Narcís Vinyoles

Vinyoles in a 1497 engraving

Narcís Vinyoles, also Narciso Viñoles (between 1442 and 1447 – 1517) was a poet, lawyer and politician from Valencia, Spain. He was twice appointed to the post of Justicia Civil, the supreme judge in civil cases, and in 1495, King Ferdinand II recommended him for Justicia Criminal.[1] He was married to Brianda de Santángel, niece of the banker Luis de Santángel who financed the voyage of Christopher Columbus.

Vinyoles was fluent in Catalan, Castilian Spanish, Latin, and Italian, even composing poems in Italian. Although he was a native Valencian/Catalan speaker, he praised the "clean, elegant, and graceful Castilian Spanish" and called his own native language "a barbaric tongue". For this, he has been reviled as "the first traitor to the Valencian country and language".[2]

Vinyoles is one of the authors of Scachs d'amor or Chess of Love, a poem based on a chess game where he (as Venus) took the black (green in the poem) pieces and lost to Francesc de Castellví (as Mars, playing red, i.e. white),[3] while Bernat Fenollar (as Mercury) comments and establishes the rules.[4] It is the first documented game played with the modern rules of chess, at least concerning the moves of the queen and bishop.[5]

References

  1. ^ Ricardo Calvo, Valencia Spain: The Cradle of European Chess, Presentation to the CCI (Chess Collectors International) May, 1998, Vienna, Austria.
  2. ^ Govert Westerveld, The Poem Scachs d'amor (1475): First Text of Modern Chess, pp. 88–90, Lulu.com, 2015 | ISBN 978-1326374914.
  3. ^ Francesco di Castellvi vs Narciso Vinyoles, Valencia, Spain, 1475, Chessgames.com.
  4. ^ "Scachs d'Amor". www.scachsdamor.org. Retrieved 2015-07-20.
  5. ^ "Valencia and the origin of modern chess". Chess Vibes. 2009-09-13. Archived from the original on 2009-09-26. Retrieved 2021-10-31.