All rights reserved.Įach of the Lewis Warders, the equivalent of Rooks or Castles in modern chess, appears as a foot soldier, protected by helmet and shield and armed with a sword. 124) © The Trustees of the British Museum. Scandinavian, probably Norway, found on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, 1831. The first line of defense and crucial to any attack, the Pawn can also be promoted to a higher rank-and even transformed into an additional Queen-if it reaches the opposite side of the board. A Pawn can only capture another piece diagonally by a single square. In medieval Spain, France, and England, the Pawn could move forward by two squares on its first move, as it can today. Pawns today follow largely the same rules that they did in the Middle Ages: they advance by moving straight ahead, a single square at a time. The considerable variety in the sizes of the Pawns suggests that the Lewis find may have included more than the four sets that are known to us. 145) © The Trustees of the British Museum. Opposing Pawns from the Lewis hoard are subtly distinguished by shape and, in one case, by a delicately carved pattern that is similar to the belt buckle that was found with the treasure. Among the Lewis chess pieces, only the Pawns do not assume human form-arguably a sad reflection of the perceived lowly status of the foot soldier. The Pawns are the foot soldiers on the "front line" of the chessboard, assembled eight on each side in a horizontal row (or "rank"). If asked to play according to medieval rules, however, almost all players today would undoubtedly misstep, as these rules have changed over time and have varied by region. From conversations with visitors to the exhibition, I have learned that some players get tripped up trying to identify the Rooks or trying to distinguish the Kings from the Queens. If a chess player today were lucky enough to set up a board with pieces from the Lewis hoard, he or she would easily recognize the cast of characters, which became standardized in the Middle Ages.
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