One story about pawns is that they were actually modeled after a certain army in the midievil times. The foot soilders of this army were said to have so much armour on the front and back of their bodies that they couldn't use their swords to attack anything in front of them. Instead, they had to position themselves to strike their opponents diagonally. And with all that armour, they were the slowest of all of the soilders in the army. I don't know what army the myth refers to and there's no mention of en passant either. Anyone else heard this before?

well if the book I read is correct, chess began in india 4 or 5000 years ago, and I dont think the troops wore much in the way of armour back then. Of course I don't have any idea what the first pawns looked like.

If it is in fact true, I wouldn't expect a reference to En Passant as it was a rule that was added much later (in response to the ability to move your pawn forward two spaces -- another late addition)

I heard somewhere that early pawns were modelled after the common people. As in, each had a different occupation. The one on the far left was a gambler, for example, and I recall there being a doctor too... perhaps this is a later addition as well, though.

Edit: apparently this done was during medieval times. Not so mythic as the first post.

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That's right. There might have been a good story but it's probably been changed hundreds of times by now.

I always thought that pawns were based on a phalanx or legion type thing, where the large sheild each soldier holds prevents them from stabbing directly forward, but only off to the diagonal.

I always took the inability to attack straight ahead as simply representing a sheild.