(slides 49, 50) The king Alfonso X, also known as Alfonso the Wise, was quite involved in cultural activities. He established a manuscript workshop, which seems to have been located in Seville. Among the manuscripts produced by this workshop is a treatise entitled "The Book of Chess [and Games]." The book is extremely detailed and includes accurate representation and explanation of chess moves and positions. In the introduction of the book, Alfonso declares that games are a noble pursuit for men, good for their minds and for bringing pleasure to their souls. The images in the book depicting chess set-ups show valid solutions to chess problems. The purpose of the manuscript appears to be the instruction of its readers in the finer points of the noble game of chess. Slide 49 depicts a chess scene and slide 50 shows a game involving dice. These images are remarkably similar in composition to the illustrations from the story of Bayad and Riyad (as seen in slides 47 and 48). The two manuscripts are approximately contemporary, but they have never been compared before by scholars because one is considered a "Muslim" cultural product and the other a "Christian" one. A future study of the similarities in these two manuscripts may reveal some of the complexities of Andalusian culture in the 13th century. Back to slides