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Concept
Libro de los juegos
Summary
The Libro de los juegos (Spanish: "Book of games"), or Libro de axedrez, dados e tablas ("Book of chess, dice and tables", in Old Spanish), was a Spanish translation of Arabic texts on chess, dice and tables (backgammon forebears) games, commissioned by Alfonso X of Castile, Galicia and León and completed in his scriptorium in Toledo in 1283. It contains the earliest European treatise on chess as well as being the oldest document on European tables games, and is an exemplary piece of the literary legacy of the Toledo School of Translators.
The Libro de los juegos is one of the most important documents for researching the history of board games. This "celebrated MS book of games" has been described as "one of the choicest treasures of the library of the Escorial" as well as the "perhaps the greatest source of information on board games ever compiled during the Middle Ages." It is both "the earliest treatise on chess and the oldest document relating to tables which have had their origin in Europe."
The book consists of ninety-seven leaves of parchment, many with color illustrations, and contains 150 miniatures. The text is a treatise that addresses the playing of three game types: a game of skill, or chess; games of chance, or dice; and a third game type, tables, which combines elements of both skill and chance. These games are discussed in the final section of the book at both an astronomical and astrological level. Examining further, the text can also be read as an allegorical initiation tale and as a metaphysical guide for leading a balanced, prudent, and virtuous life. In addition to the didactic, although not overly moralistic, aspect of the text, the manuscript's illustrations reveal a rich cultural, social, and religious complexity.
The earliest manuscript is in the library of the monastery of El Escorial near Madrid in Spain, as manuscript T.I.6. It is bound in sheepskin and is 40 cm high and 28 cm wide (16 in × 11 in). A 1334 copy is held in the library of the Spanish Royal Academy of History in Madrid.
Official source
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