GUDMUNDUR G. THORARINSSON Are the Isle of Lewis Chessmen Icelandic?

Revised and extended edition:

INTRODUCTION Exhibited in Edinburgh in 1831 was an unusual set of chessmen that had been disc overed on the sandy shore of the Isle of Lewis, at the north end of the Western Isles, or Outer Hebrides, of Scotland. The island is mentioned in ancient Icelan dic manuscripts such as Heimskringla and Flateyjarbk, which refer to it as Ljhs, mea nning house of song. Indeed, Lewis is very likely derived from this lovely Icelandi c name. It is noteworthy that in Icelandic the Hebrides are called The Southern Isles. When sailing to Orkney islands and Norway these islands are to the south . In the Icelandic sagas there are numerous references of the Southern Isles a nd the sailings of the Icelanders to Orkney islands and to the Southern Isles. F or example in Sturlunga saga it is said that the ship of Gudmundur Arason, later bishop at Hlar, came to the Southern Isles in the year 1202 in bad weather and there he learned about the death of king Sverrir of Norway. Maps used in schools in Iceland show sailing routs of the vikings between Iceland and these islands. Today the exact place the chessmen were found is unknown. In the book The Lewis Chessmen Unmasked, published by The National Museums Scotland, David H. Caldwell and his team mention several places in Lewis. The chessmen, generally thought to be the oldest set bearing the features of modern chess pieces, are among the mo st remarkable relics of both the British Museum and National Museums of Scotland . The British Museum has published pamphlets and DVDs with information on the L ewis chess pieces, which are among its most popular exhibits, and has commissio ned copies of the set and offered them for sale. The National Museums Scotland have held exhibitions and seminars and edited books on the subject. The Lewis ch ess pieces have been exhibited in several countries. This ambitious and carefull y crafted work by the Museums was the catalyst for the article that follows. The chessmen found on the Isle of Lewis are considered the first bearing the fea tures of human beings, and as far as known the oldest set using the bishop as on e of the pieces. The set has made its impact far and wide: It is used in the f ilm Harry Potter and the Philosopher s Stone and inspired the cartoon Noggin the Nog. Both the Museums state that the chessmen were probably crafted in Trondheim, Nor way, but their actual origin remains unknown. Various theories mention Iceland, Norway or Scandinavia, Scotland, Ireland, or England as possibilities. Most of the pieces are carved from walrus tusks (some of them from whale s teeth), and th ey are acccording to British museum thought to have been made between 1150 and 1 200. One story goes that the chessmen were discovered on a sandy beach on the Isle of Lewis, the largest of Scotland s Outer Hebrides. A farmer on the island is believ ed to have found them when digging up a sand bank but other stories also exist. It is possible that the chessmen were washed ashore after a shipwreck or a shipw recked sailor brought them to the beach in a box or bag closed with a buckle. In this article it is argued that that these chess pieces could have been made i n Iceland.

Figure 1: The Isle of Lewis

A BISHOP IN CHESS The Lewis chessmen are as far as I know the first known chess sets that connect chess with the church. This is an interesting point. The Lewis chessmen are al so to my knowledge the first known chess pieces that include bishops with crosie r and mitres and full ceremonial clothing. Chess is a war game where a battle is being fought. In his book Chess in Iceland , published in Florence in 1905, Daniel Willard Fiske claims that the word bishop is used for the pieces next to the king and the queen in only two languages, Ic elandic and English. At the time when the Lewis chess men were made, 1150-1200 t his is most likely right, but later the word bishop for that piece in chess has entered some other languages. He considers this an indication that the game pass ed to Iceland from the British Isles. In Scandinavia and Germany this piece is c alled runner, a messenger that investigates the situation in the battle and info rms the king. The runner participates in the battle. As far as is known, Norwegi ans have never called this piece a bishop but lber !

