Vida, Mark Ieronim (1490 – 1566)

Italian humanist, a poet, Bishop of Alba since 1532.

Author of the poem “Game of Chess” (Scacchia ludus, 1513 in Latin, was published in 1525 anonymously, later in 1527 under the author’s name. It tells about the chess game between Apollo and Mercury, in which new rules of chess were reflected, with a description of the behaviour of both players and spectators during the match. The poem was widely distributed in Europe (in the sixteenth century alone, 32 editions), was translated into most European languages and led to many other poetic and prosaic books on a chess theme.

As Murrey considers the term “turret” (Italian torre), first used by Vida in the poem for calling of the extreme chessman led in the future to the use of the name in the European countries