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Queening: Chess And Women In Medieval And Renaissance France, Regina L. O'Shea
Queening: Chess And Women In Medieval And Renaissance France, Regina L. O'Shea
Theses and Dissertations
This work explores the correlation between the game of chess and social conditions for women in both medieval and Renaissance France. Beginning with an introduction to the importance and symbolism of the game in European society and the teaching of the game to European nobility, this study theorizes how chess relates to gender politics in early modern France and how the game's evolution reflects the changing role of women. I propose that modifications to increase the directional and quantitative abilities of the Queen piece made at the close of the fifteenth century reflect changing attitudes towards women of the period, …