At both museums the chessmen are an extremely popular exhibit for visitors. Madden immediately set about writing a monumental research paper about the collection, Madden (1832) – one that remains informative and impressive today. Madden was a palaeographer, a scholar of early vernacular literature, but he was especially intrigued by these artifacts because he was a chess enthusiast. Īt the British Museum it was Sir Frederic Madden, Assistant Keeper of Manuscripts, who persuaded the Trustees to purchase for 80 guineas (£84) the eighty-two pieces which he had been misled into believing was the entire hoard. The hoard was divided and sold in the 19th century – the British Museum (BM) holds eighty-two pieces and National Museums Scotland has the other eleven pieces. of National Museums Scotland (NMS) consider that Mealista ( 58☀6′14″N 7☀6′29″W / 58.104°N 7.108°W / 58.104 -7.108), also in the parish of Uig and some 6 miles (10 km) further south down the coast, is a more likely place for the hoard to have been discovered. The hoard of ninety-three games pieces was found on the Isle of Lewis and was exhibited in Edinburgh in 1831.

Christian and pagan influences are both present in the designs.įurther information: Lewis chessmen § Origin Four of the warders are shown biting their shields – these have been identified as the berserkers of the Norse sagas. The rooks are represented as warriors which came to be called 'warders' at an early stage after they were discovered. The types of piece are similar to those in modern chess – the chessmen are the earliest found that have figures in clerical dress (bishops). The style of carving, particularly that on the thrones of the seated figures, suggests they are Scandinavian in origin, most likely from Trondheim, the medieval capital of Norway until 1217. Another chess piece, which turned up in 1964 and in 2019 was attributed to have come from the original hoard, now belongs to a private collector. The hoard comprised seventy-eight distinctive chess pieces and fifteen other non-chess pieces, nearly all carved from walrus tusk ivory, and they are now displayed at the British Museum in London and National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh. Medieval in origin, they were first exhibited in Edinburgh in 1831 but it is unclear how much earlier they had been discovered.

Game pieces of the Lewis chessmen hoard include the ninety-three game pieces of the Lewis chessmen hoard found on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

Harry potter chess pieces names