Figure 2: A bishop

In The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary from 1971, the entry for bishop reads thus: One of the pieces in the game of chess, having its upper part c arved into the shape of a mitre, formerly called archer and in still earlier tim es alfin or aufyn. This entry also cites a source from 1562: The Bishoppes some na me Alphins, some fooles, and some name them Princes; other some name them Arches . Further sources from the years 1581 and 1656 are also quoted. An 1802 source r eads: The alfin was also denominated, with us an archer and at last a bishop. The dictionary also discusses the word alfin : Alfin, alphin . the piece in chess cal led the alphin, and now the bishop, having had originally with Indians, Chinese and Persians the figure and name of an elephant. 1) Former name of bishop in che ss. This entry cites sources from the years 1440, 1474, and 1530 where the w ord alfin is used for a chess bishop. This confirms Fiske s claim that the bishop wa s called alfin in 14th and 15th century English. The use of the word bishop therefor e seems to have come into English from Icelandic at a period where commerce was lively between Iceland and England. This era spanning from 1415-1475, is known in Iceland as the English century . The word bishop in chess is found in old Icelandic manuscripts. The Saga of Earl Mg us, which was written in Iceland ca. 1300-1325, describes how an emperor was chec kmated by bishop. This manuscript is a rewriting of an older one. The word bishop smate which is used in the manuscript, is a combination of the words, bishop and mate. According to philologists the existence of the individual words is a pre condition for the creation of such a composite word which shows the creative pow er of the language. It is safe to assume therefore that the word bishop as a che

ss piece is much older in Icelandic than English. Sources thus indicate that the word bishop did not enter the English chess vocabul ary until the late 15th century. This suggests that the chess term may have orig inated in Iceland. The Lewis chessmen are believed to have been made between 115 0 and 1200. This line of reasoning implicates the Icelandic bishops who hired ma ster carvers and sent works of craftsmanship as gifts throughout the world, beca use the church was often the instigator of artistic and cultural development. Ic eland had no king at that time, its highest authority figures were the bishops. One might imagine that the bishops, who had little experience of warfare, thoug ht it fitting that the men standing closest to the royal couple should be bishop s. Some scholars find it likely that the Lewis chessmen were carved at the arcbish opric in Throndheim. It might also be worth considering that the clothing of an archbishop differs from that of a bishop. The archbishop had a pallium over his shoulders and in front of him. This is not to be seen on the Lewis bishops. Carv ers in Trondheim would probably have carved the bishop with a pallium.

Figure 3: A pallium

THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES AND CHESS Sources point to the strong opposition of the catholic church toward chess in t he years 1000 to 1300. In his book The Art of Chess Pieces published in Moscow 1 994, dr. I Linder says: The oldest Italian document to mention chess, a letter w ritten by Cardinal Daminiani 1061, contains a reference to the canonical ban on dice-games. This curious document begins with the words: I halt my pen, for I am red with shame that I must make mention of still more contemptible forms of mi schief than hunting and fowling namely of a passion for games of dice and chess Bishop de Sully of Paris would not even permit his clergy to keep a chessboard i n the house. Under the influence of the clergy King Louis IX (the saint) offici ally forbad the game in France in 1254. However after almost three hundred years of struggle the churchmen were obliged to give way. At the end of the 14th cen tury, The Catholic Council of Regensburg revoked the ban on chess. The hostile attitude of the Catholic Church does make it very unlikly that the b ishopric or the church would engage in carving pieces in the image of bishops to serve the king on a chessboard. According to historians the Church politic in Trondheim was clear. The church sho uld be peaceful and not participate in war or violence, the church should be ind ependent, a spiritual power separated from the worldly power of kings. Most of the artists were working in cooperation with the church and its vast riches. In Trondheim a long and severe dispute between the bishop and the king resulted in 1194 that the Pope excommunicated King Sverrir of Norway (1151-1202). It is therefore highly unlikely that during the age of King Sverrirs excommunicat ion, the church would consent to or tolerate the involvement of bishops in a war game, where the clergymen are servants, fighters and defenders of the king, participating in battles, killing of enemies. Not to mention the hostile atti

tude of Rome, which the arcbishop in Throndheim must have been aware of. In Iceland the Church politic at this time was much different. The bishop at Sklhol t, Pll Jnsson 1155-1211, was a descendant of the Norwegian kings, his grandmother was a daughter of the Norwegian king Magnus Olafsson. The bishop was proud of hi s ancestry. Therefore, he would have espoused close cooperation between king an d bishop. In his worldview the bishops stood beside the king. The bishopric at Sklholt was very rich at this time. Ships owned by the bishopric were sailing to Greenland fetching goods and artists were engaged in c arving and other artistic activities. The church built at Sklholt around 1150, Klng schurch is said to have been the largest woodenhouse in the Nordic Countries, eve n in Europe, at that time. Most of the timber had to be imported. Orkneyingasaga was written in Iceland about year 1200 and probably by Bishop Pll Jns son of Skalholt. He stayed in Orkn island for a time and there was a plan that h is brother should marry the daughter of the earl of Orkney islands.

