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April 2025
New Member: Pablo Moujan
Our new member, Pablo Moujan from the USA, introduces himself in the members area (you must be logged in to read).
Gerbert of Aurillac (future Pope Sylvester II) and his possible relationship in the diffusion of Chess in the 10th century
by Alejandro Melchor
In the commendable work of Helena M. Gamer “The earliest evidence of Chess in the western literature - The verses of Einsiedeln” (1954), this author placed in the Monastery of Einsiedeln, founded by Otto I, the earliest literary evidence of Chess in the European West (around the year 990). Evidence perfectly coinciding in the first documentary mention we find precisely in "Hispania" (Spain) with the will of Ermengol I, Count of Urgell, in the year 1007 carried out on the occasion of the campaign against Al-Andalus (Muslim area center and south of Spain) of the Catalan counts. However, the author, observing the absence of Saracen terminology in the Alpine verses, was rather in favor of an influence of Byzantine origin rather than Muslim, which in any case could have arrived either by Hispanic or - preferably - Italic way. Reasonings without seems definitive, are certainly very convincing, so it seems that it can be affirmed that Chess appears simultaneously in the Alpine monasteries of the Ottonian dynasty and among the Catalan nobility. Even in the case that the influence came from more than one source, as it could seem natural talking about something like a board game, the coincidence is remarkable. What could be the cause? It would be necessary to go further ...
New Member: Alejandro Melchor
Our new member, Alejandro Melchor from Spain, introduces himself in the members area (you must be logged in to read).