Chess as a meaning: evolution of a significant in medieval culture

  • Marina A. Mojeiko Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, 17 Rabkorawskaja Street, Minsk 220007, Belarus
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33581/2521-6821-2021-2-64-79

Abstract

Dedicated to the analysis of chess as a sign system (namely as meaning). The modelling nature of the chess game has been substantiated. The process of semiotic evolution of chess pieces game has been reconstructed: in this context chaturanga, chatrang, shatranji, Levis chess, lovers’ chess, courier chess, moon chess and others game have been analysed. The evolution of the meanings behind a chess game through the history of medieval culture has been considered: battle – knightly tournament – courtly flirting – society as a whole – being as such.

Author Biography

Marina A. Mojeiko, Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, 17 Rabkorawskaja Street, Minsk 220007, Belarus

doctor of science (philosophy), full professor; head of the department of philosophy and methodology of humanities, faculty of culturology and sociocultural activities

References

  1. Pastoureau М. Povsednevnaya zhizn’ Frantsii i Anglii vo vremena rytsarei Kruglogo stola [Everyday life of France and England during the knights of the Round Table]. Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya; 2001. 223 p. Russian.
  2. Mojeiko MA. Oznachivanie [Giving meaning]. In: Gritsanov AA, Mojeiko MA, editors. Postmodernizm. Entsiklopediya. Minsk: Interpressservice; 2001. p. 537–538. Co-published by «Knizhnyi dom». Russian.
  3. Gollan J. Chess variations: ancient, regional, and modern. North Clarendon, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing (Charles E. Tuttle Company); 1973. 233 p.
  4. Murray HJR. A history of chess. Oxford: The Clarendon Press (Horace Hart M. A. Printed to University); 1913. 900 p.
  5. Biruni Abu Reikhan. [India]. In: Biruni Abu Reikhan. Izbrannye proizvedeniya. Tom. 2 [Selected works. Volume 2]. Tashkent: Fan; 1963. 727 р. Russian.
  6. Ambartsumyan AA, translator. Kniga o shakhmatakh [Chatrang-Namag] [A book about chess [Chatrang-Namag]]. [Internet]. 2000 [cited 2020 November 5]. Available from: http://avesta.tripod.com/pehlev/Chatrang-namag.htm. Russian.
  7. Murray HJR. [How old chess game is? The antiquity of chess games] [Internet; cited 2020 November 9]. Available from: http://thaichess.narod.ru/index/naskolko_stara_shakhmatnaja_igra/0-49. Russian.
  8. Gizycki E. S shakhmatami cherez veka i strany. Nastol’nye igry [With chess through centuries and countries. Table games] [Internet]. Warszawa: Sport & Tourism; 1970 [cited 2020 November 27]. 360 p. Available from: http://table-games.ru/ books/item/f00/s00/z0000009/index.shtml. Russian.
  9. Karpov AE, editor. Shakhmaty: entsiklopedicheskii slovar’ [Chess: an encyclopedic dictionary]. Moscow: Sovetskaya entsiklopediya; 1990. 624 p. Russian.
  10. Conway DJ. Polnaya entsiklopediya mifologicheskikh sushchestv. Istoriya, proiskhozhdenie, magicheskie svoistva [Complete encyclopedia of mythological creatures. History, origin, magical properties]. Saint Petersburg: Ves’; 2011. 457 p. Russian.
  11. Bosworth CE. The titulature of the early Ghaznavids. Oriens. 1962;15:210–233. DOI: 10.2307/1579847.
  12. Caldwell DH, Hall MA, Wilkinson CM. The Lewis chessmen: Unmasked. Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland; 2014. 80 p.
  13. Robinson J. The Lewis chessmen (objects in focus). London: British Museum Press; 2004. 64 p.
  14. Robinson J. [The Lewis island chess]. ChessPro. Professional’no o shakhmatakh [Internet, cited 2020 November 17]. Available from: https://chesspro.ru/_events/2008/luis.html. Russian.
  15. Arbman Kh. Vikingi [Vikings]. Saint Petersburg: Evraziya; 2006. 320 р. Russian.
  16. Dogerti MDzh. Mir vikingov. Povsednevnaya zhizn’ Detei Odina [The world of the Vikings. Everyday life of the Children of Odin]. Moscow: Eksmo; 2015. 224 p. Russian.
  17. Svanidze AA. Vikingi – lyudi sagi: zhizn’ i nravy [Vikings are people of saga: life and customs]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie; 2014. 800 p. Russian.
  18. Narni A. Korolevstvo vikingov [Kingdom of the Vikings]. Moscow: RIPOL-classic; 2014. 256 p. Russian.