CARVING, DECORATIVE ART Most agree that the Lewis chessmen are a work of art and that the carvers who m ade them were master artisans. Foreign scholars have been of the opinion that t he courts of royalty and the bishopric were the principal cultural centres where crafts and the arts could flourish enough to generate such works of art. Icela ndic scholars consider it beyond doubt that master carvers were at work in Icela nd during this period. It is known that Mediaeval Icelandic artisans lived in T rondheim and sought their artistic education there. Examples of artistic endeavour in Iceland are numerous. Construction timber wi th traditional carvings from the early Middle Ages, which have been preserved in Iceland and are considered without doubt to have been carved in this country, b ear witness to a well-developed ornamental carving art. Clearly, highly speciali sed artisans were at work in Iceland during that time. During the Mediaeval period, the Catholic Church in Iceland was rich and power ful. It owned extensive lands and maintained cultural ties all over Europe, incl uding Rome. It engaged the services of expert goldsmiths, painters and carvers. Sources from around 1500, mention a smithy, goldsmith s workshop, and a goldsmith s shed in Sklholt, where goldsmiths worked and probably did so in earlier times as well. Icelanders travelled abroad bearing gifts and sent gifts to their oversea s friends. Notable among wood carvings are the Flatatungufjalir, stanchions fro m Laufs, descriptions in Laxdla saga of pictorial carvings in the walls of the lod ge of Olafur pi in Hjararholt, and others. The Biography of Bishop Pall contains some remarkable stories such as this one: [ Pall] sent Archbishop Thrir a crosier carved of a tusk with such skill, that no m an had seen such craftsmanship in Iceland, made by Margrt the Adroit, who at that time was the most skilled carver in all Iceland. This saga mentions other such artefacts and also describes another artisans, among them Thorsteinn the Shrines mith, and his skills. The crosier found in Pll s coffin was indeed carved from a wa lrus tusk. Around the year 1190, Icelandic chieftain, Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson, visited Thomas Becket s abbey at Canterbury and gave the monastery a delicately carved walrus tu sk, made in Iceland. Margrt and Thorsteinn were both active in their craft at th e time when the Lewis chessmen are believed to have been created.

In his book Ancient Settlements at the Northern Edge of the World , Poul Nrlund des cribes a bishop s grave, possibly that of Jn smyrill, bishop of Greenland. In that burial was found a crosier that, according to the author, must be from around 12 00. The crosier is carved from a walrus tusk, and Nrlund hypothesises that Bishop Pll Jnsson may have given the crosier to Bishop Jn when the latter was travelling in Iceland, as the two men were fast friends. Nrlund furthermore claims that Pll h ad in his service Margrt the priest s wife, who was known as the Adroit for her prodi gious skill at carving walrus tusks, a statement that doubtless draws on Pll s saga as its source.

Figure 4: The head of the Greenland crosier

THE CARVING PATTERN The pattern of carving on the chessmen is in a Romanesque style. This style is w ell known in Iceland from the time of these carvings to the present day. In Elle n Marie Magery s book Planteornamentikken i islandsk treskurd , there are pictures of contemporary carvings that do not seem to bear much resemblance to the patterns on the Lewis chessmen. This still tells but half the story, since only a small m inority of the wood carvings from this time period have been preserved. It is kn own that Icelandic artisans learned from their colleagues in Scandinavia and els ewhere in Europe. Not all foreign scholars in art history have realised that, in addition to Iceland s remarkable literary tradition, the country boasted of a hig hly developed culture of decoration and carving. Some scholars seem to have been certain that the carving is Icelandic. In his book A History of Chess , published 1913, H.J.R.Murray says: The carving of the Rooks as warriors on foot undoubtedly points to Icelandic workmanship and al so: Sir Frederic Madden, in his Historical Remarks (Archaeologia, 1852, xxiv; also separately printed in CPC., i) endeavoured to prove that these pieces are of Ic elandic carving of the middle of the 12th century. The following remark is also from the same book: If there were any truth in the t radition which Capt. Thomas discovered to be current in LEWIS, they might be the work of Icelandic carvers of the beginning of the 17th century only. It is important to bear in mind that the Lewis Chessmen were not discovered unti l about 1830 or 2 centuries later.

