In the discussion ...
Collection: "3 Magi" and "3 theological virtues"
appeared this original picture ...
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c5EjM4lUmaA/U ... irtues.JPG

... which was modified by myself after some analysis to ...



It's titled "Radix virtutem" (at the bottom) and for this terminus I found this passage in ....
http://books.google.de/books?id=ayHUD_2 ... 22&f=false



Each virtue-word got 7 attributed words, so totall 56 termini are presented in a logical context. As addition 8 figures are presented ... the 4 cardinal virtues are recognizable, two theological virtues are presented as angels on top.
Central is the figure of a male angel and Mary, who logically takes the role of "Caritas" and mother figure inside the virtues. The "promised son" Jesus is outside of the frame (still not born and so not counted as a figure).

The number of the used elements is 56 + 8 = 64 ... well-known as the number of the fields on a chess board.

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It's a hypothesis (inside the expanded 5x14-theory), that in the Cary-Yale Tarocchi the figures of the 7 virtues were used as "7 of 8 pawns".
Compare the article of 2003: http://trionfi.com/0/c/35/



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Some information to the original picture is here ...
http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/medieval/zoom.php?id=92

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Added later:

The picture presented (Radix etc ...) in the last post appears at ...
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.asp ... s_83_f129r

... one page before appears this picture ...
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.asp ... s_83_f128v



The number of "words" is again 56, the number of the figures (if I count the viper as a figure) is 63 (not 64). Adam+Eve and the viper are clear, the both other human figures and the two devils are not clear. One might be "Saturn" or he has at least similarity. One has to work in this world of vices.

If I count Jesus as the 65th element at the other picture about Virtues, I get for the two pages twice the number 64, one as 64+1 and the negative as 64-1.

List with Schachzabel versions (Cessolis)
http://www.digital-collections.de/index ... is%26gt%3B

The version of 1407 has the following pawn pictures (Innkeeper and Fool):





************

The page is linked from ...
https://sites.google.com/site/carolusch ... t/cessolis
... and this page has some other interesting links.

For Cessolis it says ...

Jacopo (Jacobus, fl. 1275–1322) was born in the small town of Cessole, near Asti, in Piedmont. He entered the Dominican order, probably at the convent of Santa Maddalena near Asti. From 1317 to 1322, he lived in Genoa, where he became vicar of the Inquisition attached to the convent of San Domenico. At the request of fellow Dominicans and several laypeople, he wrote his only extant work, De moribus hominum ed de officiis nobilum super ludo scaccorum (On the Customs of Men and Their Noble Actions with Regard to the Game of Chess), known simply as Ludus scaccorum.

Mostly Cessolis' work is addressed as from "c. 1300". This author is more precise, unluckily he doesn't tell, where he got his information from.

Schreiber 1938 (p. 149) notes, that Capistran in Magdeburg burnt also "Currerspele" (likely Courier chess) in the year 1453. Magdeburg isn't too far from Ströbeck (maybe 60 km), the chess village, where a Courier chess survived.

I think, I haven't noted this before. As early notes about the Courier chess game are rather rare (just a handful, I would assume), this might be of some importance. Google is silent about "Currerspele".

The Schreiber text is online with snippet view.
http://books.google.de/books/about/Die_ ... edir_esc=y

Added later: Found in ...
Sächsisch Chronicon. Darinnen Ordentlich begriffẽ die Fürnemstẽ vnd denckwirdigsten Sachen, so von anbegin der Welt sich begeben, allermeist aber die in dem Römischen Reiche, vnd Sachsen ... vorgelauffen ... Auffs newe zugerichtet, gebessert, vnd mit allerley Figuren ... gezieret, vnd Continuirt biß vff den Monat Maium des Jahrs Christi, 1596
Conrad Bote, Matthaeus Dresser
M. Johan Krafft, 1596
https://books.google.de/books?id=DpFXAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA451




**********

... a little bit old-fashioned: Chess tournament Ströbeck (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7zrJvKj6B4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rW8b1T3Zaw

**********

The Gustav Selenus report to Courier-chess ...
in
Shatranj oder Das schachspiel unter zweien, und dessen geheimnisse: ferner das courierspiel, rundschach des Tamerlan und das kriegesspiel. Aus den ältesten und seltensten literarischen quellen
Friedrich August Wilhelm Netto
In der Pauli'schen buchhandlung, 1827 - Chess - 212 pages
http://books.google.de/books?id=t11AAAA ... er&f=false

btw.

Gustav Selenus alias "August der Jüngere (* 10. April 1579 in Dannenberg; † 17. September 1666 in Wolfenbüttel) Herzog zu Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Fürst von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel" ...



... collected the Herzog August library, the largest library North of the Alps in 17th century, by enthusiasts called an 8th world wonder.

