Brief History of Playing Cards:

This topic is covered in detail on various sites on the WEB.

The 4 suits reflect the structure of medieval society. In Italy these were swords, cups, coins & batons, which stood for the Kings, the Church, the Merchants and Agriculture. A French knight called La Hire introduced the suits as follows to represent the same elements: Lance-points (ª Spades) for the Nobility, Hearts © for the Clergy, Diamonds ¨ for the Merchants and the Clover (§ Clubs) for the Peasants.

The Kings depicted and Named on French cards represents the 4 civilisations which most influenced medieval culture: The Hebrews (David, King of Israel, a great warrior who slew Goliath = ª), the Holy Roman Empire (Charlemagne King of the Franks AD 768-816 = ©), the Romans (Julius Caesar 100?-44 BC, general and statesman = ¨) and the Greeks (Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia and one of the greatest generals in Greek history (356-323 BC) = §.

The Queens depicted and Named on the French cards are:
© = Judith, the Hebrew heroine. ¨ = Rachel wife of Jacob of the northern Israelite tribes. ª = Pallas Athena, the Greek Goddess of war and wisdom. § = Argine, an anagram for REGINA.

The Jacks depicted and Named on the French cards are as follows:
© = Etienne de Vignolles (AD1500) better known as La Hire, a French Knight and comrade in arms of Joan of Arc who developed the suits (spades, hearts, diamonds & clubs) as we know them today. ¨ = Hector, the great hero of Troy from the Iliad. ª = Hogier, the Danish hero in legends and a knight who married Morgan Le Fey, the fairy sister of King Arthur. § = Sir Lancelot, a fictional but well known Knight of the Round Table.

When the English began to manufacture cards, their designs were based on French models, though the English imposed their own personality on the cards. The English Kings are dressed in the costumes of Henry VIII, the Queens are in the dress of his mother, Elisabeth of York and the Jacks are dressed like the squire described in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.