User:Emcatlowe
Libro de Juegos
The Libro de juegos, also known as the the manuscript’s illustrations reveal a rich cultural, social, and religious complexity.
Libro de juegos as a Work of Art
The miniatures in the Libro de juegos vary between half- and full-page illustrations. The half-page miniatures typically occupy the upper half of a
Having multiple
For example, in a comparison of two miniatures, found on Folios 53v and 76r, examples of these different styles are apparent, although the trope of a pair of gamers is maintained. In Folio 53v, two men are playing chess, both wearing turbans and robes. Although they may be seated on rugs on the ground, as suggested by the ceramic containers that are placed on or front of the rug near the man on the right side of the board, the figures’ seated positions, which are full frontal with knees bent at right angles, suggests that they are seated on stools or perhaps upholstered benches. The figures’ robes display a
The style in the miniature in Folio 76v is markedly different from the style in Folio 53v. In this case, the framed miniature contains two men, perhaps Spanish, with uncovered wavy light brown hair that falls to the jaw line. The men seem young, as the player on the left has no facial hair and his face is unlined. In both folios, both pairs of players are playing backgammon and seem to be well-dressed, although there is no addition of gold detailing to their robes as seen in the wardrobes of aristocratic players in other miniatures. These players are seated on the ground, leaning on pillows that are placed next to a backgammon board. In this miniature, the figure on the left side of the board faces the reader, while the figure on the right leans in to the board with his back to the reader. In other words, each player is leaning on his left elbow, using his right hand to reach across his body to play. In the miniatures of this style, the emphasis seems to be more on the posture of the player than the detail of their faces; this crossed, lounging style is only found in the folios of the Libro de tablas, the third section of the Libro de juegos which explicates the game of backgammon, again perhaps indicative of the work of a particular artist.
Other visual details contemporaneous of Alfonso’s court and social and cultural milieu infuse the Libro de juegos. Although some of the miniatures are framed by simple rectangles with corners embellished by the golden castles and lions of Castile and Leon, other are framed by medieval Spanish architectural motifs, including Gothic and
Significance of Chess Iconography in the Libro de juegos
The Libro de juegos can be divided into three parts: the games and problems it explores textually, the actual illuminations themselves, and the metaphysical extrapolation, or allegories, where an analysis of the texts and illuminations reveals the movements of the
In the
The Libro de juegos manuscript was a Castilian translation of Arabic texts, which were themselves translations of Persian manuscripts.[16] The visual trope portrayed in the Libro de juegos miniatures is seen in other European transcriptions of the Arabic translations, most notably the German Carmina Burana Manuscript:[17] two figures, one on either side of the board, with the board tilted up to reveal to the readers the moves made by the players. The juxtaposition of chess and dice in Arabic tradition, indicating the opposing values of skill (chess) and ignorance (dice),[18] was given a different spin in Alfonso’s manuscript, however. As Alfonso elucidates in the opening section of the Libro de Juegos, the Libro de ajedrex (Book of chess) demonstrates the value of the intellect, the Libro de los dados (Book of dice) illustrates that chance has supremacy over pure intellect, and the Libro de las tablas (Book of tables) celebrates a conjoined use of both intellect and chance.[19] Further, the iconographic linkage between chess and kingship in the Western tradition continued to evolve and became symbolic of kingly virtues, including skill, prudence, and intelligence.[20]
Significance of the Text in Libro de juegos
Most of the work accomplished in Alfonso’s scriptorium consisted of translations into the Castilian vernacular from Arabic translations of