  19. Chernaya LV. Skandinavskaya zhenshchina epokhi vikingov [Viking age Scandinavian woman]. Tomsk State University Journal [Internet]. 2005 [cited 2020 November 23];288:41–48. Available from: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/skandina vskaya-zhenschina-epohi-vikingov/viewer. Russian.
  20. Gubanov IB. Struktura drevneskandinavskogo obshchestva po materialam rodovykh sag [The structure of the Old Scandinavian society based on the family sagas]. In: Myl’nikov AS, editor. Skandinavskie chteniya 1998 goda: etnograficheskie i kul’turno-istoricheskie aspekty [Scandinavian readings of 1998th: ethnographic and cultural-historical aspects]. Saint Petersburg: Nauka; 1999. p. 40–48. Russian.
  21. Gurevich AYa. Pokhody vikingov [Viking treks] [Internet]. Moscow: Nauka; 1966 [cited 2020 November 25]. 183 p. Available from: http://ulfdalir.ru/literature/124. Russian.
  22. Bennett D. Conquerors: the roots of new world horsemanship. Solvang, California: Amigo Publications Inc.; 1998. 422 р.
  23. Akunov VV. Berserki. Voiny-medvedi drevnego Severa [Berserkers. Warrior-bears of the ancient North]. Moscow: Veche; 2014. 320 p. Russian.
  24. Polo de Beaulieu M-A. Srednevekovaya Frantsiya [Medieval France] [Internet]. Moscow: Veche; 2014 [cited 2020 March 31]. 384 p. Available from: https: //history.wikireading.ru/1115. Russian.
  25. Mortimer YaV. Srednevekovaya Angliya. Putevoditel’ puteshestvennika vo vremeni [Medieval England. Time traveller’s guide] [Internet]. Moscow: Eksmo; 2014 [cited 2020 November 16]. 336 р. Available from: http://samlib.ru/m/ maori/srednewekowxe.shtml#TOC_id20237493http://samlib.ru/m/maori/srednewekowxe.shtml#TOC_id20237493. Russian.
  26. Staravojtava N, translator. [The Black island of Samsizhov (the tragicomic story about how the glorious and courtly knight Trischan rescued from captivity the great king Artyush, his best friend and mysterious knight Anzalot, as well as many other good knights of the Round Table)]. Spadchyna. 2003;4–5:102–104. Belarusian.
  27. Mojeiko MA. Meanwhile, to South of the Loire: Southern French chivalrous ideal and the formation of courtesy. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology. 2020;2:100–123. Russian.
  28. Brunel-Lobrichon G, Duhamel-Amado C. Povsednevnaya zhizn’ vo vremena trubadurov XII–XIII vekov [Everyday life during the troubadours’ time of the 12th–13th centuries] [Internet]. Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya; 2003 [cited 2020 March 11]. 416 p. Co-published by the «Palimpsest». Available from: https://coollib.com/b/228569/read https. Russian.
  29. Mojeiko MA. Phenomenon of Donna: the glamour and poverty of Fair Lady. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology. 2020;3:120–138. Russian. DOI: 10.33581/2521-6821-2020-3-120-138.
  30. Levandovskii AP. [About Arthurian, the knights of the Round Table and simply the knights]. In: Pastoureau М. Povsednevnaya zhizn’ Frantsii i Anglii vo vremena rytsarei Kruglogo stola [Everyday life of France and England during the knights of the Round Table]. Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya; 2001. р. 3–12. Russian.
  31. Zharkov SV. Rytsari: pervaya polnaya entsiklopediya [Knights: the first complete encyclopedia] [Internet]. Moscow: Yauza; 2019 [cited 2020 November 14]. 624 p. Available from: http://loveread.me/contents.php?id=64950. Russian.
  32. Ferguson AB. Zolotaya osen’ angliiskoi rytsarstvennosti. Issledovanie upadka i transformatsii rytsarskogo idealizma [The golden autumn of English chivalry. A study of the decline and transformation of chivalrous idealism]. Saint Petersburg: Evraziya; 2004. 352 p. Russian.
  33. Bec P. Burlesque et obscénité chez les troubadours: pour une approche du contre-texte médiéval. Paris: Stock; 1984. 247 p.
  34. Grente G, Bossuat R, Pichard L, Raynaud de Lage G, Hasenor G, Zink M. Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: le Moyen Âge. Paris: Fayard; 1992. 1506 p.
  35. Mussoi A. Playing with memory: The chessboard as mnemonic tool in medieval didactic literature. In: O’Sullivan DE, editor. Chess in the Middle Ages and Early Modern age. A fundamental thought paradigm of the premodern world FMC (Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern culture). Boston: De Gruyter; 2012. p. 187–198.
