The game of the Four Seasons making gaming counters

The game board and the seven sided dice for the medieval Game of the Four Seasons, called the World being ready, the only remaining pieces to be made were the gaming counters. I will first provide some medieval examples of gaming counters for tables (backgammon and tric trac like games) and then continue with the making and decoration process of the gaming pieces.

Medieval gaming counters

Medieval gaming counters or tablemen have been commonly encountered during archaeological excavations, though less than dice. This is probably due to the fact that they are not always easily recognisable. Medieval gaming counters were made of bone, ivory, leather, stone, ceramics, metal (lead, copper alloy) or wood and vary in size, thickness, and decoration. There are very plain gaming counters, but also pieces that are elaborately carved - each one with a different image.

Left: Three medieval bone gaming pieces found in Friesland, the Netherlands (photo courtesy Rijksmuseum voor Oudheden, Leiden, the Netherlands). Sizes 0.28 x 1.67 cm, 0.3 x 2.04 cm, and 0.45 x 2.14 cm. The gaming counters are decorated with concentric circles. Right: Six bone and antler playing pieces of a set of thirty from a backgammon game found at Gloucester Castle, UK. All pieces are decorated with different designs. 44 mm diameter, 7 mm thickness. Dated between 1090-1120.

Left: Leather gaming counters made from a shoe sole. Right: Four decorated wooden gaming counters. Both are excavated from Het Steen, a 14th century town prison at the town square in Mechelen, Belgium (details from L. Troubleyn et al., 2009. Journal of Archeology in the Low Countries 2).

Left: A cast copper alloy gaming piece dating from the 13-14th century. The upper face of the object is decorated in moulded relief with an advancing stag. The rear of the object is undecorated and flat. Thickness 8.02 mm, weight 80.2 g and 41.06 mm diameter. Photo from the finds database of the British Museum. Right: Four early medieval tablemen of a set of 24 round stone discs found at Whithorn, UK. A number of gaming boards was also found at the site. The gaming pieces measure between 2.3 and 3 cm diameter. One tablemen with a cross scratched on one face may be to represent a special piece, such as the king in a game of hnefatafl (Kings Board). Photo from the Future museum UK.

Left: 11th century wooden backgammon pieces from Colletire, France. Right: Trictrac board and gaming pieces found in an Augustinerkloster in Freiburg, Germany. The board is likely made after 1278.

14th century wooden tric-trac board and gaming piece excavated at the Breestraat, Leiden, the Netherlands. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, the Netherlands. The board fragment measures 26.5 x 12.5 cm  and is inlaid with different types of wood. The tableman has an incised circle decoration and a diameter of 2.7 cm.

Making the gaming counters

Two medieval wooden gaming counters from London excavations. Left: Turned boxwood counter, ca. 36 mm with central dots and grooves around the edge. Right: Apple wood, 37 mm with concentric circles and groove around the edge. Both gaming counters have black staining, indicating these were black painted tablemen. From the book: The medieval household, daily living c. 1150-1450. Medieval finds from excavations in London 6 by G. Egan.
 

The gaming counter from London (UK) served as (decorative) model for our gaming counters. I have made our gaming pieces from beech. The first step was to transform the square pieces of wood into a round sticks by simple turning on a lathe. Then the sticks were cut by bandsaw into the proto gaming pieces. A block clamped on the saw-table was used to ensure that the gaming pieces were of equal thickness. As I wanted to add some circular decoration on the counters, an additional round of turning was needed. For this a special jig was made in which the proto counters were clamped tight and that allowed the front and backside to be decorated. The edges of the gaming counters were also slightly rounded and each counter was sanded manually.

Left: Making the beech sticks. First the square was planed octagonal (see marks on the square piece of wood) for ease of turning and then turned to a diameter of 2.8 cm. Several sticks can be seen in the background. Right: Cutting gaming pieces with a band saw. A block of wood is clamped onto the table, to produce gaming pieces with an equal thickness of 8 mm.

Left: Another view of the bandsaw, showing how the equal thickness is achieved. Right: The proto gaming pieces. Four sets of twelve gaming counters are needed for the game of the Four Seasons.

Left: The special plywood jig for turning screwed on the faceplate. The hole for the gaming counter was first turned out of the plywood block. The hole was slightly tapered to have the gaming counter secured enough for turning. When the proto gaming piece happened to be too small it was additionally fixed with double adhesive tape. Right: A slot was made in the jig to be able to extract the finished decorated gaming counter with the help of a small screwdriver. 

Right: The bottom of a jig used for sanding the gaming counters. A shallow hole was made in a piece of wood to hold the gaming piece. Right: The jig offers a better grip when sanding.

A heap of finished unpainted gaming counters.

Three unpainted gaming counters decorated with concentric rings. The edges are rounded.

