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Sanskrit scholars, including Colebrooke and Captain Cox, writing
rather incidentally than as chess players, inform us that the pieces
used in our game, viz. the Rook, Knight, and Bishop are
referred to in old Indian treatises, under their respective names of
Elephant, Horse, and Ship, which is a most convincing item of
evidence to chess players. This is one of the three main things
which historians fail to notice; the Roman Edict of 115 B.C. and
790 to 793 A.D., the least unlikely period for English acquirement
of the game, on Alcuin's three years visit from Charlemagne's
court, being the two others most meriting attention and noticed in
their respective places.
NOTE. The Roman Edict of 115 B.C. exempting chess and Draughts from
prohibition, when other games were being interdicted, seems to
have escaped the notice of all writers, and does not harmonize
with the Germans Weber and Van der Linde's theories of 954 A.D.
for the earliest knowledge of chess in its precise form.
NOTE. Alcuin, 735-804, is a name forgotten by all writers in
considering the Charlemagne, Koran, and Princess Irene period
and English probabilities.
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