The format of the programme was such that a certain amount of time was dedicated to a selected game from Britain's past; in the spirit of organization and clarity I shall here echo that notion.
The Stanway Game
From what I could gather from the programme, the 'Stanway Game' was one of the earliest examples of a game in Britain. Dated to around 45AD, the game appears to be from the Romano-British period of the country’s history, and was found at a burial site with a body on top of it. I know from experience that grave goods are a particularly important and useful source of information to find out about the actual people that lived during a particular period of history, within their respective culture. In this case, the board game was placed directly beneath the man in the burial which suggests it had particularly importance to him; but also perhaps that those who buried him had no real need or use for the board themselves, and they felt it would be better off left with the man - maybe believing that he would therefore have it with him in the afterlife. In this show they explore the notion that perhaps the board wasn't simply used as a game, but also as a spiritual tool of some sort, used for prophecy. As it seems impossible to actually determine what the rules of the game were, it is difficult to know for sure.
Alea Evangelii
Although Woolley opens this particular section stating that the viewer 'may not have even heard of King Æthelstan', and I felt the need to cry out and defend my knowledge of the Saxon; Alea Evangelii, or the "Game of the Gospels", was probably my favourite game featured in this programme. Unlike the 'Stanway Game' we are aware of the rules for Alea Evangelii, and are entirely capable of playing it. This is no doubt due to the early medieval period that this game is from, and that this game is documented in the Gospels, hence it's name. It is one of the larger 'tafl' board games, all of which being strategy games based around the notion of protecting or capturing a kind, with two players taking the role of one perspective each. This game shows us that during this period of Britain's history, games were still seen as being pertinent to spirituality or religion.
Libro de los Juegos
Okay, so this isn't a game, it's a book. However it depicts three very well known games, and, according to Games Britannia, is responsible to their induction to European civilization: Chess, Backgammon, and Dice. Moreover, to me it sounds like a downright interesting book! Put together by King Alfonso X of Spain, the book's name translates as the "Book of Games". As part of a wide transfer of Arabic knowledge to Europe, the games described in the book were all originally Arabic. Libro de los Jeugos is effectively a debate between different philosophical viewpoints on the approach one should take to controlling one's own life, each game representing chance, skill, or a mixture of both respectively. I personally find this way to portray such a debate to be refreshing, and particularly engaging as a form of comparing ideologies that do not necessarily have to be in any way associated with games.
9-Men's Morris
This particular game is one that seems to pop up absolutely everywhere, and must've therefore been very popular - the game even features as a playable minigame in Assassin's Creed III! In this episode of Games Britannia Doctor Irving Finekl, who features throughout the show, puts forwards the curious suggestions that it may appear all over the world in history because the game seems to be an obvious natural progression when one goes to make a game out of nothing. As he was aware of, and found, a very large number of games boards graffitied around particular cathedrals; during this section Woolley talks with David Sherritt about the Church's attitude towards games in this era of history. The prevailing opinion was that the Church was certainly tolerant of this behaviour, but it may have even been celebrated. I feel, however, the most important thing to take away from this section, is that as we move forwards in time, some games are being created that are tailored less towards spiritual guidance, and more towards focussing on combating humanity's 'propensity for boredom'.
Modern-day 9-Men's Morris action!
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ReplyDeleteHi Alaric,
ReplyDeleteI'm really pleased that you got so much out of the first episode of Games Britannia, but then again it is crammed with fascinating material.
The Stanway excavation is interesting: game pieces were recovered from the so-called "Warrior's" grave as well as from the "Doctor's". More detailed information can be found in Crummy's City of Victory, and there is also a full archaeological report, with a couple of interesting contributions related to the game board and gaming pieces, by Crummy and others.