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WonderMedieval game design fact

The Lewis chessmen, carved mostly from walrus ivory in the twelfth century and found on a Scottish island in 1831, turn chess into a cast of kings, worried-looking queens, bishops, knights and warriors biting their shields.

Isle of Lewis, Scotland, 1831

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The story behind the card

The pieces were found in 1831 in the parish of Uig on the Isle of Lewis, in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, together with plain discs for another board game and a belt buckle. They were probably carved between about 1150 and 1200, most often thought to be in Trondheim, Norway, when the Hebrides were under Norwegian rule, and they seem to come from several incomplete sets, perhaps a merchant's stock. The warriors biting their shields are berserkers, fighters of Norse legend who worked themselves into a battle frenzy. The queens resting a hand on their cheek probably meant calm and wisdom, not worry. The British Museum holds 82 objects and the National Museum of Scotland 11. In 2019 a warder (the equivalent of a rook), unrecognised for decades in an Edinburgh family's home, sold at auction for £735,000.

Türkçe oku
Lewis satranç taşları, 12. yüzyılda çoğu mors dişinden oyulmuş ve 1831'de İskoçya'daki Lewis Adası'nda bulunmuş figürlerdir. Takımda krallar, kaygılı yüzlü kraliçeler, piskoposlar, atlı şövalyeler ve kalkanını ısıran savaşçılar var.
Lewis Adası, İskoçya, 1831

Taşlar 1831'de İskoçya'nın Dış Hebrid Adaları'ndan Lewis Adası'nda, Uig bölgesinde, başka bir masa oyununa ait düz pullar ve bir kemer tokasıyla birlikte bulundu. Büyük olasılıkla 1150-1200 yılları arasında oyuldular; en yaygın görüşe göre Hebridler'in Norveç yönetiminde olduğu o dönemde Norveç'in Trondheim kentinde. Birkaç eksik takımdan geldikleri anlaşılıyor; belki bir tüccarın satılık malıydılar. Kalkanını ısıran savaşçılar, İskandinav efsanelerinde savaşta kendinden geçen “berserker” denen dövüşçülerdir. Elini yanağına dayamış kraliçeler de büyük olasılıkla kaygıyı değil, sükûneti ve bilgeliği anlatıyordu. Bugün 82 parça Londra'daki British Museum'da, 11 parça Edinburgh'daki İskoçya Ulusal Müzesi'nde. 2019'da, onlarca yıl Edinburgh'da bir ailenin evinde ne olduğu bilinmeden duran bir kale taşı açık artırmada 735 bin sterline satıldı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Lewis chessmen
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