Birth of the Chess Queen: A History

The Queen is the strongest piece in chess. But that wasn’t always the case: for centuries, the game was played without her until, one day, the Queen appeared in an ancient manuscript kept in a Swiss abbey. How and why did she claim her place on the board? Which of the great rulers of the Middle Ages could have served as the model for this figure? And how did changes in her “chess fate” echo the real situation of women in power?

In this book by the renowned historian and feminist Marilyn Yalom, vivid rulers of the past come to life—Matilda of Tuscany and Doña Urraca, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Blanche of Castile, Sigrid the Proud and Catherine II. The author traces the unexpected path of the chess Queen: from the first rare references to her triumphant rise during the reign of Isabella of Castile, from the figurines from the Isle of Lewis and medieval poems to “Alice Through the Looking-Glass.” Before the reader unfolds a layered and captivating panorama of royal courts, struggles for influence, political calculations, and love intrigues. And today, the power of the chess Queen serves as a reminder of how, over the centuries, women sought independence—and found a way to achieve it.