Lewis chessmen

Lewis Chessmen
Lewis chessmen in the British Museum
Material	Walrus Ivory
Created	12th century
Discovered	Uig, Lewis in 1831
Present location	British MuseumTemplate:·wrap Museum of Scotland

The Lewis Chessmen (or Uig Chessmen, named after the bay where they were found) are a group of 78 12th-century chess pieces, most of which are carved in walrus ivory. Discovered in 1831 on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, they may constitute some of the few complete, surviving medieval chess sets, although it is not clear if a set as originally made can be assembled from the pieces. They are owned and exhibited by the British Museum in London, which has 67 of the original pieces, and the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, which has the remaining 11 pieces.

Origin

"Beserker" rook, at the British Museum in London

The chessmen were probably made in Norway, perhaps by craftsmen in Trondheim, in the 12th century, although some scholars have suggested other sources in the Nordic countries. During that period the Outer Hebrides, along with other major groups of Scottish islands, were ruled by Norway.

According to Dr. Alex Woolf, director of the Institute for Medieval Studies of the University of St. Andrews, there are a number of reasons for believing the chess pieces probably came from Trondheim: a broken queen piece in a similar style found in an excavation of the archbishop's palace (it appeared the piece was broken as it was being made), the presence of wealthy people in Trondheim able to pay craftsmen for the high-quality pieces, similar carving in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, the excavation in Trondheim of a kite-shaped shield similar to shields on some of the pieces and a king piece of similar design found on Hitra Island, near the mouth of Trondheim Fjord. Woolf has said that the armour worn by the chess figures includes "perfect" reproductions of armour worn at the time in Norway.

Some historians believe that the Lewis chessmen were hidden (or lost) after some mishap occurred during their carriage from Norway to wealthy Norse towns on the east coast of Ireland, like Dublin. The large number of pieces and their lack of wear may suggest they were the stock of a trader or dealer in such pieces. Along with the chess pieces, there were 14 plain round tablemen for the game of tables and one belt buckle, all made of ivory, making a total of 93 artifacts.

Another possibility, put forward by Icelanders Gudmundur G. Thorarinsson and Einar S. Einarsson, is that the chessmen originated in Iceland. The pair claim that the most important indicator of Icelandic origins is the presence of bishops among the Lewis Chessmen – such pieces first being used in Iceland. However this is disputed by Woolf, who stated that the use of bishops originated in England.

Description

Almost all of the pieces in the collection are carved from walrus ivory, with a few made instead from whale teeth. The 78 pieces consist of 8 kings, 8 queens, 16 bishops, 15 knights, 12 rooks and 19 pawns. The heights of the pawns range from 3.5 to 5.8 cm while the major pieces are between 7 and 10.2 cm. Although there are 19 pawns (a complete set requires 16), they have the greatest range of sizes of all the pieces, which has suggested that the 78 pieces might belong to at least 5 sets. All the pieces are sculptures of human figures, with the exception of the pawns, which are smaller, geometric shapes. The knights are mounted on rather diminutive horses and are shown holding spears and shields. The rooks are standing soldiers or warders holding a shield and sword; four of the rooks are shown as wild-eyed berserkers biting their shields with battle fury. Some pieces bore traces of red stain when found, indicating that red and white were used to distinguish the two sides, rather than the black and white used in modern chess.

The Lewis chessmen
top: king, queen, bishop
middle: knight, rook, pawn
bottom: closeup of queen (resin replicas)

Scholars have observed that, to the modern eye, the figural pieces, with their bulging eyes and glum expressions, have a distinct comical character. This is especially true of the single rook with a worried, sideways glance (front left of first image below) and the beserkers biting their shields which have been called "irresistibly comic to a modern audience." It is believed, however, that the comic or sad expressions were not intended or perceived as such by the makers to whom these images instead displayed strength, ferocity or, in the case of the queens who hold their heads with a hand, "contemplation, repose and possibly wisdom."

Modern discovery

The chessmen were discovered in early 1831 in a sand bank at the head of Camas Uig on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. There are various local stories concerning their arrival and modern discovery on Lewis.

Malcolm "Sprot" Macleod from the nearby township of Pennydonald discovered the trove in a small stone kist in a dune, exhibited them briefly in his byre and sold them on to Captain Roderick Ryrie. One reported detail, that it was a cow that actually unearthed the stash, is generally discounted in Uig as fabrication. Malcolm Macleod's family were evicted from Pennydonald several years later when the area was cleared to make the farm at Ardroil.