Figure 5: The queens, seen from behind

GREENLAND WALRUS TUSKS Professor emeritus Helgi Gudmundsson at the University of Iceland, has laid out an interesting hypothesis about the relationship between Iceland and Greenland a t this time in his book Across the Sea: Westerners and Icelandic Culture in the M

iddle Ages . He believes that Iceland and Greenland traded actively with each oth er, and that western Iceland served as a sort of hub for trade with Greenland. F rom Greenland, Icelanders imported walrus tusks, narwhal tusks, svarreipi (a type of rope made from thongs of walrus hide), polar bear skins, and more. The Icela nders in turn exported these products and sold them in Scandinavia, Ireland, and elsewhere in Europe. This business was the source of great wealth in western Ic eland, which enabled Icelanders to write the famous Sagas of the Icelanders. Helgi points out a story in the Annals of the Kings about a bishop s ship that was s hipwrecked at Htarnes in Iceland circa 1266 while carrying a load of goods from G reenland; walrus tusks were found on nearby beaches for quite some time afterwar d, some only a few years ago. He also cites a passage from the Saga of the Green landers , according to which traders with four ships were in Greenland in 1135 or 1136 to fetch goods. Icelanders settled Greenland and left their home country with many ships to sett le there. The settlers of Greenland therefore had many friends and relatives in Iceland, and the two communities interacted frequently. When the Icelandic fleet of ships shrank to near nothing, the connection to Greenland was broken despite the fact that Norway had plenty of ships. The ultimate fate of these early Gree nlanders remains a mystery. The last written sources about these inhabitants of Greenland are from sailers that came from Greenland 1410. It is worth mentioning that toponyms seem to sugg est the presence of walruses in Iceland during the Age of Settlement; for exampl e, Rosmhvalanes, Hvalseyjar, and Hvalltur. (Walruses (Icel. rostungar) were known as rosmhvalir or simply hvalir (whales) at the time, as true whales do not have ltur, i.e. beach themselves in order to mate, as seals and walruses do.) This evidence clearly indicates that walrus tusks were available in Iceland at t his time. It is likely that the Norwegians who continued to sail to Greenland ma de a stopover in Iceland on their way, although they are not mentioned in writte n documents. In his book Helgi Gudmundsson also discusses toponyms in Lewis. Uig is derived from the Icelandic word vik which means bay. Close there is Islivig which can be derived from Islendingavik, the bay of Icelanders, and Mangersta can be from the I celandic word Mangarastaur, the place of merchants, Copenhagen. This points to t he Icelandic connection in Lewis. Thus Icelanders not only wrote their legendary manuscripts at this time, but als o developed decorative art, carving, and carpentry.

WHEN DID CHESS APPEAR IN ICELAND? The first Icelandic written records of chess are from Snorri Sturluson the autho r of Heimskringla, (1178-1241). Snorri appears to have had some knowledge of t he game, though his description in The Saga of St. Olaf , which deals with events 2 00 years before the time of writing, appears to refer to an older game than the one now played. The Saga of Earl Mgus , which was written in Iceland ca. 1300-1325, describes how an emperor was checkmated by bishop. Snorri studied at Oddi with Icelandic chieftain, Jn Loftsson and became acquainte d with Jn s son Pll (1155-1211) who would later be bishop. Pll was at school in Engla nd around 1180, and Fiske believes he learned chess there. Incidentally, several other Icelanders were studying in England at the time, including Thorlkur Thrhall

sson Icelandic bishop (1133 1193), later St. Thorlkur), and Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson, who was there before 1190. It is thus highly probable that chess was known in Iceland at the time when the Lewis chessmen were made.

SITE OF DISCOVERY The chessmen were discovered on a sandy beach on the Isle of Lewis, the largest of Scotland s Outer Hebrides as mentioned before. The find consisted of 78 chessme n from four chess sets that are missing a number of pieces. A belt buckle and fo urteen objects from board games were found at the same location. Some sources st ate that the objects were contained in a box of sorts. Most of the chessmen were made of walrus tusk, but some were made of whale tooth.

