The Lewis Chessmen are simply amazing. New book captures their spirit while presenting us with a very detailed look of the material they were made of and how they were produced.
The Lewis Chessmen belong to a group of archaeological objects that nearly everyone knows and can identify by sight. Seventy-eight pieces in all, they were miraculously discovered in 1831 on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. A later report states that they were found hidden in a shallow, stone-built box in a sand dune close to the coast, together with fourteen tablemen and a belt buckle. A study of their style reveals that they were probably carved sometime between 1150 and 1200.
We know them so well, of course, because they appear in virtually every publication about Vikings that we can think of. In a sense, they have defined our idea of what Vikings looked like—kings, queens, thrones, crowns, shields, berserkers, bishops, and warders. It seems we cannot stop looking at these little marvels.
It stands to reason that, since their discovery, the Lewis Chessmen have been studied from all angles and published in a wide variety of contexts. However, apart from pamphlets, no major book had until now been devoted to these tiny figures. A recent book, published by the National Museum of Scotland in conjunction with the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, now remedies this.
The book is a collection of articles stemming from a conference held at the National Museum of Scotland in 2010, in connection with an exhibition of the complete collection (some pieces are held by the British Museum and were on loan for the occasion). However, this is not merely a collection of articles. It is, in fact, a carefully edited and coherent presentation of the Chessmen and their material, artistic, and historical context.
In the first section, we are given a very detailed presentation of the chess pieces and their physical appearance. By studying, for instance, their facial expressions, it is possible to determine that at least five artists may have been involved. We also learn that the chess pieces were probably partly painted. In addition, the section provides insight into the lifeworld in which the chessmen were understood: where did the idea of the berserkers originate, and what can the pieces tell us about queens and their roles? Not least, the question is raised of how we should understand the various gestures of the figurative pieces.
The second section is devoted to reconstructing the political and geographical context: the Kingdom of the Isles, Man, Norway, Iceland, and the maritime world in which the chessmen were produced. Along the way, the reader is offered an excellent introduction to walrus hunting and the ivory trade in the North Atlantic. In particular, the enigmatic nature of the Kingdom of the Isles and the lifeworld of the chessmen is explored. An understanding of both the hoard and the kingdom seems to be inextricably intertwined, as Hall and Caldwell note in their introduction.
The third section focuses more specifically on the context of gaming. What was the cultural value of such chessmen? Who might have purchased them, or received them as gifts? How was the game of chess played, and how does it relate to hnefatafl, the Icelandic board game? Finally, what role did games play in Old Norse–Icelandic fiction and cultural life? In a particularly rewarding essay, Heather Pulliam argues that the Lewis Chessmen make it especially easy for players to identify figuratively with the pieces they represent. Compared with the so-called Chessmen of Charlemagne, where the king is enclosed within his castle and flanked by attendants, the thrones of the Lewis kings are almost invisible, exposing them as “persons” rather than merely “incumbents of royal office.”
This is a splendid collection. It invites the reader into the laboratory of archaeologists and historians, who strive to extract as much information as possible from every detail. Here, the devil truly lies in the detail. At the same time, the volume offers broader interpretative sketches that help us better understand the contexts in which the Lewis Chessmen were meant to be displayed, admired, and played with.
That said, the published volume does not provide a fully rounded presentation of the Lewis Chessmen. It lacks, for example, a clear introductory overview of the hoard, which took me some time to locate at the back of the book. Nevertheless, it offers a set of articles that, taken together, advance our understanding of the chessmen in a significant and meaningful way.
This is truly a worthwhile read.
Karen Schousboe
The Lewis Chessmen. New Perspectives
Edited by David H Caldwell and Mark A Hall
Published by NMS Enterprises Limited 2014
ISBN 978 1 905267 85 9
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
David H Caldwell was formerly Keeper of two departments in National Museums Scotland – Scotland and Europe, and Archaeology.
Mark A Hall is History Officer for Perth Museum and Art Gallery, where he is principally responsible for the curation of the archaeology collections.