  36. Évrart de Conty. Le livre des eschez amoureux moralizes. Guichard-Tesson F, Roy B, compilateurs. Montréal: CERES; 1993. 828 p.
  37. Évrart de Conty. Le livre des échecs amoureux moralisés [Internet]. Accèder au site de la Bibliothèque nationale de France: Gallica [cité 2020 novembre 23]. Disponible par: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8426258c.
  38. Giogoli K, Friedman JB. Robinet Testard, court illuminator: His manuscripts and his debt to the graphic arts. Journal of the Early Book Society. 2005;8:144–188.
  39. O’Shea RL. Queening: chess and women in Medieval and Renaissance France [Internet]. 2010 [cited 2020 November 25]. 74 р. Available from: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://ru.wikipedia.org/&httpsredir= 1&article=3415&context=etd.
  40. Duniho F. Shatranji. Chessvariant [Internet]. 2001 [cited 2020 November 27]. Available from: https://www.chessvariants. com/difftaking.dir/shatranji.html.
  41. Knowlton R. Courier chess. Chess collector [Internet]. 2009 [cited 2020 November 19];XVIII;1:13–17. Available from: http://courierchess.com/newsletter/CCI-Courier-Chess-Article.pdf.
  42. Bell R. Entsiklopediya nastol’nykh igr narodov mira [Encyclopedia of board games of the peoples of the world]. Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf; 2001. 318 p. Russian.
  43. Byway PV. Modern courier chess. Variant chess [Internet]. 1992 [cited 2020 November 15];1(8):102–103. Available from: http://www.mayhematics.com/s/modco.htm.
  44. Luchitskaya S. Metafory srednevekovogo obshchestva: telo, zdanie, shakhmaty [Metaphors of medieval society: body, building, chess]. In: Zaionts LO, compiler. «Na mezhe mezh Golosom i Ekhom»: sbornik statei v chest’ T. V. Tsiv’yan [«At the boundary between the Voice and the Echo»: a collection of articles in honor of T. V. Tsivyan]. Moscow: Novoe izdatel’stvo; 2007. p. 269–275. Russian.
  45. Ivanova N. [Chess design Selenus – moon chess]. KADUN [Internet]. 2015 [cited 2021 April 15]. Available from: https:// kadun.ru/pressa/dizajn-shahmat-selenus. Russian.
  46. Diem A. A Classicising friar at work: John of Wales’ Breviloquium de virtutibus. In: Alasdair A, MacDonald AA, Zweder von Martels RVM, Veenstra JR, editors. Christian humanism: essays in honour of Arjo Vanderjagt. Leiden: Brill; 2009. p. 75–102.
  47. Diem A. Virtus est via ad gloriam. John of Wales and Michele da Massa in disagreement. Franciscan Studies. 2005; 63:219–273.
  48. Seifert J. Schach, Tod und Liebe Religiöse Deutungen und Analogien. Schachgemeinschaft 1871 Löberitz: GENS UNA SUMUS [Internet; zitiert 2020 November 11]. Erhältlich von: http://www.sg1871loeberitz.de/gesch_kolumne/ seifert.htm.
  49. Geijer E. Schacket, döden och Täby. Schacksnack [Internet; cited 2020 November 17]. Available from: http://www. schacksnack.se/artiklar/82126.
  50. Σφήκας Ν. Ζωγραφικά έργα µε θέµα το Σκάκι από τον δέκατο πέµπτο έως τον εικοστό αιώνα. Θεσσαλονίκη: Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήµιο Θεσσαλονίκης; 2007. 298 σ.
  51. Uspenskii P. [Chess study No. 3: The secret of a piece]. LIVEJOURNAL [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2020 November 21]. Available from: https://assalam786.livejournal.com/76459.html?utm_source=3userpost. Russian.
  52. Villari P. Dzhirolamo Savonarola i ego vremya. Tom 1 [Girolamo Savonarola and his time. Volume 1]. Saint Petersburg: Gryadushchii den’; 1913. 389 p. Co-published by the «Yakor’». Russian.
Published
2021-06-28
Keywords: sign system, model, signified, chess, chess pieces, hidden meanings, transformation of values, evolution of semantics
How to Cite
Mojeiko, M. A. (2021). Chess as a meaning: evolution of a significant in medieval culture. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology, 2, 64-79. https://doi.org/10.33581/2521-6821-2021-2-64-79
Issue
No 2 (2021): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology
Section
Reflections on a given topic

Copyright (c) 2021 Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:

  1. The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
  2. The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
  3. The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)