FOOTNOTES:
[558] Archæological Journal, vol. v. p. 220; vol. vi. p. 74.
[559] MS. Letter from R. Hunter, Esq., 4th April 1850.
[560] Haco's Expedition, Rev. J. Johnston, 1782, p. 109.
[561] Chronicon Manniæ, Antiquitates Celto-Normanicæ. Copen. 1786, p. 44.
[563] Regist. Episc. Moraviensis, p. 456.
[564] It is not impossible that the latter name may have originally referred to the Runes on its beautiful monument. The probability, however, is lessened by the earlier forms of the name, as Ryval and Ruthwald. The reader of chartularies cannot have overlooked the endless variations of local names.
[565] Primeval Antiquities of Denmark, p. 55.
[566] Hibbert's Shetland, pp. 531, 547.
[567] Journal of Archæol. Asso. vol. i. p. 48.
[568] Ecclesiastical Notes of the Isle of Man, &c., p. 46.
[569] Camden's Britannia; Gibson's Ed. p. 1458; Gough's Ed. vol. iv. p. 510; Archæol. Scot. vol. ii. pp. 490, 505; Archæol. Journal, vol. ii. p. 75; Ecclesiol. Notes, p. 24, &c.
[570] Sinclair's Statistical Account, vol. xiii. p. 350. A local correspondent informs me that the inscription is now quite illegible.
[571] Archæologia, vol. xxviii. p. 327.
[572] Report of R. S. of Northern Antiquaries to Brit, and Amer. Mems., 1836, pp. 88,89.
[573] Archæologia, vol. xxviii. p. 327.
[574] Archæologia, vol. xxx. p. 38.
[576] Archæologia, vol. ii. p. 131, Plate IX; vol. xiv p. 113; vol xix. p. 379.
[577] Archæologia, vol. xxxii. p. 321.
[578] Archæologia, vol. xxviii. p. 346.
[579] Journ. Archæol. Assoc., vol. ii. p. 328.
[580] I am indebted for these to Lieutenant Thomas, R.N., to whom the notes were supplied by Mr. Rendall.
[581] A drawing of this interesting relic, which I had an opportunity of examining, was unfortunately lost, along with a valuable series of notes and sketches made by Lieutenant Thomas, R.N., during his residence in the Orkneys, as the officer in command of the Admiralty Survey. I have since failed in an attempt to obtain access to the original.
[582] Mr. Rendall's own notes are followed in the text, with only such additional information as the notes and sketches of Lieutenant Thomas have supplied. They differ considerably from the description given in the Archæological Journal. In this grave, for example, Mr. Rendall remarks, "no remains of iron were found." It appears probable, therefore, that some confusion exists in the previous account. I may add, the brooches are described as represented, one-half the original size, in the Journal. They are in reality only one-half the diameter,—an error of frequent occurrence in describing the figures of objects of antiquity in archæological works.
[583] Primeval Antiquities of Denmark, p. 53.
[584] After repeatedly writing, I have, in most cases, failed in obtaining any reply to my inquiries respecting these relics. They have probably already experienced the usual fate of private collections of objects of national antiquity: and have been thrown aside and forgotten or lost so soon as the novelty of first possession was over.
[585] Norste Mindesmarter. Christiania, 1823, pp. 46-48, Plate II. figs. a, b, c.
[587] Archæol. Journal, vol. vi. p. 70.
[588] Sir Walter Scott, in his Notes to the "Lord of the Isles," remarks that the brooch of Lorn "was long preserved in the family of Macdougal, and was lost in a fire which consumed their temporary residence." This though true in fact conveys an erroneous impression. The brooch was indeed lost under the circumstances referred to, but being recovered from the ruins, it passed into other hands, and was only restored to the representative of the Macdougals by General Campbell of Lochnell, at the Argyleshire county meeting in 1825.—MS. letter, John Macdougal of Macdougal, Esq., Captain R.N., to E. A. Drummond Hay, Esq., March 1828. The engraving on Plate III. (ante, p. [49]) is from a drawing taken from the original, which was forwarded for that purpose by Captain Macdougal. Pennant engraves a fine early copy of it, executed, as he conceived from the workmanship, in the time of Queen Elizabeth. It differs very considerably from the original brooch in the minuter details.—Pennant's Tour, vol. iii. p. 14.
[589] Pennant's Tour, vol. i. p. 104, Plate XIII.
CHAPTER V.
AMUSEMENTS.