Painting the gaming counters

The Libro de los Juegos of Alfonso X the Wise describes the colours of the four seasons for four-season chess and the tables game of the four seasons called the world:

And because as we said above in the first season, spring, all things grow and men are refreshed and the trees and plants turn green the reason why air is its element is clearer than for any other season; therefore they made this season green. And the summer which is hotter and drier than the other seasons they made it like fire, which is of this nature. And therefore they made this season red for it element which also is. The autumn is dry and cold because its element is earth; it is more temperate than summer because it tends more toward cold than heat. The things that burn in summer, are born and refreshed in this season. And because its element is earth, its nature coldness and dryness therefore they made this season’s colour black. Winter they gave the element water which is cold and wet because in that season there are great cold, ice, snow, and rains. And because its element is water they made its colour white.

Left: painting the black gaming pieces. One side can be painted at a time, a quarter of an hour later the other side can be painted. Right: various paints and the basic egg tempera in a glass. on the far right the finished red, black and purple pieces can be seen, as well as the box with unpainted tablemen.

I have painted the gaming pieces with egg tempera paint according to the recipe by Kathy Storm found on her blog Medieval arts and crafts. This consists of two parts of dry white wine and one part egg yolk. The pigments are added to this to form the tempera paint. Not all pigments used produced opaque paints (e.g. green and white), but adding more pigments decreased the ease of painting considerably. Therefore most gaming counters had several layers of paint. I used pigments of the Dutch paint mill "De Kat" that  presumably also were available during the Middle ages. These were:

• red- summer - Venetian red
• black - autumn - bone black
• white - winter - double washed white chalk
• green - spring - Italian green earth

The four colours for the game of the four seasons called the world.

I also painted gaming counters for an astronomical tables version for seven persons that is found as well in the book of games by Alfonso X. The counters for that game are:

• red - Mars - Venetian red
• black - Saturn - bone black
• white - Moon - double washed white chalk
• green - Jupiter - Italian green earth
• yellow - Sun - yellow ochre
• purple - Venus - mix of blue chalk, Venetian red and white chalk
• many different colours - Mercury - black, red and yellow circles

The coloured gaming counters for the astronomical tables: black, yellow, red, purple, 

white, green and many different colours.

 

The completed Game of the Four Seasons, called the World as depicted in the Libro de los Juegos by Alfonso X, 
folio 89v.

I did have a wooden box for storing the counters, but eventually a box like the one shown below might be more appropriate ... The next post will continue with playing of the Game of the Four Seasons, called the World.

Painted wooden box for game pieces, dated ca. 1300 and made  in Germany. Sizes 7.9 x 26.4 x 9.2 cm.  
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

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Another game to play with your medieval chess board

The start of a (fake) game of jeu de dames. A composition of margin illuminations of the 14th century manuscript Bodleian 264. Made by St. Thomasguild in 2014 using Photoshop. 

There is another medieval game that can be played on the medieval chess board which is called jeu de dames, but also known as draughts or checkers. The game borrows the game pieces from tables (i.e. backgammon / tric-trac) and uses the chequered board (hence the name checkers) from chess. It is believed to be derived from the game of Alquerque (described in the Libre de Los Juegos of Alphonso X the Wise in 1283), as the method of the jump-capture is identical. De game became known as the jeu de dames in France, and checkers or draughts (from to draw or to move) in England. The first mention of the name of the game is in the late 14th century in an English poem Sir Ferumbras. The game is believed to be common in medieval times and widely played.

& ioustes and tornyment: wel mo per wendep ofte pare.
do pat williep to leue at hame: pleyep to pe eschekkere,
& summe of hem to iew-de-dame; and summe to tablere.

(from Sir Ferumbras, 1380 Bodleian ASHMOLE Ms. 33)

A game of Alquerque as played in 1283, depicted in the Libre de los Juegos, folio 91v. 
Note that Alquerque is played with pawns, not the flat backgammon pieces.

But ....

There is a peculiarity about draughts. There are many other medieval board games, popular such as chess, or more obscure such as the game of the four seasons called the world or rithmomachia, but for all of these the rules are described in some medieval book. Not for draughts. The first rule book for draughts dates from the 16th century (Lorenzo Valls, 1597). Neither are there clear images of people playing draughts (see the post faulty medieval chess boards for some possible boards), i.e. an 8x8 board using two colours of tablemen on only one colour of the chequered board. When an incorrect draughts board is shown, the surrounding text usually mentions the play of chess.

Another tricky thing is that archaeological evidence is biased against draughts. A chequered board - that must be a chess board; a table men - that must be a backgammon piece. Perhaps if both were found at the same place it could count as proof for draughts. But then there are game boxes which often present both chess and backgammon boards at opposite sites. Thus archaeology can not provide solid proof, with chess pieces or backgammon boards lying around.

