice cutting pages. But in addition to performing different tasks, various artisans could have labored at the same job, such as the work of illustration in the Libro de juegos, thereby revealing a variety hands or styles. The Libro de Juegos offers such evidence in the difference in size between the half- and full-page illustrations in addition to changes in framing techniques amongst the folios: geometrical frames with embellished corners, architectural frames established by loosely perspectival rooftops and colonnades, and games played under tents. Other stylistic variances are found in figural representation, in facial types, and in a repertoire of different postures assumed by the players in different folios in the manuscript.
For example, in a comparison of two miniatures, found on Folios 53v and 76r, examples of these different styles are apparent, although the trope of a pair of gamers is maintained. In Folio 53v, two men are playing chess, both wearing turbans and robes. Although they may be seated on rugs on the ground, as suggested by the ceramic containers that are placed on or front of the rug near the man on the right side of the board, the figures’ seated positions, which are full frontal with knees bent at right angles, suggests that they are seated on stools or perhaps upholstered benches. The figures’ robes display a Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
conservatism, with their modeled three-dimensionality and allusion to a Classical
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
style, yet the iconic hand gestures are reminiscent of a Romanesque
Romanesque art
Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
energy and theatricality. Although the figures are seated with their knees and torsos facing front, their shoulders and heads rotate in three-quarter profile toward the center of the page, the chess board, and each other. The proximal, inner arm of each player (the arm that is closest to the board) is raised in a speaking gesture; the distal, outside arms of the players are also raised and are bent at the elbows, creating a partial crossing of each player’s torso as the hands lift in speaking gestures. The faces reveal a striking specificity of subtle detail, particular to a limited number of miniatures throughout the Libro de juegos, perhaps indicative of a particular artist’s hand. These details include full cheeks, realistic wrinkles around the eyes and across the brow, and a red, full-lipped mouth that hints at the Gothic
Gothic art
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...
affectations in figural representation coming out of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
during the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.
The style in the miniature in Folio 76v is markedly different from the style in Folio 53v. In this case, the framed miniature contains two men, perhaps Spanish, with uncovered wavy light brown hair that falls to the jaw line. The men seem young, as the player on the left has no facial hair and his face is unlined. In both folios, both pairs of players are playing backgammon and seem to be well-dressed, although there is no addition of gold detailing to their robes as seen in the wardrobes of aristocratic players in other miniatures. These players are seated on the ground, leaning on pillows that are placed next to a backgammon board. In this miniature, the figure on the left side of the board faces the reader, while the figure on the right leans in to the board with his back to the reader. In other words, each player is leaning on his left elbow, using his right hand to reach across his body to play. In the miniatures of this style, the emphasis seems to be more on the posture of the player than the detail of their faces; this crossed, lounging style is only found in the folios of the Libro de tablas, the third section of the Libro de juegos which explicates the game of backgammon, again perhaps indicative of the work of a particular artist.
Other visual details contemporaneous of Alfonso’s court and social and cultural milieu infuse the Libro de juegos. Although some of the miniatures are framed by simple rectangles with corners embellished by the golden castles and lions of Castile and León, other are framed by medieval Spanish architectural motifs, including Gothic and Mudéjar
Mudéjar
Mudéjar is the name given to individual Moors or Muslims of Al-Andalus who remained in Iberia after the Christian Reconquista but were not converted to Christianity...
arcades of columns and arches. At times, the figural depictions are hierarchical, especially in scenes with representations of Alfonso, where the king is seated on a raised throne while dictating to scribes or meting out punishments to gamblers. Yet a contemporary atmosphere of Spanish convivencia is evoked by the inclusion nobility, rogues, vagrants, young and old, men, women, Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, and Jewish characters. Alfonso himself is depicted throughout the text, both as participant and spectator and as an older man and as a younger. The pages are filled with many social classes and ethnicities in various stages of solving the challenges presented by games.
Significance of chess iconography in the Libro de juegos
The Libro de juegos can be divided into three parts: the games and problems it explores textually, the actual illuminations themselves, and the metaphysical extrapolation, or allegories, where an analysis of the texts and illuminations reveals the movements of the macrocosmos of the universe and the microcosmos of man. The symbolism within the medieval illuminations, as explained by the accompanying texts, reveal allusions to medieval literature, art, science, law and philosophy. Intended as a didactic text, the manuscript functions as a manual that documents and explains how and why one plays games ranging from pure, intellectual strategy (chess), to games of pure chance (dice), to games that incorporate both elements (backgammon). Conceivably, Alfonso hoped to elucidate for himself how to better play the game of life, while also providing a teaching tool for others. The game of ajedrex, or chess, is not the only game explicated in the Libro de Juegos, but it does occupy the primary position in the text and is given the most attention to detail.In the thirteenth century, chess had been played in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
for almost two hundred years, having been introduced into Europe by Arabs around the year 1000. The Arabs had become familiar with the game as early as the eighth century when the Islamic empire
Rashidun Caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate , comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death in 632, Year 10 A.H.. At its height, the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia...
conquered Persia, where the game of chess was alleged to have been originated. It is said that a royal advisor had invented the game in order to teach his king prudence without having to overtly correct him. As Arab contact with the West expanded, so too did the game and its various permutations, and by the twelfth century, chess was becoming an entertaining diversion among a growing population of Europeans, including some scholars, clergy, the aristocracy, and the merchant classes; thus, by the thirteenth century, the iconography and symbolism associated with chess would have been accessible and familiar to Alfonso and his literate court culture, who may have had access to the private library, and manuscripts, of Alfonso, including the Libro de juegos.
