Croatian checkerboard

File:Croatian chequey.jpg

According to one legend, the Croatian king Stjepan Držislav was captured by the Venetians, only to challenge Doge Pietro II Orseolo to a chess match for his freedom. He went on to win all three games of said match, and in some versions even won control over the cities of Dalmatia as well. He then incorporated the chessboard pattern into his coat of arms to commemorate this triumph. However, the earliest known records of this story come much later than the events described, written in a greater literary context of romantic nation-building, and thus cannot be taken as historical.{{cite web|title=Legende o hrvatskom grbu - Povijest.hr|url=https://povijest.hr/drustvo/kultura/legende-o-hrvatskom-grbu/|accessdate=20 July 2017}}

An escutcheon of the Eucharistic star from an 11th-century baptistry in Split and a checkerboard-pattern carving on the bell tower of the Church of St. Lucy, Jurandvor are typically identified as the earliest examples of the checkerboard.{{cite book | title = Ethnologia Europaea | volume = 25-26 | page = 78 | editor = Bjarne Stoklund | author = Jonas Frykman | author2 = Gösta Arvastson | publisher = Museum Tusculanum Press | year = 1995 | isbn = 9788772893426 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ioe1OOZG71AC&pg=PA78 | accessdate = 2013-02-04}}

File:Fragment iz crkvice sv Ivana od Nimfeja, Pula, poč. 9. st.jpg

A chess pattern is observed in the architraves of a number of medieval churches in Croatia, including St. John of Nimfa in Pula, St. Vid at the Kaštel in Pula, and St. John in Biskupija at Pomer, where the motif can appear together with or instead of the Croatian interlace.{{cite journal | url = https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/391150 | language = hr | title = Pluteji centrične kompozicije kao polazište za identifikaciju nove klesarske radionice u Istri | trans-title = Plutei with Centric Composition: A Starting Point in Identifying a New Stone Carving Workshop in Istria | first = Nikolina | last = Belošević | journal = Ars Adriatica | issn = 1848-7459 | publisher = University of Zadar | number = 11 | year = 2021 | volume = 11 | page = 51 | doi = 10.15291/aa.3555 | s2cid = 247905320 | access-date = 17 January 2023 | doi-access = free }}

File:Croatian_Coat_of_Arms_1495.JPG

One of the oldest coats of arms of the Croatian kingdom from 1495 is located in the Austrian town of Innsbruck and is located on the front of the temple hall of Herzog-Friedrichstrasse 35. It is assumed that the creation of the Croatian coat of arms was stimulated by the emperor Maximilian I from whose time it originated the coat of arms of Innsbruck, but also some other coats of arms, preserved in today's Germany and Austria.{{cite journal|title=Prilog povijesti državnog grba Hrvatske i njegov najstariji prikaz u Innsbrucku|journal=Arhivski vjesnik |date=30 November 1993 |issue=36 |pages=131–147 |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/65751|accessdate=20 July 2017 |last1=Hye |first1=Franz-Heinz }}{{cite web|title=Knjižnice grada Zagreba - Hrvatski nacionalni simboli|url=http://www.kgz.hr/hr/dogadjanja/hrvatski-nacionalni-simboli/19569|accessdate=20 July 2017}}

It is also assumed that the number of preserved Croatian shielded coat of arms from the time of the Habsburg ruler should be thanked to the fact that the Peace of Pressburg from November 7, 1491, gave him and his house the inheritance of the Hungarian-Croatian throne in case Jagiellonian dynasty would not have legitimate male offspring, but also the stipulation that Maximilian I could keep the title of the Hungarian (and Croatian) king. For this reason, it would not be strange that he had just spurred the emergence of a Croatian chess coat, if it did not exist before. The Habsburgs, however, became Hungarian-Croatian kings only a few decades later, with the 1527 election in Cetin, so it is more likely that the then-ruling Jagiellonian dynasty were to commemorate the use of that coat-of-arms.

The Co-Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, Senj contains a relief from 1491 that contains the coat of arms of the local nobleman Ludovik Perović which matches the 5x5 or 5x6 Croatian checkerboard pattern.{{cite journal | url = https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/106177 | language = hr | trans-title = The Croatian coat of arms - from Frankopan Senj to Sweden | title = Hrvatski grb iz frankopanskog Senja u Švedskoj | first = Mladen | last = Ibler | journal = The Anthology of Senj | issn = 0582-673X | publisher = City Museum Senj - Senj Museum Society | volume = 29 | number = 1 | year = 2002 | page = 109 }}

The money printed by Nicholas of Ilok between 1472 and 1475 contains a rhomboid checkered pattern on a coat of arms, but this shape is more commonly associated with the iconography of the Patriarch of Aquileia Louis of Teck.{{cite journal | url = https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/366006 | trans-title = A Contribution to the Research of the Coats of Arms of the Újlaki (Iločki) Family – Development, Specificities and Changes | title = Prilog istraživanju grbova Iločkih – razvoj, osobitosti i mijene | first = Amer | last = Sulejmanagić | journal = Scrinia Slavonica | year = 2020 | issn = 1848-9109 | publisher = Croatian Historical Institute - Department of History of Slavonia, Srijem and Baranja | volume = 20 | number = 1 | page = 60 }}

In some interpretations it is mentioned that the white color indicates White Croatia and Red Croatia. There is also a belief in the meaning of the color of the first field in the coat of arms, according to which the first white field is the independence of Croatia, and the first red field is its subordinate position, but this belief is of the newer date and does not have any confirmation in earlier lore and historical evidence.{{cite web|title=Flags Symbolizing Hatred - Journey East|date=14 December 2009 |url=https://christinebednarz.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/239/|accessdate=20 July 2017}}{{cite web|title=THE STORY BEHIND THE CHECKERS (AND A FEW LINES ON EMBLEMS AS WELL)|url=http://www.croatia-times.com/the-zagreb-times/the-story-behind-the-checkers-and-a-few-lines-on-emblems-as-well/|accessdate=20 July 2017}}

File:Croatian Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21UMD Lofting-1.jpg MiG-21 UMD is painted in a red-white Croatian checkerboard.]]

Jerseys and hats using the checkerboard are widely used by Croatian sports fans. It can also be found as a decoration on various tourist souvenirs.

Croatian euro coins have also featured the checkerboard on the obverse side.{{Cite web|url=https://www.croatiaweek.com/designs-of-croatian-national-sides-of-euro-and-cent-coins-presented/|title=Designs of Croatian national sides of euro and cent coins presented|date=4 February 2022 |access-date=10 October 2023}}

File:POL księstwo jaworskie COA.svg, a Piast-ruled duchy of Silesian region, one of many containing the pattern in West Slavic heraldry.]]

{{Commons category|Shahovnica|Šahovnica}}

• National symbols of Croatia
• Coat of arms of Croatia
• Check (pattern), esp. the matching pattern and color combination found on airports

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Category:Culture of Croatia

Category:History of the Croats

Category:National symbols of Croatia

Category:History of chess