Elizabeth Wickersham, The Graduate Center, CUNY
This video surveys the significance of chess in medieval Europe, reflecting on the capacity of games to provide commentary on contemporary standards of behavior, respond to societal changes, and mediate relationships.
Video
Further Reading
lko, Krisztina. “Chess and Race in the Global Middle Ages.” Speculum, Volume 99, Number 2 (April 2024): pp. 480–540.
Del Puppo, Dario. "The Limits of Allegory in Jacobus de Cessolis’ De ludo scaccorum". Chess in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age: A Fundamental Thought Paradigm of the Premodern World, edited by Daniel E. O'Sullivan, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2012, pp. 221-240.
Classen, Albrecht. "Chess in Medieval German Literature: A Mirror of Social-Historical and Cultural, Religious, Ethical, and Moral Conditions". Chess in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age: A Fundamental Thought Paradigm of the Premodern World, edited by Daniel E. O'Sullivan, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2012, pp. 17-44.
Discussion Questions
1. Medieval people used chess as a metaphor to articulate their feelings about the social, cultural, and religious conditions of their time. Do you see board or video games being used in a similar way today? How and why do we use games to explore difficult or meaningful topics?
2. During the Middle Ages, chess was enjoyed by commoners and nobility alike, and games can constitute an imaginative space that allows for the subversion of certain social boundaries. How might this have influenced the popularity of chess in medieval Europe? Does the agency of individual chess pieces speak to the potential of social mobility, or does the game’s hierarchical nature merely concretize the reality of a rigid and often unjust feudal society?
Cite
Wickersham, Elizabeth. "Exploring the Middle Ages through Chess", Middle Ages for Educators, September 22, 2024. Accessed [date]. https://middleagesforeducators.princeton.edu/exploring-middle-ages-through-chess.