Lucas Wielius
Original title: Schachzabel
Schachzabel, published in Strasbourg in 1606, brings together two ways of writing about chess: Marco Girolamo Vida's poem about a battle of the gods and Lucas Wielius's practical manual. Konrad Scher's publisher's address introduces the history of the German edition, intended in part for readers hindered by a lack of Latin.
The poetic section transforms pieces into warriors and narrates a contest between gods. The manual turns to the origins of the game, the names and duties of pieces, its laws and the qualities of a player. Wielius is concerned with memory, judgement and human conduct: for him, chess's practical benefits are linked to the cultivation of character.
Differences from modern conceptions are especially valuable. For example, the author treats a king immobilised without being in check as a loss; some positions also require separate examination of the claimed outcome. The edition preserves and explains these features. The book allows poetic imagination, instructional writing and historical rules to be compared within a single monument of German chess culture.
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