“Ludus Inhonestus Et Illicitus?” Chess, Games, and the Church in Medieval Europe

Abstract

The game of chess was among those forms of entertainment whose practical role in socializing and educating aristocratic society across medieval Europe was depicted in various works of literature, handbooks, and philosophical treatises.1 However, some men of letters and lawmakers, who wrote statutes about board games and games of chance, did not always consider games favourable activities. Apart from the admiration and approval of chess, tables (also known as tabula, an early version of backgammon), and dice by some secular authors, other voices were also raised—and they were not isolated—in criticism of these activities as idle pastimes. Dissatisfaction with—and even downright condemnation of—the game of chess and other games was occasionally expressed by authors of epic poems and books of instruction, but most especially by the representatives of ecclesiastical authorities in their treatises, synod statutes, and other church rules and regulations. Yet despite the vast amount of criticism against games, clergy, preachers, and other ecclesiastics often enjoyed playing games and even occasionally used them as teaching tools in their sermons. Given the widespread appeal of chess, tables, and games of chance across the social strata throughout the later Middle Ages, why did these popular pastimes—seemingly more than hunting, dancing, and other recreational activities—encounter such serious opposition, particularly among ecclesiastics?2