Medieval chess pieces

European Museums, The British Museum

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Chess was conceived as a game of strategy and skill. In the medieval period it was used to sharpen the tactical abilities of knights and was seen as one of seven knightly accomplishments. The Church, however, explicitly forbade the playing of chess by members of the clergy but gradually relaxed its view by about 1200 Men and women also played chess together and it became associated with flirtation and the battle of the sexes in medieval love poetry.

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Medieval chess

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