In the earliest and rudest states of society, war and the chase become at once the business of life, and, with the needful preparations of weapons and other requisites, suffice to supply each day with its full complement of labour and pastime. A very slight rise, however, in the social scale, creates the desire for some artificial means of filling up the leisure hours of life; and the modes adopted for this purpose often form no uncertain criterion of the age in which they originate. We accordingly find traces of the existence of games both of chance and skill from a very remote period. Reference has already been made to spherical and truncated stones, measuring from an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, which are frequently found in tumuli. For the former the name of Bead-stones is proposed, and as they are generally perforated, their use as personal ornaments has been assumed as probable, notwithstanding their cumbrous size, and the unattractive appearance of many of them. But as they are also very frequently flat on one side, there is greater probability of the original purpose of the latter class, at least, having been for table-stones (Anglo-Saxon, tæfelstan) or draughtsmen, in which case the perforation might serve to string them together, for carrying about. In Ireland, and still more frequently in Norway, draughtsmen are found alongside of the weapons and other relics buried with the warrior. They are made generally of bone, of a conical or hemispherical shape, and with a hole in the bottom, designed, as is presumed, to admit of their use on shipboard. With these it is supposed the northmen beguiled the tedium of their long voyages; and the estimation in which they are held is implied in their deposition among the most favourite relics of the dead. We learn from Tacitus that the Germans were so passionately addicted to gambling, that they staked not only their property but their personal liberty. The Romans were themselves scarcely less given to such excesses. Among the many interesting relics restored to light from the ruins of Pompeii, not the least valuable as illustrations of the manners of the first century in Southern Italy, are the cogged dice of the old Roman gamblers. But besides these games which mingled the incentive and the excitement of chance and skill, there appears also to have been in use, from a very early period, others of the simpler class, still favourites among our rustic population, such as bowling, nine-pins, and the like; which, under the various names of skales or kayles, loggats, closh, &c., are frequently mentioned in ancient statutes, and have been found represented on manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The implements of such pastimes are not such as were likely, in many cases, to be long preserved, though it is by no means improbable that the spherical stone-balls frequently found along with ancient relics, and even in the tumuli, may have been used for some such purpose.[590] One interesting and well-authenticated example, however, is known of the discovery of a complete set of the implements for such a game, in the parish of Balmaclellan, Kirkcudbrightshire. They are thus described by the well-known antiquary, Mr. Joseph Train: "In the summer of 1834, as the servants of Mr. Bell of Baryown, were casting peats on Ironmacaunnie Moor, when cutting near the bottom of the moss, they laid open with their spades what appeared to be the instruments of an ancient game, consisting of an oaken ball, eighteen inches in circumference, and seven wooden pins, each thirteen inches in length, of a conical shape, with a circular top. These ancient Reel Pins, as they are termed by Strutt, were all standing erect on the hard till, equidistant from each other, with the exception of two, which pointed towards the ball that lay about a yard in front, from which it may be inferred they were overthrown in the course of the game. The ball has been formed of solid oak, and, from its decayed state, must have remained undisturbed for centuries, till discovered at a depth of not less than twelve feet from the original surface. At Pompeii, utensils are often found, seemingly in the very position in which they were last used. This may be accounted for by the suddenness of the calamity that befell that devoted city; but what induced or impelled the ancient gamesters, in this remote corner of the Glenkens, to leave the instruments of their amusements in what might be considered the middle of the game? These relics, which are in my possession, can now only be prized for their curiosity, the singular position in which they were found, and the relation they bear to ancient times."[591] The moss in which this remarkable discovery was made is described as a place where peats have been cut from time immemorial. It were vain to speculate on the origin or owners of these homely relics of obsolete pastimes; yet to the curious fancy, indulging in the reanimation of such long-silent scenes, they seem suggestive of the sudden intrusion, it may be, of invaders, the hasty call to arms, the utter desolation of the scene, and then the slow lapse of unnumbered centuries, during which the moss accumulated above them so gently that it seems as if the old revellers were to return and play out their unfinished game.
Amusements of the latter class scarcely admit of much refinement, and may well be supposed to have exercised fully as much ingenuity among the ancient players of the Glenkens, as they now do in the bowling-green or skittle-ground. From them, indeed, modern refinement has educed the practised art of the billiard-table. In a simpler age the improvement assumed a more practical form, and gave way to putting the stone, throwing the hammer, and the like trials of strength, which appear to have been favourite pastimes among the Scottish Highlanders from the earliest periods to which their traditions extend.
