Double Deck Playing Cards by Hallmark
Playing cards have been traced back to the 12th century in China, India, Korea Persia and Egypt. There has even been evidence of playing cards traced back to the Tang dynasty in the 9th century.
Playing cards were introduced in Europe in the 1500s by gypsies and other travelers. See Tarot Cards
The suit signs were introduced to the European card decks in the 14th century in Italy. These original suits were cups, coins swords and polo sticks. Court cards that were introduced in Italy included a mounted king, a seated and crowned queen plus a knave (royal servant).
In Spain, the court cards were a king, knight and knave.
The playing cards in Italy were hand painted, artistic pieces and only found among the upper classes.
Germany introduced card manufacturing which made playing cards more widely available. Germany introduced suits that replaced the Italian suites. The new suits reflected rural life with acorns, leaves, hearts and hawk-bells. The German court cards consisted of a king, two knaves, and obermann and untermann.
15th Century France developed the suit icons that are more commonly known today; which are hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs. The royal cards were a king, queen and knave. It was also the French that divided the cards into red and black.
The French also assigned representation to the court cards. The Kings were: King David (Spades), Alexander the Great (Clubs), Charlemagne (Hearts, and Julius Caesar (Diamonds). These Kings represented the four empires of Jews, Greeks, Franks and Romans. The Queens representations were: Greek goddess Pallas Athena (Spades), Judith (Hearts), Jacob’s wife Rachel (Diamonds) and Argine (Clubs). The knaves were designated as La Hire (Hearts), Charlamagne’s knight Ogier (Spades), Hector the Hero of Troy (Diamonds, and King Arthur’s knight Lancelot (Clubs).
Related: Great Stocking Stuffers – Tarot Cards – Time’s Tin Cup (timestincup.com)
#smalltownbigheart #discoverdowntownboonton #visithistoricboonton #boontonusa @natlmainstreet
Leave a Reply