Exhibition and ownership

They were exhibited by Ryrie at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, on April 11, 1831. The chessmen were soon after split up, with 10 being purchased by Kirkpatrick Sharpe and the others (67 chessmen and 14 tablemen) were purchased on behalf of the British Museum in London.

Kirkpatrick Sharpe later found another bishop to take his collection up to eleven, all of which were later sold to Lord Londesborough. In 1888 they were again sold, but this time the purchaser was the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, who donated the pieces to the Royal Museum in Edinburgh. The eleven are now on display in the Museum of Scotland.

The pieces given to the British Museum are still located there, and most can be found in Room 42 with the registration numbers M&ME 1831, 11–1.78–159. Others have been lent to Scottish museums and temporary exhibitions. A range of resin or plastic replicas are popular items in the Museum shops.

The chessmen were number 5 in the list of British archaeological finds selected by experts at the British Museum for the 2003 BBC Television documentary Our Top Ten Treasures presented by Adam Hart-Davis. They feature in the 2010 BBC Radio 4 series A History of the World in 100 Objects as number 61, in the "Status Symbols" section.

A new exhibition entitled "The Lewis Chessmen: Unmasked" that includes chesspieces from both the Museum of Scotland and the British Museum collections, along with other relevant objects, is touring Scotland in 2010/11. The exhibition opened in Edinburgh on 21 May 2010 and proceeded to Aberdeen, Shetland and the Museum nan Eilean in Stornoway, opening there on 15 April 2011.

Controversy

In 2007–08 a dispute arose regarding the most appropriate place to display the pieces. The issue first arose late in 2007 with calls from Scottish National Party (SNP) politicians in the Western Isles (notably Councillor Annie Macdonald, MSP Alasdair Allan and MP Angus MacNeil) for the return of the pieces to the place they were found. Linda Fabiani the Scottish Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture stated that "it is unacceptable that only 11 Lewis Chessmen rest at the National Museum of Scotland while the other 82 remain in the British Museum in London". Richard Oram, Professor of Medieval and Environmental History at the University of Stirling, agreed arguing that there was no reason for there to be more than "a sample" of the collection in London. Both points of view have been dismissed by Margaret Hodge the UK Minister of State in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, writing "It's a lot of nonsense, isn't it?" The local historical society in Uig, Comann Eachdraidh Uig, which operates a registered museum near the find site featuring detailed information about the chessmen and Norse occupation in Lewis, has indicated publicly that it has no intention of pursuing any claim to the ownership of the pieces and does not support demands for them to be sent to Edinburgh, but would welcome short-term loans.

In October 2009 twenty-four of the pieces from the London collection and six from Edinburgh began a 16-month tour of diverse locations in Scotland. The tour was part-funded by the Scottish Government and Mike Russell, the Minister for Culture and External Affairs stated that the Government and the British Museum had "agreed to disagree" on their eventual fate. Bonnie Greer, the museum's deputy chairman said that she "absolutely" believed the main collection should remain in London.

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  A selection of some of the other chess pieces, with a row of bishops at the back, then a row of knights.
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  A resin replica of one of the kings
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  Lewis chessmen in the Museum of Scotland
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  The Lewis chessmen in the British Museum
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  Knight in London

Popular culture

The Harry Potter series depicts a game known as Wizard's Chess where magically animated pieces move and kill on vocal command of the players. In the films, the pieces of the standard tabletop game are depicted using Lewis Chessmen.

See also

• Chess Scotland

References

• British Museum Website.
• Murray, H. J. R. (1985). A History of Chess. Oxford University Press.
• Robinson, James (2004). The Lewis Chessmen. British Museum Press.
• Stratford, N. (1997). The Lewis chessmen and the enigma of the hoard. The British Museum Press.
• Taylor, Michael (1978). The Lewis Chessmen. British Museum Publications Limited.

External links

• The British Museum's page on the chessmen
• National Museums Scotland's pages on the chessmen
• A History of the World in 100 Objects, Number 61: The Lewis Chessmen
• Not Chess pieces, Not from Lewis
• The Isle Of Lewis Chessmen Website