In complete contrast to these are the amusements indicated by the bone draughtsmen or bead-stones of the tumuli. They are appropriately classed by Strutt in his "Sports and Pastimes," under the general title of "Sedentary Games;" and he furnishes much curious information regarding medieval pastimes, of which traces may be detected in the remoter periods into which we are inquiring. The construction of regular draughtsmen and chessmen is in itself an evidence of increased taste for such amusements. The ancients employed stones, shells, or nuts as counters, and also, there is reason to think, as tablemen, in games of this nature. Hence the Greek name ψηφοι, and the Roman calculi and scrupuli; from whence scrupus, a table-man, or chessman. The Scandinavian terms are of similar import; and among the ancient Northern games which have survived as popular pastimes in Iceland and Lapland, we find the very same which figure among the illuminations of medieval manuscripts, and have influenced the grotesque decorations of our early ecclesiastical architecture. "Of such games," says a writer in the Report of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, "we find that our Pagan ancestors were acquainted with at least three different sorts, namely, hnefatafl, fist-play, i.e., hand-play;[592] hnottafl, nut-play; and skáktafl, chess. Hnottafl signifies properly a game played with nuts, or pieces shaped like nuts. A húni—i.e., a bear, or bear's cub—was anciently the principal personage in it; but in Iceland, where the fox is the only beast of prey, this animal eventually superseded the bear, and the game then came to be denominated refskál. The other pieces represented sheep, or lambs, pursued by Reynard. In the variety of this game, which still forms one of the favourite diversions of the Laplanders, the fox continues to play his part, with this difference, that he there pursues geese instead of lambs; as in the Gänsespiel of the Germans, the Fox and geese of the English, the Ganzespeel of the Dutch, the Jeu d'oie of the French, &c. In Denmark a dog usually takes the place of the fox, and hares of the geese; and hence the game is there called Hund og hare, or hound and hare." According to the Irish chroniclers, Cahir Mor, who died A.D. 177, left, among other legacies to his son, both chessboards (fichell) and chessmen (muintir;) and the Welsh laws of Howel Dha, (circa A.D. 943,) refer to some species of game played with pieces of different colours, (werin,) on a table-board, (tawlbwrdd.) In Bishop Percy's "Translation of Runic Poetry," a Northern hero says,—"I am master of nine accomplishments. I play at chess; I know how to engrave Runic characters," &c.; and in a curious Anglo-Saxon poem, translated for the first time into English by Mr. J. M. Kemble in his paper on Anglo-Saxon Runes, this stanza occurs:—
Chessman is ever
Play and laughter
To the proud, where
Warriors sit
In the beer-hall
Blithe together.
It is not necessary to assume that all, or indeed any of these allusions necessarily apply to the game of chess, but only to one of the old table-games, played with pieces, many of which will more readily account for the "play and laughter" in the warrior's hall than that skilful and complicated game. These, as well as so many other of the primitive arts and rites of the North, were in all probability brought with the earlier nomades from the eastern cradle-land of our race; for more than one representation of such table-games has been discovered among the pictorial decorations of the Egyptian temples. Dr. Brunton has figured two of these at Medinat Haboo, in his Excerpta Hieroglyphica, in one of which (Plate XIII.) the table and pieces are partly obliterated, but in the other (Plate XI.) it is observable that the pieces are all alike, resembling the most common modern form of chess-pawns. The players are also in both cases moving their pieces at the same time; so that the Egyptian game evidently bore very slight resemblance to chess, and may with more probability be sought for among the early table-games of the north of Europe.
The great antiquity of the game of chess has been long since established on indisputable evidence. For its invention and earliest form the best authorities agree in looking to India, whither the simpler table-games of Egypt may have passed before the migration of the Teutonic races from Asia, and been returned from thence to Europe in their later and more complicated forms. In the ninth century, while yet the Northmen were only known along the British coasts as the dreaded marauding Vikings, Ragnar Lodbrog is reputed to have visited the Hellespont, and the intercourse between the Scandinavians and the Greeks of the Lower Empire, is an accredited feature of well authenticated history. But pilgrimages to Rome, and the passing and repassing of the clergy from Britain to the Continent, were matters of common occurrence at an earlier date; so that there can be no difficulty as to the means by which the game might be introduced from Asia to the north of Europe. Into this curious question Sir Frederick Madden has entered with great learning and ability, collecting the numerous observations of previous writers, and illustrating them from his own copious stores.[593] It will suffice for our present purpose to notice the remarkable illustrations of the implements of this game which have been discovered in Scotland, surpassing in number and value any specimens of ancient chessmen known to exist, if we except the set still preserved in the Cabinet of Antiquities in the Bibliothèque du Roi at Paris, and which there is satisfactory evidence for believing may be the very chessmen presented to Charlemagne by the Empress Irene, or her successor Nicephorus.
In the spring of 1831, the inroads effected by the sea undermined and carried away a considerable portion of a sandbank in the parish of Uig, Isle of Lewis, and uncovered a small subterranean stone building like an oven, at some depth below the surface. The exposure of this singular structure having excited the curiosity, or more probably the cupidity, of a peasant who chanced to be working in the neighbourhood, he proceeded to break into it, when he was astonished to see what he concluded to be an assemblage of elves or gnomes upon whose mysteries he had unconsciously intruded. The superstitious Highlander flung down his spade, and fled home in dismay; but incited by the bolder curiosity of his wife he was at length induced to return to the spot, and bring away with him the singular little ivory figures, which had not unnaturally appeared to him the pigmy sprites of Celtic folk-lore. They consisted in all of at least ninety-two pieces, including fourteen tablemen or draughtsmen, eight of which are kings, eight queens, thirteen bishops, fifteen knights, and twelve figures of footmen, to which Sir Frederick Madden gives the name of warders.[594] These have been so carefully and minutely illustrated in the valuable remarks in the Archæologia, that a slight description will now suffice.