In 1615, when writing the chess book and not yet the duke, Selenus wondered, if the city shield of Aschersleben, not too far from Ströbeck, also remembered some chess history ...


http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aschersleben

... and that the city Rochlitz (in "Landkreis Mittelsachsen im Freistaat Sachsen") took its name from the ches figure Rook (in old German "Roch") ...



Generally Selenus had the impression, that the relevant region around Ströbeck and even neighbor regions in more Slavic countries had a general chess dedication, more than elsewhere ... I note, that I should check the original, possibly I mix the opinions of the author of 1827 with the work of Gustavus Selenus.

After some search ...
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit ... ee07877e10

**********

Added later: I've found the passage about Magdeburg, though in modernized German:

279. Die Cardinalsbirnen zu Magdeburg.344

[230] Im Jahre Christi 1453 hat der Papst den Barfüßermönch Johann Capistran mit andern seiner Brüder mehr ins Land Böhmen gesendet. Der kam auch nach Magdeburg mit dem Erzbischof und ward von der ganzen[230] Klerisei und der Gemeinde mit Kreutzen und Fahnen prächtig empfangen, man baute ihm einen Palast auf dem Neuen Markte, davon herab er predigte. Er predigte aber Lateinisch (denn er war ein Wehle), gemeiniglich zwei oder dritthalb Stunden, und hatte einen Doctor desselben Barfüßer-Ordens, von deutscher Geburt, bei sich, der that ihm alsbald die Predigt zu deutsch nach, das verlief sich auch wohl auf zwei Stunden, so daß ihrer beiden Sermon nicht kürzer als 4 bis 5 Stunden währte. Er trieb das Gesetz mit besonderem Ernst und predigte mit solchem Ernst und Eifer, daß man ihm alle Wurftafeln, Currerspiel, Würfel, Karten, Gaukelsäcke, Larven, sammt anderen Spielgeräthen, und die Frauen ihre Schnüre und Haare, die sie pflegen vorzubinden, und ihre Bretter, darauf sie ihre Schleier und Tücher zu kleistern oder anzustärken pflegen, brachten, und verbrannten sie auf dem Neumarkt öffentlich. Dieser Capistran soll zu Magdeburg einstmals sehr gute wohlschmeckende Birnen gegessen und dieselben gesegnet oder geweiht haben, daher sie Cardinalsbirnen geheißen wurden, welchen Namen sie noch heute zu Magdeburg haben.
Nach Pomarius F.T. ij. (verso).

http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Gr%C3%A ... +Magdeburg
taken from
Johann Georg Theodor Grässe: Sagenbuch des Preußischen Staates 1–2, Band 1, Glogau 1868/71, S. 230-231

The Grässe text is here ...
http://books.google.de/books?id=42oaAAA ... an&f=false

I searched for the source "F.T. Pomarius", and found Johann Baumgart (in latin Pomarius) and "Summarischer Begriff Der Magdeburgische[n] Stadt Chronicken...: Darinne angezeigt wird, wenn dieselbige Stadt ohngefehr zu bawen an gefangen" from the year 1587.
http://books.google.de/books?id=pOJSAAA ... navlinks_s

See for the year 1453 ....



This source writes "Currerspiel" and not "Currerspele", which Schreiber explicitely wrote in this way. So likely Schreiber had another source, possibly the closer document.

Earlier in this thread it was stated by myself in a wikipedia quote, that also Heinrich von Beringen made a short note to the Courier chess game.
I was so lucky to find ...

Das Schachgedicht Heinrichs von Beringen
hrsg. von Paul Zimmermann.
Published 1883 by Litterarischer Verein in Stuttgart in Tu¨bingen.
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1964775 ... n_Beringen
(based on a manuscript, which was finished at 7 October 1438 in the cloister Comburg in Würtemberg; Heinrich von Beringen is - nowadays by Oxford reference - assumed to have been active as a canon in Augsburg between 1282 and 1320).

It is, though already rather old (1883), a high quality research about the text including the German text in a later version from early 15th century. The relevant passage is indeed very short. I copied two pages to make sure, that there is not much more before or after the passage.
Further I noted the appearance of the game in the Anmerkungen:







********

Recently (12 July 2014) I wrote in this thread ...

The page is linked from ...
https://sites.google.com/site/carolusch ... t/cessolis
... and this page has some other interesting links.

For Cessolis it says ...

Jacopo (Jacobus, fl. 1275–1322) was born in the small town of Cessole, near Asti, in Piedmont. He entered the Dominican order, probably at the convent of Santa Maddalena near Asti. From 1317 to 1322, he lived in Genoa, where he became vicar of the Inquisition attached to the convent of San Domenico. At the request of fellow Dominicans and several laypeople, he wrote his only extant work, De moribus hominum ed de officiis nobilum super ludo scaccorum (On the Customs of Men and Their Noble Actions with Regard to the Game of Chess), known simply as Ludus scaccorum.

