Clues of historical events are everywhere. Sometimes we forget that history isn’t confined to textbooks; its influences and repercussions are all around us, from the floorplans of our homes, to the roads we drive on, to the stores we shop in. Time and space are a continuum, mutually shaping each other as reality expands and unfolds, and this dynamic interconnection runs through the smallest things in this universe to the greatest. Perhaps this may sound a little far-fetched, so let us put it to the test: Can we learn something about the history of the Catholic Church by studying the ancient board game of chess? Or can we demonstrate how the development of the Church’s doctrine and culture over time is symbolized by thirty-two carved pieces moving about on sixty-four squares? Many historians think so, and some teachers even recommend integrating the game and its history into school curriculum to help students better understand medieval European society. [1]
Chess is a game of war. Right away we are confronted by a board-view that aligns itself with the Judeo-Christian world-view. “The life of man upon earth is a warfare,” says Job (7:1 RSVCE), and Christ warns his disciples not to think he has come to bring peace on earth; he has brought a sword (Matt 10:34). Chess is a concrete visualization and application of two minds engaged in the combat of an otherwise invisible world of ideas, and thus it perfectly represents the spiritual struggle taking place on the battleground of physical creation. Is reality shaped by fate, chance, or the free will of intelligent beings? Unlike dice or cards, chess comes down firmly on the side of free will, as does the Catholic Church. Christians also recognize that the world in which free will operates is intelligible and governed by laws, since God has “ordered all things by measure, number, and weight” (Wis 11:21). As Dr. Thomas E. Woods observes, this vision of the rationality of the universe was the catalyst that launched modern scientific inquiry, a quantitative method for unlocking the mysteries of the universe.[2] Already we see that the world of a game is in congruence with a game of the worlds, a small epiphany of the cosmic war (Gen 3:15).
It is in the period from the Middle Ages to the early Renaissance in particular that demonstrate how Church history shaped chess, and how chess influenced the thought of Christians and the deeds and institutions of the time. During the long campaigns of the Crusades, there was a massive transfer of knowledge and customs between the Muslim and Christian soldiers, scholars, and religious and political leaders. Historian Richard Eales reported that “it is a paradoxical but well-established fact that even in the period of the Crusades more new learning came to the West from the Muslim ‘enemy’ than through eastern Christian civilization. This was true not only of science and mathematics, some of which, like chess, originated in India, but also of classical literature."[3]
Eventually this game became a kind of Scholastic thought tool, a mirror for individuals to understand morality and their societal roles in medieval feudalism. This was chiefly brought about by a 13th century Dominican friar, Jacobus de Cessolis, who wrote The Book of the Morals of Men and the Duties of Nobles and Commoners, on the Game of Chess, a treatise which was copied and translated more than any other work of the Middle Ages, and whose popularity almost rivalled the Bible itself! In it he describes the different social rankings and peasant professions of the time, assigning each one to a piece of the board and outlining the virtues, rights, and responsibilities proper to each (the importance held by the Church in this system is signified by the bishops who stand on either side of the king and queen, two pieces that were originally elephants in the Indian version). The friar also included instructions on how to play the game, encouraging his readers to experience “the symbolism in action."[4]
Chess was now woven into the tapestry of Christendom, and as it grew and expanded so did chess. One example of this was the changing attitudes towards women and the emerging ideal of chivalry and courtly love. Church historian Fr. John Vidmar, O.P., singles this out as a notable development that emerged from the crusaders’ exposure to the greater respect given to women in the east, and as a corollary devotion to the Virgin Mother of Christ also increased exponentially during this time.[5] This set the stage for the rise and power of certain women religious, nobility, and queens in the 14th and 15th centuries, such as Bridget of Sweden, Catherine of Siena, and Isabella of Spain. While it was probably sometime during the 10th century that the piece known as the king’s minister was renamed the queen (inspired by Queen Adelaide, wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I), it was the inspiration of the Spanish Queen Isabella that endowed the queen with the superior power she exercises on the board today.[6]
From the cosmic spiritual warfare between good and evil, to the scientific and cultural discoveries during the Crusades, to the Scholastic developments in morality and sociology, society has shaped chess and chess has shaped society. This includes the human and divine society of the Church, which has also had a reciprocal historical relationship with this noble game. Eloquently capturing this fascinating reality, Paula Rivera writes: “The Catholic Church has always used symbols and art to capture the spiritual battles for our souls as seen in our cathedrals with the help of Michelangelo and Dante, and the game of chess carries on that tradition. Jesus was and is the king with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the queen, at his side and the center of the game. Each chess piece bestows some moral attributes to the game and portrays a visual display of the Church's majesty on a game board."[7] As I pointed out in the beginning, the actions of man through time take shape in the spaces we are surrounded by, even down to something as mundane as a floorplan. And this is the proof, argues David Shenk, “of how thoroughly chess became woven into the fabric—and literally tiled onto the floor—of Christian medieval European society."[8]
[1] John Pagnotti and William B. Russell III, “Exploring Medieval European Society with Chess: An Engaging Activity for the World History Classroom,” History Teacher vol. 46, no. 1 (2012), 29.
[2] Thomas E. Woods, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization (Washington D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2012), 76.
[3] David Shenk, The Immortal Game (New York: Anchor Books, 2006), 49.
[4] Shenk, Immortal Game, 53-54.
[5] John Vidmar, The Catholic Church through the Ages (New York: Paulist Press, 2014), 136.
[7] Paula Rivera, “Catechism on a Board,” National Catholic Register, December 11-17, 2005, Commentaries.
[8] Shenk, Immortal Game, 51.
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