Figure 6: Probable site of discovery

The author of another British Museum pamphlet seems to think it most probable th at a merchant hid the chessmen there with the intent of retrieving them later. T his is probably an oblique reference to various other valuables that have been b uried and later found. But it is equally possible that the chessmen were washed ashore after a shipwreck. The condition of the pieces is quite variable; some ar e as new, others quite worn. This calls to mind the story of the bishop s ship fro m Greenland that was wrecked at Htarnes in 1266 and the walrus tusks that washed up on the nearby shore for a long while afterward.

BERSERKERS It is remarkable that the Lewis rooks seem to be berserkers and are depicted bit ing the edge of their shields. Berserkers are presumably an older phenomenon and are well known from Scandinavia, but they were at the forefront of Icelanders co nsciousness at this time. They occur in Icelandic writings Snorri describes bers erkers in Heimskringla, and they also figure in The Saga of the Heath-Slayings a nd they also appear in Icelandic toponyms such as Berserkjahraun (berserkers lava field) and the name of an Icelandic farm, Berserkseyri. Written records of ber serkers from other countries are scarce. In Scandinavia and Germany, this chess piece is called tower , Swedish torn, Danish trn. English and Icelandic speak of a rook (hrkur). I have not seen berserkers t o figure except among the Lewis chessmen.

Figure 7: Berserkers

KNIGHTS The knights are mounted, and the second brochure from the British Museum points out that the horses have Icelandic features. They are so small that they are rem iniscent of the Icelandic horse, and the shape of their heads seems Icelandic. H orses of this kind were probably scarce in Scandinavia.

Figure 8: Knights

BISHOPS

MITRES

According to documentation from the British Museum, the age of the Lewis chessme n is estimated primarily from the bishops mitres. Mitres of this kind were first introduced around 1150, so the chessmen cannot predate that time. These mitres a re highest at the front and back, with a depression between the two peaks. Befor e 1150, the highest points were to the sides and the cleft between them ran from front to back. Mitres changed again around the year 1200, so the chessmen are unlikely to be much younger than that. Icelandic bishops mitres came from Scandin avia or Europe, and they are thus not much use as a diagnostic feature for the c hessmen s provenance. It is worth considering whether The British Museum has come to the right conclution about the age of the Lewis chessmen. If the museum is not right man y arguments have to be reconsidered.

THE QUEEN The queen is rather unusually carved. She rests her hand on her cheek and seems worried or sad. This is somewhat reminiscent of icons of the Virgin Mary and f urther supports the hypothesis that the figures were carved under a bishop s instr uctions.

HYPOTHESIS British Museum publications theorise that the Lewis chessmen were carved in Tron dheim, Norway, where facilities and tools for such work were available and where the patterns on the pieces were most fashionable at the time. The arguments for Trondheim origin are rather weak, no written sources to build on, but the Norwegians know little about their history before 1200, except what was written in Iceland by Icelanders. Furthermore, they conclude that the chessmen were most likely buried on the Lewi s shore by a merchant who intended to retrieve them later. In 1832, a year afte