A Legacy of Plurality in the Libro de juegos
In
As an inheritor of a dynamic mixture of Arabic and Latin culture, Alfonso was steeped in the rich heritage of
References
1Sonja Musser Golladay, “Los Libros de Acedrex Dados E Tablas: Historical, Artistic and Metaphysical Dimensions of Alfonso X’s Book of Games” (PhD diss., University of Arizona, 2007), 31. Although Golladay is not the first to assert that 1283 is the finish date of the Libro de Juegos, the A Quo information compiled in her dissertation consolidates the range of research concerning the initiation and completion dates of the Libro de Juegos. 2Ibid., 30. 3Luis Vázquez de Parga, “Alfonso X el Sabio,” in Libros del ajedrex, dados y tablas, edited by Vicent García Editores, Valencia, and Ediciones Poniente (Madrid, Spain: Patrimonio Nacional, 1987): 13-28, 17. 4Dwayne E. Carpenter, "Fickle Fortune: Gambling in Medieval Spain," in Studies in Philology 85, no. 3 (Summer, 1988): 267-278, 278. 5Vázquez de Parga, “Alfonso X el Sabio,” 13. 6Ana Domínguez Rodríguez, “El Libro del los juegos y la miniatura alfonsi,” in Libros del ajedrex, dados y tablas, edited by Vicent García Editores, Valencia, and Ediciones Poniente (Madrid, Spain: Patrimonio Nacional, 1987): 29-123, 32. 7Thomas F. Glick, “‘My Master, the Jew’: Observations on Interfaith Scholarly Interactions in the Middle Ages,” in Jews, Muslims and Christians In and Around the Crown of Aragón, edited by Harvey J. Hames (Leiden, Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2004): 157-182, 159. 8Ellen Kosmer and James F. Powers, “Manuscript Illustration: The Cantigas in Contemporary Art Context,” in Emperor of Culture: Alfonso X the Learned of Castile and His Thirteenth-Century Renaissance, edited by Robert I. Burns (Philadelphia, PA: University of Philadelphia Press, 1990): 46-58, 50. 9Jose Guerrero Lovillo, Miniatura Gótica Castellana: Siglos VIII y XIV. (Madrid, España: Laboratorio de Arte de la Universidad de Sevilla, Instituto Diego Velázquez, del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas: 1956), 24. 10Golladay, “Los Libros de Acedrex Dados E Tablas: Historical, Artistic and Metaphysical Dimensions of Alfonso X’s Book of Games,” 1222. 11Ibid., 1225. 12William L. Tronzo, “Moral Hieroglyphs: Chess and Dice at San Savino in Piacenza,” Gesta 16, no. 2 (1977): 15-26, 18. 13Ricardo Calvo, “El libro de los juegos de Alfonso X el Sabio.” in Libros del ajedrex, dados y tablas, edited by Vicent García Editores, Valencia, and Ediciones Poniente (Madrid, Spain: Patrimonio Nacional, 1987): 125-386, 138. 14Tronzo, “Moral Hieroglyphs: Chess and Dice at San Savino in Piacenza,” 15. 15Ibid., 15. 16Robert I. Burns, “Stupor Mundi,” in Emperor of Culture: Alfonso X the Learned of Castile and His Thirteenth-Century Renaissance, ed. Robert I. Burns (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990): 1-13, 2. 17Tronzo, “Moral Hieroglyphs: Chess and Dice at San Savino in Piacenza,”, 18. 18Ibid., 19. 19Dwayne E. Carpenter, “‘Alea jacta est’: at the Gaming Table with Alfonso the Learned,” in Journal of Medieval History 24, no. 4 (1998): 333-345, 336. 20Tronzo, “Moral Hieroglyphs: Chess and Dice at San Savino in Piacenza,” 21. 21Lloyd Kasten, “Alfonso’s Language,” in Emperor of Culture: Alfonso X the Learned of Castile and His Thirteenth-Century Renaissance, ed. Robert I. Burns (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990): 33-45, 34. 22Ibid., 34. 23Burns, “Stupor Mundi,” 7. 24Vázquez de Parga, “Alfonso X el Sabio,” 13. 25Guerrero Lovillo, Miniatura Gótica Castellana: Siglos VIII y XIV, 13. 26Burns, “Stupor Mundi,” 2. 27Kasten, “Alfonso’s Language,” 42.
External Links
Alphonso X Book of Games [1]
Ellio Avedon Museum & Archive of Games [2]
- ^ Sonja Musser Golladay, “Los Libros de Acedrex Dados E Tablas: Historical, Artistic and Metaphysical Dimensions of Alfonso X’s Book of Games” (PhD diss., University of Arizona, 2007), 31. Although Golladay is not the first to assert that 1283 is the finish date of the Libro de Juegos, the a quo information compiled in her dissertation consolidates the range of research concerning the initiation and completion dates of the Libro de Juegos.