They form altogether portions of eight or more sets, none of which, however, appear to be complete. They vary considerably in size, the largest being four and one-eighth inches in height, while the smallest measures fully an inch less; but the smaller sets are, upon the whole, more carefully and elaborately carved. The annexed illustration represents one of the smaller kings, now in the collection of Mr. Sharp. In point of costume it closely resembles the example engraved in the Archæologia, as well as the others of the set, though differing somewhat in the fashion of the beard. The king is represented as an old bearded man, with long hair falling in plaits over his shoulders, and a low trefoil crown on his head. He is seated on a chair with a high back, richly carved with intricate tracery and ornaments, corresponding, for the most part, to the style of decoration with which we are familiar on the Romanesque work of the twelfth century, and holds a short sword with both hands across his knees, as if in the act of drawing it.
The queens are crowned and throned in like manner. They are represented seated in a contemplative posture, resting the head upon the hand; and two of them hold drinking horns in their left hands. The most striking portion of their costume, represented in the accompanying engraving from one of those in Mr. Sharp's collection, is a species of hood depending from the back of the head, and spreading over the shoulders.[595]
Of the bishops some are seated in chairs similar to those occupied by the kings and queens, while others are in a standing posture. Sir F. Madden remarks, "all of the sitting figures and four of the standing ones wear the chasuble, dalmatic, stole, and tunic of the form anciently prescribed, and corresponding with representations of much greater antiquity. The remainder have a cope instead of a chasuble, but omit the stole and dalmatic. The mitres are very low, and in some instances quite plain, but have the double band or infulæ attached behind. The hair is cut short round the head. They hold a crosier with one or with both hands; and in the former instances, the other hand holds a book or is raised in the attitude of benediction."
The knights afford perhaps the most characteristic examples of the costume of the period. They are mounted on horseback, armed with a heavy spear, and a long kite-shaped shield. Beneath the shield appears the sword, attached to the waist by a belt. The helmets are mostly of a conical shape, in addition to which several have nasals projecting in front, and round flaps protecting the ears and neck. The horses are caparisoned in high saddles, stirrups, and bridles, and with long saddlecloths, fringed with ornamental borders, reaching to the ground.
The footmen or warders bear the same kite-shaped shields as the horsemen, and are armed with swords and head-pieces of iron of different forms. The costume otherwise worn by them has obviously been made subservient to the convenience of the carver, as in the long saddlecloths of the horsemen, and consists, for the most part, of an ample flowing robe, reaching to the ground and concealing the feet. Numerous variations occur in the details of these remarkable carvings, and the utmost variety of design characterizes the ornamentation of the chairs on which the kings, queens, and bishops are seated. Their dresses also vary in ornamental detail, and each of the shields, both of the knights and warders, is decorated with some peculiar device or interlaced pattern, some of which approach very nearly to the heraldic blazonry of a later period, and no doubt indicate the first accidental rudiments of medieval cognizances.
The various details of costume and ornament indicated in this brief description, furnish the chief evidence by which we may hope to assign the period and place of manufacture of these interesting works of early art. This question has already been discussed with much learning and ability by Sir Frederick Madden, who remarks, "I shall now proceed to develop the result of my inquiries in respect to the place where and the period when these chessmen were in all probability manufactured. I shall draw my inferences from three separate subjects of consideration; the material of which they are made, the costume in which they appear, and the historical passages to be found in the ancient writings of Scandinavia; and from each I shall endeavour to prove that these pieces were executed about the middle of the twelfth century, by the same extraordinary race of people who, at an earlier period of time, under the general name of Northmen, overran the greater part of Europe." Against the conclusions carefully arrived at by following out this proposed course of reasoning, with the exception of the period to which they are assigned, I venture, in all deference, to enter a demurrer. It has been so long the fashion to assign every indication of early art and civilisation found in Scotland to these Scandinavian invaders,—though, as I trust has already been shewn, in many cases without evidence and upon false premises,—that it becomes the Scottish archæologist to receive such conclusions with caution, even when advanced by high authorities and supported by evidence. The farther we pursue this investigation into the history of primitive native art we find the less reason to assign to it a foreign origin, or to adopt the improbable theory that the rude Scandinavian rovers brought with them from the Pagan North new elements of civilisation and refinement to replace the Christian arts which they eradicated at the point of the sword. Singer justly remarks on the characteristic difference between the Greek and Scandinavian traditions of the mythic artist, Dædalus or Weland, that the Greeks ascribed to theirs: "Plastic works, and above all images of the gods, while the Scandinavians attributed to their workman principally weapons of a superior temper. It is that the Greeks were a people alive to the beauty of mythologic representations. The Scandinavians, on the contrary, valued nothing but good swords, with which they conquered that which the rude climate of the North denied them."[596] Doubtless, by the middle of the twelfth century a very great change had taken place, but then we trace it not in the invention of a northern Christian art, but in the tardy adoption of what was already common to the ecclesiology and arts of Christendom.
