Born: Unknown (1100s), Iceland (assumed)
Died: Unknown (1200s)
Country most active: Iceland
Also known as: Margrét hin haga
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
Dating back to the 12th century, the Lewis chess pieces make up one of the most famous chess sets in the world. From the time they were discovered on Scotland’s Isle of Lewis in 1831, it was generally assumed that they were crafted by a Norse man, as they depict a Norse army and the Norse occupied Scotland at the time. Other than androcentrism, there is no particular reason to believe a man made the set, and in her 2015 book Ivory Vikings: the Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them, historian Nancy Marie Brown makes the case that Icelandic carver Margret the Adroit was the most likely artisan, and that the set was commissioned at the request of Bishop Páll Jónsson. It was an assertion that others had previously put forth, and it seems as probable a theory as any. Margret appears in the Icelandic saga Páls saga biskups (Saga of Bishop Páll) as the bishop’s assistant. Among the tasks she did for him was crafting walrus ivory pieces (the same material as the chessmen), including an altarpiece and a “bishop’s crozier of walrus ivory, carved so skilfully that no one in Iceland had ever seen such artistry before; it was made by Margaret the Adroit, who at that time was the most skilled carver in all Iceland.”