Game and Playe of the Chesse: A Verbatim Reprint of the First Edition, 1474Jacobus, de Cessolis, active 1288-1322
Philosophy
Game and Playe of the Chesse: A Verbatim Reprint of the First Edition, 1474
Jacobus, de Cessolis, active 1288-1322
Chess -- Early works to 1800
One yffue and one mouynge apperteyneth vnto alle the peple/ For they may
goo fro the poynt they stande in at the first meuynge vnto the thirde
poynt right forth to fore them/ & whan they haue so don they may
afterward meue no more but fro one poynt ryght forth in to an other/ And
they may neuer retorne backward And thus goynge forth fro poynt to poynt
They may gete by vertue and strengthe/ that thynge that the other noble
fynde by dignyte/ And yf the knyghtes and other nobles helpe hem that
they come to the ferthest lygne to fore them where theyr aduersaryes
were sette. They acquyre the dignyte that the quene hath graunted to her
by grace/ For yf ony of them may come to thys sayd ligne/ yf he be white
as labourer draper phisicyen or kepar of the cyte ben/ they reteyne
suche dignyte as the quene hath/ for they haue goten hit/ and than
retornynge agayn homeward/ they may goo lyke as it is sayd in the
chapitre of the quene And yf ony of the pawns that is black/ as the
smyth the marchant the tauerner and the rybaulde may come wyth oute
domage in to the same vtterist ligne/ he shall gete by his vertu the
dignyte of the black quene And y'e shall vnderftande/ whan thyse comyn
peple meue right forth in her ligne/ and fynde ony noble persone or of
the peple of their aduersaries sette in the poynt at on ony side to fore
hym/ In that corner poynt he may take his aduersarye wherther hit be on
the right side or on the lifte/ And the cause is that the aduersaries
ben suspecyous that the comyn peple lye In a wayte to Robbe her goodes
or to take her persones whan they goo vpward right forth. And therfore
he may take in the right angle to fore hym one of his aduersaries/ As he
had espied his persone/ And in the lifte angle as robber of his goodes/
and whether hit be goynge foreward or retornynge fro black to whyte or
whyte to black/ the pawn must allway goo in his right ligne/ and all way
take in the corner that he findeth in his waye/ but he may not goo on
neyther side tyll he hath ben in the furdest ligne of theschequer/ And
that he hath taken the nature of the draughtes of the quene/ And than he
is a fiers/ And than he may goo on alle sides cornerwyse fro poynt to
poynt only as the quene doth fightynge and takynge whom he findeth in
his waye/ And whan he is thus comen to the place where y'e nobles his
aduersaries were sette he shall be named white fiers or black fiers/
after the poynt that he is in/ and there taketh he the dignyte of the
quene &c. And all these thinges may appere to them that beholden y'e
play of the chesse/ and y'e shall vnderstande that no noble man ought to
haue despite of the comyn peple/ for hit hath ben ofte tymes seen/ that
by their vertu & witte/ Diuerce of them haue comen to right highe &
grete astate as poopes bisshoppes Emþerours and kynges/ As we haue in
the historye of Dauid that was made kynge/ of a shepherd and one of the
comyn peple/ and of many other &c. And in lyke wyse we rede of the
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