In medieval times a variety of
board games were widely played with specific groups of people tending
to only play certain games in particular.
In this period chess was a game played almost exclusively by the
nobility as generally they were the only ones with the level of
education required to handle this game's relative complexity. People of
the the middle-class, such as merchants and artisans, would typically
play backgammon. Finally, the peasants would play only the simplest
games of all such as dice. The game Nine Men's Morris was also widely
played throughout the medieval period and indeed much further back into
ancient times. |
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Medieval
Chess:
Chess is a game that has been
played for many hundreds of years and, while for most of that time it
has been played in a way somewhat similar to how it is played today, it
has evolved significantly over time. In medieval times the game was
played on the same type of board with the same pieces and basic rules
as today, however, there were several variations concerning the
movement of certain pieces.
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| Medieval Chess
Piece Movement: |
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- King - one square per turn in any direction,
as today.
- Queen - one square per turn in any direction.
Note: Queen Isabella of Spain later altered this allowing the queen to
move any number of squares, as today.
- Bishop - two squares per turn diagonally and
may jump.
- Knight - Same movement as today.
- Pawn - Only ever forward by one square.
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| Nine Men's Morris: |
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| Archeological
evidence shows that this game has been widely played since ancient
times with the remains of boards being found in as diverse locations
including Bronze Age burial sites in Ireland, amongst the ruins of the
first city of Troy and at Kurana, Egypt, at a site dated from around
1400 B.C. (though this includes simpler versions of this game such as
Three Men's Morris which was also played by the Chinese as far back as
500 B.C.). Nine Men's Morris is also a game that enjoyed considerable
popularity among the Vikings. Boards have also been found carved into
the seats in English Cathedrals as used by bored monks and from the
14th Century onwards finely crafted boards as part of sets also
including chess and backgammon have been found. Many variations of this
game have existed, the most elaborate of which developed by courtiers
in Italy, though the rules for many of these have been lost. |
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Nine Men's Morris board with a game in
play. A mill of light coloured pieces is shown
(circled in dark blue).
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| Rules: |
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- Each player begins with nine pieces
off the board.
- Playing alternately, players
initially add pieces to any vacant position on the board one at a time.
The aim is to make a row of three along any printed line on the board.
Such a row is called a mill.
The simplest version of this game concludes with the first player to
successfully form a mill being the winner.
Or additionally:
- For every mill formed the
player may remove one of his opponent's pieces - provided that piece is
not part of a mill.
- When each player has committed their
nine pieces to the board play continues by players moving their pieces
along the lines to places adjacent to their pieces positions with the
objective of forming additional mills and capturing more of the
opponent's pieces.
- Mills may be formed or broken
any number of times in order to capture enemy pieces.
- The ultimate objective is to
either make it impossible for one's opponent to move their pieces or
continue to capture their pieces until only two remain.
Note: If a player is reduced to a single mill and it is their move then
they must move a piece (if possible) even if doing so will result in
that piece being taken.
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