r the pieces were first exhibited, the English Sir Frederic Madden wrote an arti cle, Historical Remarks on the Ancient Chessmen discovered in the Isle of Lewis , w here he advances the hypothesis that the chessmen were carved in Iceland before the year 1200. Here I advance the hypothesis that the Lewis chessmen were carved in Iceland and present arguments in support of this theory: 1) It seems that the Lewis chessmen are indeed the first chess pieces to in tertvine the Church and the chessboard. A bishop with mitre and a crosier become s a chess piece. 2) The use of the word bishop on the chessboard is a keyword in the argumenta tion. The name bishop does not seem to have been used for a chess piece in Norway at any point in history. This word seems only to occur in Icelandic at the time the chessmen were made. Written records show that the word bishop was used in Icel and around 1300 and in England in the late 15th century. Records indicate that t he word alfin fell out of use in English around 1475, after which the chess piece was exclusively known as a bishop. When the Lewis chessmen were carved, these pi eces were most likely only known as bishops in Iceland. They were probably carve d here at the behest of a bishop who thought it appropriate that pieces closest to the king and queen be bishops. Should this prove correct, then the English ad opted the word bishop for a chess piece from Icelanders. Helgi Gudmundsson points out that the timing of this change coincides with the so-called English century (1400 1500) in Iceland, when trade and interaction with the English was at its zen ith. He then asks whether it can be ascertained where this usage was first adopt ed, whether it may have been in Bristol, for example, or other hometowns of comp anies that traded in Iceland at the time. 3) The attitude of the catholic church toward chess was very very negative in the time when the Lewis chessmen were made. We only have to look to followi ng facts: The letter from cardinal Dominiani from 1061, writing against chess. A bishop in Paris did not permit his clergy to keep chessboard in the house in these years. King Louis IX of France under the influence of the clergy officially forbad che ss in France 1254. It was not until the end of the 14th century that The Catholic Council of Regens burg revoked the ban on chess. It seems clear that the catholic church has not been willing to sponsor curving of bishops as chess pieces. At this time the archbishops were under strong influ ence from Rome. 4) The arcbishp at Trondheim persvaded the Pope in Rome to excommunicate th e King of Norway after a long and severe dispute between the king and the churc h 1194. This fact, added to the negative attitude of Rome, makes it unlikely to say the least, that the church was involved in carving the chessmen. 5) It might also be worth considering that the clothing of an archbishop di ffers from that of a bishop. The archbishop had a pallium over his shoulders an d in front of him. This is not to be seen on the Lewis bishops. Carvers in Thron dheim would probably have carved the bishop with a pallium. 6) British Museum says in its pamplets that the horses appear almost Iceland

ic in character. 7) The Lewis rooks seem to be berserkers and are depicted biting the edge o f their shields. This is probably the only chess set where the rooks are berserk s. Berserkers are presumably an older phenomenon and are well known from Scandin avia, but they were at the forefront of Icelanders consciousness at this time. T hey occur in Icelandic writings and they also appear in Icelandic toponyms such as Berserkjahraun (berserkers lava field) and Berserkseyri (name of a farm in Iceland). Written records of berserkers from other countries are scarce. In Icel and the names of the berserks who dwelled here are known. 8) Decorative art and carving were highly developed in Iceland at this time . Many examples are known of Icelandic bishops sending or bringing fine gifts car ved from walrus tusks to foreigners. Artists, goldsmiths, painters and master ca rvers were employed at the bishops seats, and written records state outright that walrus tusk was among their raw materials. In his book A History of Chess published 1913, H.J.R.Murray says : The carving of the Rooks as warriors on foot undoubtedly points to Icelandic wo rkmanship and Sir Frederic Madden, in his Historical Remarks: (Archaeologia, 1852 , xxiv; also separately printed in CPC., i) endeavoured to prove that these piec es are of Icelandic carving of the middle of the 12th century. Iceland had a strong connection to Greenland at this time. Icelanders settled Greenland with a large fleet of ships, and these Greenlander s had many friends and relatives in Iceland. Records describe bishops ships that brought goods from Greenland at that time. This connection was severed when Icel anders lost their fleet of seaworthy ships. Icelanders thus had access to walrus tusks and other raw materials from Greenland. 9) A ship carrying the Lewis chessmen from Iceland could have been shipwrec ked near the Isle of Lewis on its way to Islivig or Dublin and the pieces been w ashed up on the sand. It is telling that the men are from four chess sets, none of which are complete, which indicates that a number of pieces were lost. Perha ps more pieces remain buried there in the sand. Icelanders sold a great deal of their exports in Ireland, because in Norway they were required to pay a toll. T his brings to the mind a recording from an annal that a bishop s ship was shipwre cked at Htarnes in Iceland circa 1266 while carrying a load of goods from Greenla nd; walrus tusks were found on nearby beaches for quite some time afterwards. 10) The bishopric at Sklholt was very rich at this time. Ships owned by the b ishopric were sailing to Greenland fetching goods and artists were engaged carvi ng end other artistic activities. The church built at Sklholt around 1150, Klngschu rch , is said to have been the largest woodenhouse in the Nordic Countries, even i n Europe, at that time. Most of the timber had to be imported. 11) In Sturlunga saga it is said that the ship of Gudmundur Arason, later bi shop at Hlar, came to the Southern Isles in the year 1202 in bad weather and the re he learned about the death of king Sverrir of Norway. 12) In The Saga Writing of the Oddi Clan, Einar lafur Sveinsson, professor at the University of Iceland, advances the hypothesis that men from the Oddi clan wrote Orkneyinga saga, the History of the Earls of Orkney. A friendship existed between Bishop Pll and the Earls of Orkney at this time, and there was considera ble communication between them; there are stories of gifts being exchanged. From there the Outer Hebrides are not far off. 13) It is noteworthy that in Icelandic the Hebrides are called The Southern Isles. When sailing to Orkney islands and Norway these islands are to the south . In the Icelandic sagas there are numerous references of the Southern Isles a nd the sailings of the Icelanders to Orkney islands and to Lewis.