As to the material of the Lewis chessmen, the mere fact of their being made of the tusks of the Rostungr or Walrus—the "huel-bone" of Chaucer—can no more prove their Scandinavian origin, than that of the still older set of Charlemagne being of ivory[597] (presuming this to mean the elephant's tusk) affords any evidence of Indian manufacture. By the middle of the twelfth century, the Northmen had traded as well as warred with Scotland for nearly three centuries, and were at that late period, as Mr. Worsaae remarks, "the central point for an extensive commerce between the east and the northern parts of Europe."[598] The author of the Kongs-Skugg-sio, or Speculum Regale, composed, as Einersen concludes, between the years 1154-1164, but certainly before the close of the century, takes particular notice of the Rostungr, and mentions also the circumstance of its teeth and hide being used as articles of commerce. Such indeed almost of necessity follows from the evidence of the frequent voyages of the Scandinavians in pursuit of these animals, at a time when they had abandoned the old predatory habits of the Vikings for a regular government and peaceful intercourse with other nations. The nature of their settlements on the Scottish islands and mainland, and their alliances and intermarriage with the aboriginal race, may also suffice, if further proof be needed, to shew that the walrus ivory could be no great rarity in Scotland, when it formed a special article of commerce with the Northmen. We accordingly find distinct evidence of its native use: "Ivory dirk-hilts, elegantly turned or wrought by the hand, were manufactured in various parts of the Highlands and isles. Of these specimens still remain at Fingask and Glengary,"[599] and a curious large sword, evidently of early date, preserved at Hawthornden, near Edinburgh, has the hilt made of the narwhal's tusk. The argument of Scandinavian origin from the material is therefore of no value, and the varied devices on the chairs and other highly decorated portions of the Lewis chessmen are equally little indicative of Northern art. They are the same details as are familiar to us on the Romanesque work of the twelfth century, never yet traced to a Northern source. In St. Magnus Cathedral we have a most valuable specimen of Romanesque style, executed in obedience to the piety of a Scandinavian jarl of the Scottish Isles, but so far from finding in it any trace of a style peculiar to the Northmen, its oldest portions are characterized by the usual features of the fully developed style, manifestly derived from Southern models, and betraying in these the later date of its foundation than the examples of the same class which still remain at Durham and Dunfermline. No Scandinavian ecclesiologist, I believe, doubts the foreign origin of the few examples of the earlier styles of medieval ecclesiastical architecture still remaining in Norway and Sweden; and the evidence already adduced tends to suggest the conclusion that whatever military and naval skill the natives of Scotland might acquire from their intercourse with the Northmen, they were much more likely to impart than to receive a superior knowledge in the arts of the sculptor and the carver. Christianity was introduced into Scotland and Ireland some centuries before its acceptance by the Scandinavians, yet the primitive Christian monuments of Denmark or Norway will, as works of art, bear no comparison with those which preceded them in Scotland.
To the costume of the twelfth century we must therefore look for the only safe guide to the origin of the Lewis chessmen. Those of the kings and queens are of little value for this purpose, and those of the bishops, though minutest of all, of none. It is to the military costume of which the knights and footmen afford such curious examples that we must have recourse for some solution of the question. But these also are mostly of Southern and not of Scandinavian origin. Both the shield and the pointed helmet are what would usually be styled Norman. We find the kite-shaped shield represented in the Bayeux tapestry; a curious example of it is engraved on a candlestick of the twelfth century, now in the collection at Goodrich Court;[600] and a still more conclusive instance is the remarkable group of warriors, each with nasal, spear, and kite-shaped shield, sculptured on the lintel of the doorway of Fordington Church, Dorchester, circa 1160.[601] Sir S. R. Meyrick conjectures that the Normans derived this shield from Sicily. There is, at any rate, good evidence for believing that while it was in use in Britain early in the twelfth century, the Northmen retained their round shield till a later period. Judging from Mr. Worsaae's valuable treatise, as well as from the "Guide to Northern Antiquities," the round shield appears to be alone known among the defensive arms of the latest Pagan period, which closes little more than a century prior to the probable date of the Lewis chessmen. But Sir F. Madden has referred to an authority the bearing of which on this point has escaped him, although it seems conclusive. The passage is that in Giraldus, (quoted from a MS. temp. John,) in which he describes the descent of the Norwegians