- ^ Ibid., 30.
- ^ Luis Vázquez de Parga, “Alfonso X el Sabio,” in Libros del ajedrex, dados y tablas, edited by Vicent García Editores, Valencia, and Ediciones Poniente (Madrid, Spain: Patrimonio Nacional, 1987): 13-28, 17.
- ^ Dwayne E. Carpenter, "Fickle Fortune: Gambling in Medieval Spain," in Studies in Philology 85, no. 3 (Summer, 1988): 267-278, 278.
- ^ Vázquez de Parga, “Alfonso X el Sabio,” 13.
- ^ Ana Domínguez Rodríguez, “El Libro del los juegos y la miniatura alfonsi,” in Libros del ajedrex, dados y tablas, edited by Vicent García Editores, Valencia, and Ediciones Poniente (Madrid, Spain: Patrimonio Nacional, 1987): 29-123, 32.
- ^ Thomas F. Glick, “‘My Master, the Jew’: Observations on Interfaith Scholarly Interactions in the Middle Ages,” in Jews, Muslims and Christians In and Around the Crown of Aragón, edited by Harvey J. Hames (Leiden, Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2004): 157-182, 159.
- ^ Ellen Kosmer and James F. Powers, “Manuscript Illustration: The Cantigas in Contemporary Art Context,” in Emperor of Culture: Alfonso X the Learned of Castile and His Thirteenth-Century Renaissance, edited by Robert I. Burns (Philadelphia, PA: University of Philadelphia Press, 1990): 46-58, 50.
- ^ Jose Guerrero Lovillo, Miniatura Gótica Castellana: Siglos VIII y XIV. (Madrid, España: Laboratorio de Arte de la Universidad de Sevilla, Instituto Diego Velázquez, del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas: 1956), 24.
- ^ Golladay, “Los Libros de Acedrex Dados E Tablas: Historical, Artistic and Metaphysical Dimensions of Alfonso X’s Book of Games,” 1222.
- ^ Ibid., 1225.
- ^ William L. Tronzo, “Moral Hieroglyphs: Chess and Dice at San Savino in Piacenza,” in Gesta 16, no. 2 (1977): 15-26, 18.
- ^ Ricardo Calvo, “El libro de los juegos de Alfonso X el Sabio,” in Libros del ajedrex, dados y tablas, edited by Vicent García Editores, Valencia, and Ediciones Poniente (Madrid, Spain: Patrimonio Nacional, 1987): 125-386, 138.
- ^ Tronzo, “Moral Hieroglyphs: Chess and Dice at San Savino in Piacenza,” 15.
- ^ Ibid., 15
- ^ Robert I. Burns, “Stupor Mundi,” in Emperor of Culture: Alfonso X the Learned of Castile and His Thirteenth-Century Renaissance, ed. Robert I. Burns (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990): 1-13, 2.
- ^ Tronzo, “Moral Hieroglyphs: Chess and Dice at San Savino in Piacenza,”, 18.
- ^ Ibid., 19.
- ^ Dwayne E. Carpenter, “‘Alea jacta est’: at the Gaming Table with Alfonso the Learned,” in Journal of Medieval History 24, no. 4 (1998): 333-345, 336.
- ^ Tronzo, “Moral Hieroglyphs: Chess and Dice at San Savino in Piacenza,” 21.
- ^ Lloyd Kasten, “Alfonso’s Language,” in Emperor of Culture: Alfonso X the Learned of Castile and His Thirteenth-Century Renaissance, ed. Robert I. Burns (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990): 33-45, 34.
- ^ Ibid., 34.
- ^ Burns, “Stupor Mundi,” 7.
- ^ Vázquez de Parga, “Alfonso X el Sabio,” 13.
- ^ Guerrero Lovillo, Miniatura Gótica Castellana: Siglos VIII y XIV, 13.
- ^ Burns, “Stupor Mundi,” 2.
- ^ Kasten, “Alfonso’s Language,” 42.