Mostly Cessolis' work is addressed as from "c. 1300". This author is more precise, unluckily he doesn't tell, where he got his information from.

The above mentioned research by Paul Zimmermann or the Literarische Verein in Stuttgart gives reason to doubt this dating "1317-1322" for the Cessolis work. The common dating "c. 1300" looks more probable. The argumentation is rather complex. I try to summarize the few details, that I was able to capture in only short time.

The Beringen text contains details, which should have been in the text of Cessolis, but which are not part of surviving Cessolis text editions. As an example is given a story, which played in Genova (the city of Cessolis), which is part of the Beringen, but not other later editions.



The story is long and extends till page 306. A holy picture is hurt by a knife in the course of a gambling action.
[personally I think, that the story might well be a later interpolation ... just as a possibility]

Beringen's "translation" (who shortened the text occasionally, and occasionally added things by himself) is considered the first and oldest (I think, the next text is from Konrad of Ammenhausen 1337) and in matters of poetical quality as one of the best.
Zimmermann considers him to be still a young author (so c. 1300 is plausible). He thinks, that he's not a knight (there is a knight family "von Beringen" in the region).

**********

I found also a good source to the Ammenhausen text:

Das Schachzabelbuch Kunrats von Ammenhausen ...
Nebst den Schachbu¨chern des Jakob von Cessole und des Jakob Mennel hrsg. von Ferdinand Vetter. Mit einem Exkurs u¨ber das mittelalterliche Schachspiel von v. Heydebrand und der Lasa.
Published 1892 by J. Huber in Frauenfeld .
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL6565002 ... mmenhausen_

The Ammenhausen text had been by far more successful than the von Beringen text.

Ammenhausen presentation of 1886 (as given above):
https://archive.org/stream/dasschachzab ... 9/mode/2up





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Ammenhausen Courier Chess passage in Gustavus Selenus 1615 (as given a few posts before):
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit ... ee07877e10





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Courier Chess with Gustavus Selenus

6 normal figures


The King


The Queen


Here the Bow-shooter, otherwise the Bishop


The Knight


Elephant with castle, otherwise the Rook or Tower


The Soldier, not the pawn

The 3 additional figures for Courier Chess


The Courier


The Man (adviser-typus)


The Fool

***************



Likely one of these is Gustavus Selenus in 1615.


http://www.portrait-hille.de/kap07/bild ... &seqnr=479

Famous chess-scene from a version (made 1442-44) of "Flore und Blanscheflur" at ...
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit ... fc0cdf8505
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit ... fc0cdf8505





Boccaccio in his first publication also worked about this stuff. The best move in that situation was to let the opponent win.

...
Floris eventually arrives outside Cairo where he meets the bridge warden named Daire who tells him about the emir's tower of maidens. Each year the emir selects a new bride from his tower and kills his old wife. Rumour has it that Blanchefleur is soon to be his next chosen bride. To gain access to the tower, Daire advises Floris to play chess with the tower watchman, returning all winnings to him until the watchman is forced to return the favor by allowing him entrance to the tower. Floris outplays the watchmen at chess, and according to plan, Floris is smuggled in to the tower in a basket of flowers, but is mistakenly placed in the room of Blanchefleur's friend Claris. Claris arranges a reunion between the two, but they are discovered two weeks later by the emir.

The emir holds off killing them on the spot until he holds a council of advisers. So impressed are the advisers at the willingness of the young lovers to die for one another that they persuade the emir to spare their lives. Floris is then knighted, he and Blanchefleur are married, and Claris marries the emir (who promises Claris she will be his last and only wife, forever). Soon after, news of Felix's death reaches Cairo and Floris and Blanchefleur depart for home where they inherit the kingdom, embrace Christianity, and convert their subjects as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floris_and_Blancheflour



I think, that Floris has in his hands a large chess figure (rook).

Huck,
Not sure if you ever saw this manuscript or not, Royal 19 C XI (French, c. 1400-1450):
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminated ... art=190311

Compilation of various texts, but the illumintations all seem related to the societal stations of man, oddly ending with a chessboard (well, 2nd to last - last one is of Melibee[?] and Prudence). The chessboard apparently relates to the text of 'Moralised Game of Chess (ff. 1-51)' with perhaps the stations of man considered as the pieces?