14) It is interesting to study the toponyms in Lewis. Uig is derived from t he Icelandic word vik which means bay. Close there is Islivig which can be deriv ed from Islendingavik, the bay of Icelanders, and Mangersta can be from the Icel andic word Mangarastaur, the place of merchants, Copenhagen. This points to the Icelandic connection in Lewis. 15) One might even entertain the notion that the Lewis chessmen were made at the request of Bishop Pll of Sklholt and carved by Margrt the Adroit, whose carvin g skills were the stuff of legend and her assistants. The chessmen were then se nt abroad for sale or as a gift, but the ship was then lost.

Revised and extended version, Reykjavk, 25 Mar ch 2011 / GGTh ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks for indispensible help to: Jn G. Fridjnsson, Professor of Linguistic Science at the University of Iceland Helgi Gudmundsson, Professor dr. phil. at the University of Iceland Thor Magnsson, former Director of the National Museum of Iceland Jnas Kristjnsson, former Director of the Institution for Icelandic Manuscripts Einar S. Einarsson, former President & CEO of Visa Iceland and chess aficionado References Alfin, alphin. In The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, 1:54. Vol. 1. Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1971. Bishop. In The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, 1:220. Vol. 1. Ox ford: At the Clarendon Press, 1971. Caldwell, David H. The Lewis Chessmen Unmasked, National Museums Scotland 2010 Fiske, D.W. Chess in Iceland. Florence: The Florentine Typographical Society, 19 05. Frijnsson, Jn G. Interview, October 2009. Fulmar Television & Film Ltd. The Lewis Chessmen. DVD. Masterpieces of the Briti sh Museum. London: BBC, 2006.

Dr. Gumundsson, Helgi. Um haf innan: Vestrnir menn og slenzk menning mildum. [Across the Sea: Westerners and Icelandic Culture in the Middle Ages.] Reykjavk: Hsklatgfan, 1997. Interview, October 2009. Kristjnsson, Jnas. Interview, October 2009. Magnsson, Thr. Interview, October 2009. Murray, H.J.R. A History of Chess Nrlund, Poul. Fornar byggir hjara heims [Ancient Settlements at the Northern Edge of the World]. Translated from the Danish (De Gamle Nordbobygder ved Verdens End

e) by Kristjn Eldjrn. Reykjavk: safoldarprentsmija, 1972. Robinson, James. The Lewis Chessmen. London: The British Museum Press, 2004. Stratford, Neil. The Lewis Chessmen and the enigma of the hoard. London: The Bri tish Museum Press, 1997. Sveinsson, Einar lafur, ed. Pls saga biskups [The Saga of Bishop Pll]. Reykjavk: Sklh oltsflagi, 1954. Sveinsson, Einar lafur. Sagnaritun Oddaverja [The Saga Writing of the Oddi Clan]. slensk fri. Reykjavk: safoldarprentsmija, 1937.

Figures Figure 1: The Isle of Lewis Figure 2: A Lewis bishop Figure 3: A pallium Figure 4: The head of the Greenland crosier Ficure 5: The queens, seen from behind Figure 6: Probable site of discovery Figure 7: Berserkers Figure 8: Knights All figures except Figure 3 and 4 are from Robinson, James. The Lewis Chessmen. London: The British Museum Press, 2004.

Figure 2 is from Nrlund, Poul. the Northern Edge of the World]. er ved Verdens Ende) by Kristjn Reykjavk: safoldarprentsmija,

Fornar byggir hjara heims [Ancient Settlements at Translated from the Danish (De Gamle Nordbobygd Eldjrn. 1972.