 Alquerque is still being played as a separate game in the 14th century. Margin illumination of Bodleian MS 264, folio 76r, Romance of Alexander, 1338-1344.

The same manuscript (Bodleian MS 264, folio 60r) has an illumination which - with much fantasy and adaptation - could be seen as medieval draughts. The board size is wrong, the game pieces look more or less the same as identical dots. All game pieces, with one exception, are on the same chequered (black) colour. This image was used as basis for the fake medieval draughts image at the top of this blogpost.

Thus the only proof for the existence of medieval draughts is based on the etymology of the names of the game and the gaming pieces, and the scanty mention of the game in medieval books. One draughts historian uses the etymological study of Dutch medieval terms, where 97% of the words kept the same meaning throughout history as proof that the jeu de dames is draughts, while on the other hand he off-handedly regards the differently named foreign terms marro, merelles, alquerque as identical to draughts. In my eyes this is a weak proof. Especially, since the jeu de dames is also used for hunting with female company during medieval times (Cy commence jeu de dames, in the Taymouth Hours (1325-1340)). A fact that the advocates of the medieval draughts theory seem to have overlooked. This makes me sceptical whether medieval draughts existed, and if, on the (lack of) popularity of it.

An (fake) end situation of medieval draughts. A promoted white dame can be seen on the second row below, being able to capture two opponents pieces. Photoshop alteration of the 11th century chess mosaic in the Basilica San Savino in Piacenza, Italy by St. Thomasguild 2014.

Playing medieval jeu de dames

 

The start position of a game of medieval draughts. It can be played on the black or the white squares. The chess board is from four season chess, described in 1283.

As mentioned above, no contemporary medieval rules for draughts exist. What follows is what is thought to be the medieval rules for playing.

• Each player has 12 game pieces, put in three rows onto one (the same) colour of the 8x8 chequered board. This can be either the white or the black squares.
• Capture is by leaping over a piece of an opponent to a vacant place. Multiple captures, when possible, are allowed.
• Capture can only be diagonally forward.
• Capture is not compulsory.
• Movement is only diagonally forward.
• Players roll a dice to decide who start the game.
• When a game piece reaches the other side of the board it is promoted to a queen (dame).
• The queen (or dame) moves like the medieval chess queen: only one place, diagonally forward or backward. 
• The game is lost when a player cannot move or has no more game pieces on the board.

Some changes are thought to appear at the end of the 15th century in Spain: the introduction of the long move of the queen (i.e. like the modern chess bishop) as well as compulsory capture (of the most) on penalty of the huff. When a player forgot to capture a piece, his game piece could be huffed (taken from the board by blowing to it). In England, draughts became known as the game with the huff, and checkers the same game without the huff. The latter was seen as a childrens game. A few centuries later, the huff was again abolished. In the 16th century backward capture by the single pieces became possible. The 10x10 chequered board for draughts also appeared for the first time during this century (it already existed several centuries for decimal chess).

Arabic (medieval) draughts on an unchequered board uses 16 game pieces,

 which move forward and side-ways.

Sources used:

• A. van der Stoep, 2001. Middeleeuws damspel, volgens de oude en volgens een nieuwe versie. In: Spelen in the Middeleeuwen. Edited by W.S. van Egmond and M. Mostert  Uitgeverij verloren, Hilversum, the Netherlands.
• H.J. Murray, 1952. The history of board games other than chess. Oxford University Press.
• A. van der Stoep. Webpage on the history of draughts.

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The game of the Four Seasons making 7 sided dice

 

Medieval dice

Seven-sided dice, which are used for the Game of the Four Seasons, called the World are not common medieval dice. Common medieval dice are six-sided dice, just like ours. The book of Alfonso X the Wise describes how they are made, and how they should look like:

f. 84v: Showing the seven-sided dice.

"And we say that dice should consist of three squared shapes of six equal sides, all equal in size and perfectly square because otherwise they will not roll as often on one side as another and it would be trickery more than luck. And thus this is the first of the ways of cheating, as we will later tell17, in which those who wish to cheat make crooked dice.
And it is to have on each one of the six sides, pips in this manner: on the one side six, and on the other five, on the other four, on the other three, on the other two and on the other one, so that twenty-one pips come on each die, and so that sixty-three pips come on three dice.

And the pips should be placed in this manner: opposite the six-side, the one; and opposite the five, the two; and opposite the four, the three. And these dice can be made of wood, or of stone, or of bone, or of any metal, but especially are best the ones made of bone, the heaviest to be found, more than any other material and they fall more equally and more squarely on any type of surface."