The Libro de juegos manuscript was a Castilian translation of Arabic texts, which were themselves translations of Persian manuscripts. The visual trope portrayed in the Libro de juegos miniatures is seen in other European transcriptions of the Arabic translations, most notably the German Carmina Burana Manuscript: two figures, one on either side of the board, with the board tilted up to reveal to the readers the moves made by the players. The juxtaposition of chess and dice in Arabic tradition, indicating the opposing values of skill (chess) and ignorance (dice), was given a different spin in Alfonso’s manuscript, however. As Alfonso elucidates in the opening section of the Libro de Juegos, the Libro de ajedrex (Book of chess) demonstrates the value of the intellect, the Libro de los dados (Book of dice) illustrates that chance has supremacy over pure intellect, and the Libro de las tablas (Book of tables) celebrates a conjoined use of both intellect and chance. Further, the iconographic linkage between chess and kingship in the Western tradition continued to evolve and became symbolic of kingly virtues, including skill, prudence, and intelligence.
Significance of the text in Libro de juegos
Most of the work accomplished in Alfonso’s scriptorium consisted of translations into the Castilian vernacular from Arabic translations of GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
texts or classical Jewish medicinal texts. As a result, very few original works were produced by this scholar-king, relative to the huge amount of work that was translated under his auspices. This enormous focus on translation was perhaps an attempt by Alfonso to continue the legacy of academic openness in Castile, initiated by Islamic rulers in Córdoba
Córdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
, where the emirate
Emirate
An emirate is a political territory that is ruled by a dynastic Muslim monarch styled emir.-Etymology:Etymologically emirate or amirate is the quality, dignity, office or territorial competence of any emir ....
s had also employed armies of translators in order to fill their libraries with Arabic translations of classic Greek texts. Alfonso was successful in promoting Castilian society and culture through his emphasis on the use of Galaico-Portuguese and Castillian, in academic, juridical, diplomatic, literary, and historical works. This emphasis also had the effect of reducing the universality of his translated and original academic work, as Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
was the lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
in both Iberia
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
and Europe; yet Alfonso never desisted in his promotion of the Castilian vernacular.
A legacy of plurality in the Libro de juegos
In 1217, Alfonso had captured the Kingdom of MurciaMurcia
-History:It is widely believed that Murcia's name is derived from the Latin words of Myrtea or Murtea, meaning land of Myrtle , although it may also be a derivation of the word Murtia, which would mean Murtius Village...
, on the Mediterranean coast south of Valencia
Valencia (province)
Valencia or València is a province of Spain, in the central part of the Valencian Community.It is bordered by the provinces of Alicante, Albacete, Cuenca, Teruel, Castellón, and the Mediterranean Sea...
, for his father, King Alfonso IX, thereby unifying the kingdoms of Castile and León, bringing together the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula under one Christian throne. With the Christian "re-conquest" of the Peninsula underway, inroads into Islamic territories were successfully incorporating lands previously held by the taifa
Taifa
In the history of the Iberian Peninsula, a taifa was an independent Muslim-ruled principality, usually an emirate or petty kingdom, though there was one oligarchy, of which a number formed in the Al-Andalus after the final collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031.-Rise:The origins of...
kingdoms. The arts and sciences prospered in the Kingdom of Castile under the confluence of a strong Arabic tradition of liberal academic curiosity as Alfonso sponsored scholars, translators, and artists of all three religions of the Book (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) in his chanceries and scriptoria. Clerical and secular scholars from Europe turned their eyes to Iberian Peninsula as the arts and sciences prospered in an early Spanish "Renaissance" under the patronage of Alfonso X, who was continuing the tradition of (relatively) enlightened and tolerant convivencia established by the Muslim emirate several centuries earlier.
As an inheritor of a dynamic mixture of Arabic and Latin culture, Alfonso was steeped in the rich heritage of humanistic philosophy, and the production of his Libro de juegos reveals the compendium of world views that comprised the eclectic thirteenth century admixture of faith and science. According to this approach, man’s actions could be traced historically and his failures and successes could be studied as lessons to be applied to his future progress. These experiences can be played out and studied as they are lived, or as game moves played and analyzed in the pages of the Libro de juegos. It is a beautiful and luxurious document, rich not only in workmanship but also in the amount of scholarship of multiple medieval disciplines that are integrated in its pages.
Further reading
- Canettieri, Paolo, "A critical edition of The Book of Games". Google KnolKnolKnol is a Google project that aims to include user-written articles on a range of topics. The project was led by Udi Manber of Google, announced December 13, 2007, and was opened in beta to the public on July 23, 2008 with a few hundred articles mostly in the health and medical field.Knol has no...
collection. - Canettieri, Paolo, "The Book of Games: A bibliography". Google Knol collection.
- Canettieri, Paolo, "The Book of Games: A critical edition" (Italian: "ALFONSO X EL SABIO - Il Libro dei giochi - Introduzione, edizione e commento"). Google Knol collection.
- Golladay, Sonja Musser, "Alfonso X's Book of Games: A translation" (old link at the University of Arizona: A translation) (PDF version) Cf. especially section on "The Alfonso X 'Book of Games'".
- Vazquez-Campos, Braulio, "Alfonso X and Chess" (Spanish: "Alfonso X y el ajedrez"). Google Knol collection.