under Hasculph or Asgal, to attack the city of Dublin, then defended by Miles de Cogan, about the year 1172, as follows: "A navibus igitur certatim erumpentibus, duce Johanne ... viri bellicosi Danico more undique ferro vestiti, alii loricis longis, alii laminis ferreis arte consutis, clipeis quoque rotundis et rubris, circulariter ferro munitis, homines tam animis ferrei quam armis, ordinatis turmis, ad portam orientalem muros invadunt." Such shields, formed of wood bound with iron, and with an iron umbo in the centre, are still preserved in Norway, and correspond not only to the requisitions of the old Gulathings-law, cap. 309, circa 1180, but even to a later one—circa 1270. Into the minuter details of wambeys, gambeson, panzar, &c., referred to in the Archæologia, it is needless to enter, because most of them are wanting on the chessmen, or can at best only be guessed at. Were the swords and shields removed from the warders, along with their beards, so little would any one dream of detecting such traces of medieval armour in their costume, that even their sex might be in doubt, and some of their conical helmets and gambesons might serve equally well for the scapulars and tunics of gentle nuns.[602] Of the horsemen also little positive can be made out of anything but the helmet and shield; and of the former scarcely two are alike on knights or warders, the difference in some of them amounting to a total dissimilarity in form and fashion. Perhaps the most remarkable feature in the knight-pieces is the small size of the horses, so characteristic of the old Scottish breed. But it is even matter of doubt if the Norse warriors of the twelfth century ever fought on horseback. If they did so at that period, it was a novelty borrowed, like their new faith and arts, from the nations of the south.
A figure of a mounted warrior, apparently bearing a close resemblance to the chess knights, with a peaked helmet, carrying a spear, and with a long saddle cloth pendant from his horse, is sculptured in relief, amid knotwork and floriated ornaments, on an early monumental slab in the Relig Oran at Iona. A claymore of antique form occupies the centre of the slab, but the shield is concealed by the position of the figure. It is not, however, to the sculptured monuments either of Scotland or of Norway and Denmark that we must look for identifying the costume of these figures with any contemporary examples. Fortunately the same class of evidence has been preserved, on perhaps still more trustworthy authority, not in marble but in wax, in the royal and baronial seals attached to early charters. From these we learn that prior to the date of the Norwegians assailing Miles de Cogan, armed with their "shields, round and red," both the peaked helmet and nasal, and the kite-shaped shield, were the usual defensive armour of the Scottish baron. On the seal, for example, appended to the charter of Robert de Lundres, c. A.D. 1165, conveying a carucate of land in Roxburghshire to the Abbey of Melros, the knight is represented on horseback in full armour, with a flattened helmet with nasal and a kite-shaped shield.[603] So also in the seals of Uchtred, son of Osulf: William son of John: Philip de Valoniis, chamberlain of Scotland, c. A.D. 1176; and on that of Richard de Morville, constable of Scotland, appended to a charter A.D. 1176: all among the charters of the Abbey of Melros, about the middle of the twelfth century, we find the kite-shaped shield, the nasal, and the peaked helmet; while in the very beautiful seal of Patrick de Dunbar, c. A.D. 1200, the nasal appears attached to a round chapel-de-fer, very similar to those worn by some of the Lewis warders.[604] Such examples might be greatly multiplied, but these are sufficient to shew the entire correspondence of the chessmen found in Lewis, both with the contemporary native costume and with other productions of Scottish art of the twelfth century, while it still remains to be shewn that such resemblance is traceable in any single undoubted Scandinavian work of the same period. The intimate intercourse between the Scandinavian and native races of the north of Scotland, and their offensive and defensive alliances already referred to, would indeed render it probable that in the twelfth century no great difference existed in their weapons or defensive armour. Yet we find no traces in the arms or armour of the Scottish Highlanders, with whom alone such close alliances were formed, of anything resembling those in question. In the Lothians, or Saxonia, as it is sometimes styled even in the Pictish Chronicle, it was entirely different. Before the close of the eleventh century, a mingled Saxon and Norman population occupied the old kingdom of Northumbria, a Saxon queen shared the Scottish throne, and exercised a most important influence in changing the manners of the people, and in modifying and reforming their ecclesiastical system. To this period, therefore, and from this source it is that we must look for the introduction of the military costume of the South, as well as of the minutiæ of clerical attire, which may be presumed to have previously been as little in conformity with the Roman model as the other parts of the system.
