This article is about the board game. For the
.hack character, see
Phases (.hack).
Fitchneal
Fitchneal Board Layout |
| Players |
2 |
| Age range |
Recommended 4 years and up. |
| Setup time |
30-60 seconds |
| Random chance |
None |
Fidchell (in Irish; also called fidhcheall, fidceall, fitchneal or fithchill; pronounced [ˈfɪðʲçɛlː] in Old Irish) was an ancient Celtic board game. The name in both Irish and Welsh is a compound translating to "wood sense"; the fact that the compound is identical in both languages demonstrates that the name is of extreme antiquity.[1] The game is often compared to or identified with chess, though this is evidently erroneous, as chess was unknown in Europe until the 12th century.[1] The game was played between two people who moved "men" across a board; the board itself shared its name with the game played upon it.[1] The name has evolved into ficheall, the Irish word for chess.
History
Fidchell is mentioned quite often in ancient Celtic legends and lore, but the exact form of the game is open to speculation, due to the lack of detail on the rules, playing pieces, and even the board. What is clear is that it was played on a board, with opposing sets of pieces, and unlike modern chess, involved a king in the center, with his defensive pieces protecting him from attacks by his opponent.[citation needed]
The legends describe fidchell as a game played by royalty, and even the gods. According to the Irish it was invented by Lugh, the Irish god of light,[2] and was played very skillfully by his son, the hero Cúchulainn. A series of fidchell games also forms an important episode in Tochmarc Étaíne.
Lavish, sometimes mystical gwyddbwyll boards appear often in medieval Welsh literature. In The Dream of Rhonabwy, a prose tale associated with the Mabinogion, King Arthur and Owain mab Urien play the game with golden men on a silver board. In another prose tale, The Dream of Macsen Wledig, The character Eudaf is carving men for his golden board when he is visited by the emperor Magnus Maximus. The board of Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio is named as one of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain in lists dating from the 15th and 16th centuries; according to the lists the board is gold and the men silver, and the pieces play against each other automatically. A magic gwyddbwyll comparable to Gwenddoleu's appears in the Arthurian romance Peredur son of Efrawg; a number of French versions of the Holy Grail story feature similar chessboards with self-moving pieces, following the Second Continuation of Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail, though in these only one side moves, while the hero plays the other.[1]
Gameplay
As often as fidchell is mentioned in legend and myth, however, we are still largely in the dark about exactly how it was played. There are two main theories regarding the rules and board layout of fidchell. The first, and most common, is that fidchell is a variant of the Welsh game tawlbwrdd, itself descended from the Norse tafl games. These games, along with the Irish brandub, are played on a grid, often seven squares by seven, with the king in the middle. The king has a number of defending pieces around him at the beginning of the game, and they are surrounded by twice as many attackers. The object is to make a clear path for the king to the edge of the board, while the attackers must attempt to surround, and thereby capture, the king. In a Scottish variant, the king must get through the attackers to one of the corner spots in order to win.
This theory is supported by an artifact found in Balinderry, Ireland, consisting of a wooden board with a seven by seven grid, marked off by holes similar to those found in a cribbage board, which has Celtic symbols on it. This artifact is almost certainly a tafl variant, and perhaps even a Brandub board, and most commentators assume that it is the type of board upon which one would have played fidchell. Reconstructions of probable rules proceed from there.
However, there are a few difficulties with this commonly accepted view. First, the tafl variants are usually played with unequal numbers of pieces, the attackers being twice as numerous as the defenders. Fidchell seems almost certainly to have been played with equal numbers on both sides. Secondly, the tafl games, especially tawl-bwrdd, were often played with a die, made of a sheep’s knucklebone, and this feature seems conspicuously absent in fidchell. In fact, in Wales, there is a clear distinction between tawlbwrdd and gwyddbwyll, which, if carried across to Ireland, would tend to indicate a similar distinction between fidchell and brandub.
Historical impact
In addition, fidchell, as described in the legends, often has a mystical or divinatory aspect to it. Battles ebb and flow as a result of the ebb and flow of a game of fidchell, games play themselves, great events are decided on the outcome of a fidchell match, and so on. This supernatural aspect is not as clearly reflected in the tafl games.
There is clear archaeological and textual evidence that a tafl variant was played in Ireland in ancient times. What is not quite as certain is that this game was fidchell, as mentioned so often in myth and legend.
See also
Tafl games
Notes
- ^ a b c d Bromwich, pp. 262–263.
- ^ Macalister, R. A. Stewart. Lebor Gabála Érenn. Part IV. Irish Texts Society, Dublin, 1941. § VII, First Redaction, ¶ 316.
References
Books
- Bromwich, Rachel (2006). Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain. University Of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1386-8.
- Celtic Heritage, Alwin & Brinley Rees, Thames and Hudson. 1961.
- Early Irish Myths and Sagas trans. Jeffrey Gantz, Penguin Classics. 1981.
- The Quest for Merlin, Nikolai Tolstoy, Hamish Hamilton. 1985.
- Games of the Gods, Nigel Pennick Rider. 1988.
External links
Rules and Boards
Computer Versions