Right before the chessboard is the "Messenger", with dice, a pot of money, and a leather wallet; perhaps "thief" was intended here (Mercury was god of thieves as well as the messenger god after all). I would allow a certain parallel relationship to Tarot in the sense that many of the cards can be likened to stations of man, and two of the lowest images here (again, discounting Melibee and Prudence) are the merchant and messenger, which come close to Tarot's "Juggler" and Fool:


Phaeded

Phaeded wrote:Huck,
Not sure if you ever saw this manuscript or not, Royal 19 C XI (French, c. 1400-1450):
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminated ... art=190311

No, I didn't know it, nice. There are many versions in the same style, usually 13 pictures presenting King, Queen, bishop (adviser), knight and rook (mostly a second man on horse), and then the 8 pawns with professions:

peasant .. before king's side rook
smith ... before king's side knight
barber ... before king's side bishop
merchant ... before king
physician ... before queen
innkeeper ... before queen's side bishop
doorkeeper ... before queen's side knight
messenger ... before queen's side rook

A rather fixed iconography with mostly only small differences.

Arnold Schönberg, famous Austrian componist in 20th century, who invented the 12-Ton-Musik, also invented a chess variant:



Koalitions-Schach

Koalitionsschach oder Bündnisschach

Koalitionsschach von Arnold Schönberg
Diese Variante für vier Spieler wurde von dem Komponisten Arnold Schönberg in den 1920er Jahren konzipiert. Auf einem Spielfeld von 10x10 Feldern stehen sich zwei „Großmächte“ (Gelb und Schwarz mit je zwölf Figuren, darunter einem König) sowie zwei „Kleinmächte“ (Grün und Rot mit je sechs Figuren) gegenüber. Die Figuren der Großmächte symbolisieren die Infanterie, die Kleinmächte stehen für Marine und Luftwaffe mit jeweils spezifischen Zugmöglichkeiten der Figuren. Es gibt keine feste Anfangsstellung, außerdem müssen innerhalb der ersten drei Spielrunden zwei Koalitionen gebildet werden. Danach versuchen die verbündeten Parteien, den gegnerischen König schachmatt zu setzen.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schachvariante

The board has 10x10 and 4 players (2 teams with 12 figures and two with 6). A coalition between the players is founded after three rounds between one of the weaker players (6 figures) and one of the stronger players (12 figures). Then it is attempted to checkmate the opposite king.
Detailed rules: http://www.kreuzschach.de/koalitionssch ... Regeln.pdf

The configuration (12 figures for each major player) naturally had been a little bit inspired by the major object of this inventions, the 12-Ton-Musik.

Koalitionsschach, Designs und Erfindungen[Bearbeiten]

Spielkarten-Design von Arnold Schönberg
Schönberg konzipierte in den 1920er Jahren eine Koalitions-Schach benannte Schachvariante für vier Spieler, die auf einem 10x10 Felder großen Brett mit 36 Figuren gespielt wird, die er aus einfachen Materialien selbst entwarf. Bei einem Besuch des Schachweltmeisters Emanuel Lasker verbarg er jedoch seine Erfindung und kommentierte dies mit den Worten „Das wäre für Lasker ebenso schlimm wie für mich eine Komposition von ihm.“

Daneben existieren diverse Möbelentwürfe, Pläne für eine mechanische Notenschreibmaschine, selbstentworfene Spielkarten sowie eine Methode zur schriftlichen Dokumentation eines Tennisspiels (Schönberg war leidenschaftlicher Tennisspieler). Außerdem verbesserte und bastelte Schönberg Büromaterialien für seinen Arbeitsalltag, so etwa einen Rastral zum gleichzeitigen Ziehen von fünf Notenlinien, einen platzsparenden Reisenotenständer, Zwölftonreihenschieber in verschiedensten Formen, Klebebandroller und Stifthalter.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Sch%C3%B6nberg

He invented also other things, also some playing cards ...



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I took a read in these lazy days, reading Thomas Mann: "Doktor Faustus", written in the late war years by Mann in exile in US-America. Mann is famous for his long sentences, it's indeed rather a mess.
Mann's Faustus was a fictive 20th century componist Adrian Leverkühn, inspired by the person of Schönberg and his 12-Ton-Musik.

Das Schachspiel in der arabischen Literatur von den Anfängen bis zur zweiten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts
Reinhard Wieber
Verlag für Orientkunde, 1972 - 507 Seiten
http://books.google.de/books?id=awcFAAA ... CC4Q6AEwAA
... states, that Levi-Provencal ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89vari ... en%C3%A7al
... notes, that Chess had arrived in 9th century by Ziryab or another Irakian emigrant.

Ziryab
Ziryab arrived 821 (or 822 ?) in in Algeciras.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziryab
Ziryab is known for a lot of cultural innovations in Andulusia.

Ziryab is mentioned on this chess page:
https://sites.google.com/site/carolusch ... ory/ziryab

Ziryab brought in [to Andalusia] astrologers from India and Jewish doctors from North Africa and Iraq. The astrologers were grounded in astronomy, and Ziryab encouraged the spread of this knowledge. The Indians also knew how to play chess, and Ziryab had them teach the game to members of the royal court, and from there it spread throughout the peninsula.

... well, the part about chess might be a not proven story.