Founding on the supposed discovery of the Lewis chessmen within tide-mark, and exposed to the sea on the shores of Lewis, it has been suggested that they "formed part of the stock of an Icelandic kaup-mann or merchant, who carried these articles to the Hebrides or Ireland for the sake of traffic; and the ship in which they were conveyed being wrecked, these figures were swept by the waves on shore, and buried beneath the sandbank."[605] This supposition, however, was formed under imperfect information of the circumstances attending the discovery, as they were found in a stone building, which, from the general description furnished of it, there appears reason to assume, must have been a Scottish Weem, and in the vicinity of a considerable ruin. There is greater probability in the earlier conjecture, that the carving of these ancient chessmen may have helped to relieve the monotony of cloistral seclusion. The minuteness of detail in the ecclesiastical costume is much more explicable on such a supposition than by a theory which would ascribe either to an Icelandic kaup-mann, or Norse carver of the twelfth century, such a knowledge of Episcopal chasuble, dalmatic, stole, cope, and tunic, as is traceable in the bishops of the Lewis chessmen.
Danish antiquaries have naturally been little inclined to dispute the idea of a Scandinavian origin assigned on such high authority to the beautiful specimens of carved chessmen found in Scotland. A keen spirit of nationality has been enlisted with the happiest effects in the cause of Northern Archæology, and however honestly bent on the discovery of truth, it was scarcely to be looked for that the Danish archæologist should search too curiously into the evidence by which such valuable relics were handed over to him. They are, accordingly, referred to in the Report of the Northern Antiquaries for 1836, under the title of Scandinavian Chessmen, and at length figure in the "Guide to Northern Archæology," among articles from the Christian Period, without its even being hinted that they were discovered, not in Denmark but in Scotland. The subject is treated more at large in the interesting paper on "Some Ancient Scandinavian Chessmen," included in the Report of the Northern Antiquaries to its British and American Members, in which several specimens found in Scandinavia are described and engraved. One of these, a female figure on horseback, supposed to be a queen-piece, (also figured in the Guide to Northern Archæology, p. 75,) is in the private collection of Professor Sjöborg. On it the writer remarks,—"The serpentine ornament upon it resembles, it will be observed, those on several of the chessmen found at Lewis. The mantle, too, or veil, hanging down the shoulders of the figure, is another point of similitude between them." A comparison of the engraving in Lord Ellesmere's translation of the Guide to Northern Archæology, with the Lewis chessmen in the British Museum, will suffice to shew how easily men are persuaded of what they wish to believe. The character both of horse and rider essentially differ; the costumes in no way resemble each other more than all female dresses necessarily do; while the horses differ as much as is well possible. In the Lewis knights their horses' manes are cut short and stand up, while the hair hangs down over their foreheads. In the Scandinavian example the mane is long, and the forehead uncovered; and what is no less worthy of note, the horse, both in this and the following examples, differs from the former in being of full size, as tested by the comparative proportions of the rider. The horse-furniture is equally dissimilar: but a still greater and more important disagreement is in the style of art. A very great resemblance may be traced between the square forms and most characteristic details of the Lewis horses' heads, and the contemporary sculptures of Dalmeny Church, Linlithgowshire, where a series of similar heads occur in the corbel-table of the Apse. Such a comparison affords the best test of style, the peculiarities of which are more easily illustrated than described. No such resemblance could possibly be suggested by Professor Sjöborg's chesspiece; and the similarity which the Danish antiquaries discover in its serpentine ornament to those of the Lewis carvings, is little more satisfactory. The difference in style is no less obvious in two carved groups from the Christiansborg Collection at Copenhagen, (tab. vi. figs. 1, 2,) representing, the one a king and the other a queen on horseback, and surrounded each by four attendants. They are also formed of the tooth of the Rostungr or walrus, and are believed to be the king and queen pieces of a set of chessmen. It is sufficient to say of them that they bear equally little resemblance to the Lewis figures in arms, armour, costume, or ornamental details. In Scotland it is otherwise. Examples have been found there admitting of comparison with the Lewis chessmen. Pennant engraves one discovered in the ruins of Dunstaffnage Castle, Argyleshire, the ancient royal abode of the Dalriadic kings. It represents a king seated in a chair of square form, holding a book in the left hand. The costume differs from the kings of the Lewis sets, and obviously belongs to a somewhat later period; but the general arrangement of the figures correspond, and there can be no doubt that the latter is the king-piece of a similar set of chessmen. It is still preserved at Dunstaffnage, where it was examined by Pennant in 1772.[606]
Another of the chesspieces referred to is in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries, and furnishes a most beautiful example of the skill of the early carvers. It is also wrought from the walrus ivory, and may be presumed to have formed a warder or rook-piece of the set. It represents two mailed knights, armed with sword and shield, and may be ascribed to the early part of the thirteenth century. The shields are shorter than in the Lewis figures, and the devices afford an interesting means of comparison. Several of the ornamental patterns wrought on the shields of the former bear such close resemblance to heraldic distinctions that they admit of intelligible description according to rules of blazonry, yet they are all evidently mere arbitrary ornaments and not bearings; whereas on one of the shields of the latter knight we have a curious and very early example of dimidiation in heraldry,—a fleur-de-lys dimidiated on a diapered field,—a figure little likely to be chosen for mere ornament. The history of this interesting relic is unknown. It was presented to the Society by Lord Macdonald in 1782, as the handle of a Highland dirk. From his extensive possessions in the Isle of Skye, it is not improbable that it may have been found there, where the frequent discovery of relics of different periods attests the ancient presence of a population skilled in the useful and ornamental arts. It measures three and five-eighth inches in height, and is fully equal, in point of workmanship, to any of the Lewis figures, though certainly exhibiting no characteristics which should suggest any doubt of its native workmanship.
