When the Queen became a real climber! Ancient chess text shows that the strongest piece used to be one of the weakest on the board
- Summa Collationum by John of Wales contained explanations of the rules of chess
- John said the queen could only move one square diagonally at a time
- The status of the modern queen can be dated to Spain during the reign of Isabella I
She is the most impressive piece on the chessboard. But a rare book reveals the queen wasn’t always like this.
While today she can move any distance and in any direction, she used to be a weak piece with limited movements. The 13th-century Franciscan theologian John of Wales’ Summa Collationum contained one of the earliest explanations of the rules of chess.
John said the queen could only move one square diagonally at a time. This “skewed” style reflected the fact that “women are so greedy that they don’t take anything except by rape [violent seizure] and injustice”.
She is the most impressive piece on the chessboard. But a rare book reveals the queen wasn’t always like this
The status of the modern queen can be dated to 15th-century Spain during the reign of Isabella I, perhaps as a nod to the reality of female rule.
Summa Collationum will go under the hammer on January 26th at Forum Auctions in London. It is expected to fetch £18,000 to £22,000.
The earliest references to chess date from the early 7th century and appeared in Middle Persian and Sanskrit.
The oldest known chess manual was written in Arabic two centuries later.
Early forms of the game featured a vizier, an important official in Islamic states. This became a queen over time, gradually changing the direction and distance it could move.
The status of the modern queen can be dated to 15th-century Spain during the reign of Isabella I, perhaps as a nod to the reality of female rule
French historian Marilyn Yalom, who died in 2019, supported the theory that the queen’s status in chess was related to her growing power in the real world.
“While there were few female rulers before the 15th century whose names can be clearly associated with the game, the reality of female rule was undoubtedly intertwined with the emergence and development of the chess queen,” she wrote.
Pawns can be promoted to a queen by moving to the other side of a player’s board, known as a queen.
One of the oldest openings is known as Queen’s Gambit – recently the title of the hit series starring Anya Taylor-Joy. First mentioned in 1490, White sacrifices the queen’s pawn for a tactical advantage.