| Versus de scachis | |
|---|---|
 Cod. Einsidlensis 319, p. 298 | |
| Also known as | Einsiedeln Poem |
| Author(s) | Anonymous |
| Compiled by | Gall Morel |
| Language | Medieval Latin |
| Date | 10th century |
| Provenance | Einsiedeln Abbey,Switzerland |
| Manuscript(s) | Codex Einsidlensis 365 and Codex Einsiedeln 319 |
| Principal manuscript(s) | Codex Einsidlensis 365 |
| Genre | Didactic poetry |
| Verse form | Elegiac couplet |
| Length | 98 lines |
| Subject | Chess |
Versus de scachis (Latin: "Verses on Chess"), also known as theEinsiedeln Poem[1] in some literature, is the title given to a 10th-centuryMedieval Latin poem aboutchess. It is the first known European text to provide a technical description of chess for didactic purposes and it is considered a fundamental document to understand the development of chess in Europe.
It was found on two manuscripts (Codex Einsidlensis 365 and 319) fromEinsiedeln Abbey Library (where they are also currently preserved) located inEinsiedeln,Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland and it was dated to about AD 1000. The dating of the document makes the poem theearliest known reference to chess in a European text, as well as the earliest known document to mention the chessqueen (calledregina in Latin),[1] and the first reference to abicolor board with dark and light colors (a pattern that was absent from boards in precursors such as Indianchaturanga and Perso-Arabicshatranj, both of which were single-color and were divided only by horizontal and vertical lines).
The poem occupies both written sides of a sheet, and was only extracted in 1839 by the then abbey archivistGall Morel (1803–1872) who combined it together with other loose sheets to form a composite volume, catalogued in the abbey archives as "Einsiedeln 365". In 1877, professor and classical philologist Hermann Hagen (1844–1898) made the verses accessible to the general public in his medieval poetry compilationCarmina Medii Aevi Maximam Partem Inedita: Ex Bibliothecis Helveticis Collecta. In 1913, the Englishchess historianH. J. R. Murray (1868–1955) translated, printed, and interpreted the verses.[2] However, it was not until 1954 that historian H.M. Gamer drew attention to their extraordinary historical importance. There exists, in addition, an early medieval copy (though not of the Codex Einsidlensis 365) of lines 65 to 98 with a somewhat more classical orthography, which is dated to 997 AD and is also preserved in the Einsiedeln Abbey Library.
The title ofVersus de scachis is from Codex Einsidlensis 365. The poem most likely dates to the 10th century. Gamer (1954) argues that the text in Codex Einsidlensis 365 might date to shortly before AD 1000, and the one in Codex Einsidlensis 319 dates to about the same time, or possibly to a few years after AD 1000. The text in Codex Einsidlensis 319 is incomplete, and entitledDe aleae ratione.[3]
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The poem itself consists of 98lines inelegiac couplets and written in Medieval Latin.[1] The first ten verses justify the game asmental recreation, in which there is no malice (ne dollus ullus inest), no perjurious fraud, and no physical risk (non laceras corpus membra vel ulla tui), underlining also the advantage of playing without dice. Thus, the poem begins by expressing praise for the game of chess as a unique game that did not require gambling or dice. According to some chess historians, this initial statement was made in order to oppose common religious disapproval ofgames of chance that involved gambling.[4]
In the next ten verses the alternative coloring of the squares on the board is mentioned for the first time, not yet in general use but used by some players (Sunt quibus has placuit duplici fucare colore) as a simple yet advantageous invention to better calculate the moves, besides giving players the ability to discover, more easily, mistakes or false moves. Between verses 21-44 the two sides, red and white (Pars hæc si candet, illa rubore nitet), are described, together with the pieces. The movement of the pieces as well as the main regulatory conditions of the game are near identical toshatranj (Perso-Arabic chess), except for the pawn-promotion rule.[5] From the poetic descriptions of the pieces and their movements, it can be interpreted that the movements differ from modern chess and can be summarized as follows:
According to chess historian H. J. R. Murray:
The most striking feature of this rather tedious poem is its freedom from Arabic terminology. The wordscheck andmate are not used, and it is only the name of the game,scachi, in the title, and the wordrochus that show that the writer is dealing with a game that is not of European invention. The nomenclature of the game is drawn from that of the state, and not from that of the army.[6]
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