Indeed most unearthed medieval dice are made of bone, antler, jet, clay or wood. However, in medieval times the positioning of the pips could be different from Alfonsos description (or the from Roman or Modern times). The second system, only found during the Middle ages, was 1 opposite 2, 3 opposite 4 and 5 opposite 6 (instead of the opposite sides totalling 7). Medieval dice are small, compared to modern ones, sizes between 9-12 mm are common. False medieval dice also existed. A London find did contain a whole set of false dice. Some were weighted, or had more sixes or ones.

Left: Bone dice from Amersfoort, the Netherlands dating from the 14th century.  Right: Two systems of arranging pips from 12/13th century dice made of jet from York, UK. 11079 is our current system, while 11078 uses the alternative medieval system.

Two sets of Roman six-sided dice, currently on auction (14 October) at Hermann Historica (starting bid 3-400 Euro for 20 dice which are also perfect for medieval re-enactment). You can see the concentric circles of the pips, which are also very common during medieval times. Some have two concentric rings, other only one (left photo). The right photo shows some dice with sides that are rounded off and decorated. White dice are made of bone, the black of horn.

Seven-sided dice

There are several games in the "Libro de los Juegos" that make use of 7-sided dice, like Decimal chess, 4-season chess, and the game of the four seasons called the world. Folio 84 describes how the 7-sided dice are made. The book also describes an eight-sided dice, which looks like our modern one (used e.g. in fantasy roleplaying games).

"[f. 84]
And these dice are made like this: they have seven sides and the side with the highest number of pips is seven. They could not be made in another way for this game.
Because the shape of this die is uneven it falls edge up, with two sides showing. The side closest to the shooter is his. If they fall so that it cannot be determined which face to use, they are to be thrown until it can.
.....
There are other seven-sided dice than the ones we describe above. And this is how they are: they have two flat ends, the upper end with seven and the lower with six. The sides have five faces and because the sides are odd in number they cannot help but fall edge up. And for these five sides the play is the same as we described before. And this is their diagram and how they are made. [f. 84v]"

Making the seven-sided dice

I had some antler at home, which was at the basis solid white like bone. This made it very suitable for to make my 7-sided dice. Antler is worked similar like bone. First, I cut an 12.5 mm thick slice from the antler and ground it flat using sandpaper.

Left: The piece of antler, the two slices cut of (for two 7-sided dice) and two test 6-sided dice. Right. Sanding the slices of antler on a 150 grit sandpaper.

Then I glued a paper pattern of the pentagon on the antler slice with water-soluble glue. Then I used a hand held rotary tool (Dremel) with a ceramic cutter to cut the (remaining four) sides of the die. These sides were also sanded to have an acceptable die with equal squares. My first 7-sided die had squares of 12.5 mm, which made the pentagon side disproportionate large. My second die had rectangles of 11 by 12.5 mm, which gives a better proportion in comparison with the pentagon side.  

 Left: Laying out the pattern on the antler slice. Right: The roughly cut seven-side die.

The blank die being ready, the next step was to drill the pips. King Alfonso told that the 6 and the 7 were on the pentagon, but no mentioning was made for the arrangement of the 1 to 5 pips. I decided just to use the 1 to 5 order on the rectangles. The second problem was to drill the concentric circles for the pips. In medieval times this was done with a pump drill with some sort of toothed drill bit. I did not have these tools, so I had to improvise. For the concentric circle I used a sanding drum holder for my rotary hand tool and sharpened the edge. For the central dot, I used a cutter from the dentist (They use them only once and you can get them for free at your yearly visit). I also devised a jig to make the positioning of the dice under the drill stand easier (one-dimensional instead of two-dimensional), and another to hold the pentagon.

Left: The concentric ring drill bit made from a drum sander. Another drum sander is next to the pliers. Right: The bench clamp holding the the die moves along a fixed ridge, making the positioning of the drill easy and one-dimensional. First, all circles were drilled for this position, then the circle bit was changed for the dental cutter. After that, the ridge was moved to a new position to start again with some new pips.

Left: The bench clamp holding the jig for the pentagon. For the drilling of the rectangular sides, the die is just held in the clamp with some rubber protective edge. Right: Positioning of the die under the drill. First the concentric ring, then the centre dot.  

Left: A circular drawing by pencil is made on the pentagon, which is in turn dived into six parts. This shows the points where the pips should be drilled at equal distance. Right: The pentagon in the jig,  Pips can be drilled in sets of two, before the ridge has to be moved in a new position. This side will have seven pips, the middle three are finished, the two left pips only have the concentric circles. 

Left: The two seven-sided dice on the game board of the Four Seasons, called the World. Right: A close up of the dice.

f. 85v: A game of Decimal Chess using seven-point tables, seven-sided dice and seventeen pieces on each side. Alfonso is named as one of the players here.

The seven-sided dice throw reasonably fair, considering the fact that the pentagon sides are (slightly) larger. Next post will on making the game counters for the Game of the Four Seasons, called the World.

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