Chesspiece, Scottish Antiquarian Museum.
The annexed woodcut exhibits another chesspiece, apparently of a still later date, preserved in the collection formed by Sir John Clerk at Penicuick House. Attached to it is a parchment label in the handwriting of the old Scottish Antiquary, which thus describes it: "An ancient piece of sculpture on the tooth of a whale. It was found by Jo. Adair, geographer, in the north of Scotland, anno 1682. All the figures are remarkable." John Adair, geographer for Scotland, was appointed by the Lords of the Scottish Privy-Council, in 1682, to make a survey of the whole kingdom, and maps of the different shires. This he effected, and published the first part of his work, but, unfortunately, obstacles arising apparently from the tardy advances of the necessary funds, prevented the second part—including his voyage round the Western Isles and an account of the Roman wall—from ever appearing, and his papers, it is to be feared, no longer exist.[607] It was, no doubt, while he was engaged on this survey, that the interesting relic was discovered which is figured here. It has evidently formed a queen-piece, though consisting in all of seven figures. The queen is represented crowned, and seated on her throne, with a lap-dog on her knee, and apparently a book in her right hand. On her left is a knight in full armour, with drawn sword, and from whose costume we can have little hesitation in assigning the work to the early part of the fourteenth century. On the right hand of the throne stands a trouvere or minstrel playing on the crowde, an ancient musical instrument somewhat resembling the violin. Behind are four female figures, holding each other by the hand, and the one next to the minstrel bearing a palm-branch. This curious chesspiece is of great value; as adding another link to the chain of chronological evidence by which we trace the continuous native production of these costly relics of ancient pastime in our own country.
Queen-piece, Penicuick House.
Mr. Albert Way has described two other very curious chessmen, both knight-pieces. One of these, which is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, is also believed to be made of the walrus tooth, and is interesting as an example of military costume, apparently belonging to the early part of the reign of Henry III. The other figure is carved in ivory, and furnishes a very minute and characteristic illustration of the military costume and horse-armour in use during the reign of Edward III.[608] But a much more remarkable relic of the same class, believed to be a queen-piece, is figured and described in the Archæological Journal.[609] It was found, about twenty years since, in the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey, and is said to bear some resemblance to another of inferior workmanship, discovered along with several chesspieces at Woodperry, Oxfordshire. One of these, a bishop, is also engraved in the Archæological Journal.[610] The form of the Kirkstall piece is further illustrated by the illuminations of a German MS. of the fourteenth century,[611] where Otho, Marquis of Brandenbourg, who died in 1298, is represented playing at chess with a lady, and with such a piece before him on the board. The details of this queen-piece are very peculiar. The four-leaved flower and triangular foliation would suggest a date not earlier than the close of the thirteenth century; nor is there anything irreconcilable with this in the very singular figures which they accompany. A parallel may be found to the most remarkable of them in the sculptural details which the exuberant fancy of that period lavished on cathedrals and shrines, without, we may suspect, always troubling themselves for the meanings which modern symbolists insist on deducing from them.
One other Scottish example of a chesspiece may be mentioned. It is a small mutilated ivory figure, apparently of a king, in classic costume, and with a drawn sword in his hand, found a few years since among the ruins of North-Berwick Abbey. But it belongs to a much more recent period than any of those previously referred to, and is inferior to them as a work of art. Were it not, indeed, for the Scandinavian origin so generally assigned to nearly all the early examples of British chessmen, their manifest classification among the productions of Christian art would have rendered it more consistent with an orderly system of chronology to treat of them along with late medieval antiquities. The "Collection of Inventories of the Royal Wardrobe and Jewel House," among its many curious items, furnishes this interesting notice of the tables and chessmen of James IV., and possibly of older Scottish kings:—"Ane pair of tabillis of silvir, ourgilt with gold, indentit with jasp and cristallyne, with table men and chess men of jasp and cristallyne."[612] The entry sufficiently shews the familiarity of the Scottish court with the use both of table and chessmen at the date of its record, in the reign of James V., A.D. 1539. But evidence is hardly needed to prove the knowledge of a pastime which was then a favourite in every European court. The tables and chessmen are entered among the royal jewels, and unfortunately their costly materials, which admitted of such a classification, render it vain to hope that they may still be in existence, like the older but more homely chessmen of Charlemagne.