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CARDS, PLAYING

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 326 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CARDS, PLAYING . As is the See also:case with all very See also:ancient pastimes, the origin of playing-cards is obscure, many nations having been credited with the invention, but the generally accepted view is that they come from See also:Asia. In the See also:Chinese See also:dictionary, Ching-tsze-tung (1678), it is said that cards were invented in the reign of Seun-ho, 1120 A.D., for the amusement of his concubines. There is a tradition that cards have existed in See also:India from See also:time immemorial—very ancient ones, See also:round in See also:form, are preserved in museums—and that they were invented by the Brahmans. Their invention has also been assigned to the Egyptians, with whom they were said to have had a religious meaning, and to the See also:Arabs. A very ingenious theory, founded on numerous singular resemblances to the ancient See also:game of See also:chess (chaturanga, the four angas or members of an See also:army), has been advanced that they were suggested by chess (see " See also:Essay on the See also:Indian Game of Chess," by See also:Sir See also:William See also:Jones, in his See also:Asiatic Researches, vol. ii.). The time and manner of the introduction of cards into See also:Europe are matters of dispute. The 38th See also:canon of the See also:council of See also:Worcester (1240) is often quoted as See also:evidence of cards having been known in See also:England in the See also:middle of the 13th See also:century; but the See also:games de rege et See also:regina there mentioned are now thought to have been a See also:kind of mumming See also:exhibition (See also:Strutt says chess). No See also:queen is found in the earliest See also:European cards. In the See also:wardrobe accounts of See also:Edward I. (1278), See also:Walter Stourton is paid 8s. 5d. ad See also:opus regis ad ludendum ad quatuor reges, a passage which has been thought to refer to cards, but it is now supposed to mean chess, which may have been called the " game of four See also:kings," as was the case in India (chaturaji).

If cards were generally known in Europe as See also:

early as 1278, it is very remarkable that See also:Petrarch, in his See also:dialogue that treats of gaming, never once mentions them; and that, though See also:Boccaccio, See also:Chaucer and other writers of that time See also:notice various games, there is not a single passage in them that can be fairly construed to refer to cards. Passages have been quoted from various See also:works, of or relative to this See also:period, but See also:modern See also:research leads to the supposition that the word rendered cards has often been mistranslated or interpolated. An early mention of a distinct See also:series of playing cards is the entry of See also:Charles or Charbot Poupart, treasurer of the See also:household of Charles VI. of See also:France, in his See also:book of accounts for 1392 or 1393, which runs thus: See also:Donne a Jacquemin Gringonneur, peintre, pour trois jeux de cartes, a or et a diverses couleurs, antes de plusieurs devises, pour See also:porter devers le Seigneur Roi, pour son See also:abatement, cinquante-six sols parisis. This, of course, refers only to the See also:painting of a set or See also:pack of cards, which were evidently already well known. But, according to various conjectural interpretations of documents, the earliest date of the mention of cards has been pushed farther back by different authorities. For instance, in the See also:account-books of Johanna, duchess of See also:Brabant, and her See also:husband, See also:Wenceslaus of See also:Luxemburg, there is an entry, under date of the 14th of May 1379, as follows: " Given to See also:Monsieur and Madame four See also:peters, two florins, value eight and a See also:half moutons, wherewith to buy a pack of cards" (Quartspel met to co See also:pen). This proves their introduction into the See also:Netherlands at least as early as 1379. In a See also:British Museum MS. (See also:Egerton, 2, 419) mention is made of a game of cards (qui ludus cartarum appellatur) in See also:Germany in 1377. The safe conclusion with regard to their introduction is that, though they may possibly have been known to a few persons in Europe about the middle of the 14th century, they did not come into See also:general use until about a half-century later. Whence they came is another question that has not yet been answered satisfactorily. If we may believe the evidence of Covelluzzo of See also:Viterbo (15th century) cards were introduced into See also:Italy from See also:Arabia.

On the authority of a See also:

chronicle of one of his ancestors he writes: " In the See also:year 1379 was brought into Viterbo the game of cards, which comes from the See also:country of the See also:Saracens, and is with them called naib." The Crusaders, who were inveterate gamblers, may have been the See also:instruments of their introduction (see Istoria della citta di Viterbo, by F. Bussi, See also:Rome, 1743). According to other authorities, cards came first to See also:Spain from See also:Africa with the See also:Moors, and it is significant that, to this See also:day, playing cards are called in Spain naipes (probably a corruption of the Arabic Nabi, See also:prophet). Taken in connexion with the statement of Covelluzzo, this fact would seem to prove the wide popularity of the game of naib, or cards, among the Arab tribes. The meaning of the word (prophet) has been suggested to refer to the See also:fortune-telling See also:function of cards, and the theory has been advanced that they were used by the Moorish gypsies for that purpose. Gypsies are, however, not known to have appeared in Spain before the 15th century, at a time when cards were already well known. In regard to the word naib, the See also:Italian See also:language still preserves the name naibi, playing cards. Towards the end of the 14th century cards seem to have become See also:common, for in an See also:edict of the See also:provost of See also:Paris, 1397,working-See also:people are forbidden to See also:play at See also:tennis, See also:bowls, See also:dice, cards or nine-pins on working days. From an omission of any mention of cards in an ordonnance of Charles V. in 1369, forbidding certain other games, it may be reasonably concluded that cards became popular in France between that date and the end of the century. In Italy it is possible that they were generally known at a somewhat earlier date. In the 15th century they were often the See also:object of the attacks of the See also:clergy. In 1423 St Bernardino of See also:Siena preached a celebrated See also:sermon against them at See also:Bologna, in which, like the See also:English Puritans after him, he attributed their invention to the See also:devil.

Cards in Germany are referred to in a See also:

manuscript of See also:Nuremberg about 1384, which illustrates the rapid spread of the new game throughout Europe. In form the earliest cards were generally rectangular or square, though sometimes circular. Not See also:long after their introduction, cards began to be used for other purposes than gaming. In 1509 a Franciscan See also:friar, See also:Thomas See also:Murner, published an exposition of See also:logic in the form of a pack of cards, and a pack invented in 1651 by Baptist See also:Pendleton purported to convey a knowledge of See also:grammar. These were soon followed by packs teaching See also:geography and See also:heraldry, the whole class being called " scientiall cards." Politics followed, and in England satirical and See also:historical sets appeared, one of them designed to reveal the plots of the Popish See also:agitators. The first mention of cards in the New See also:World is found in the letters of See also:Herrera, a See also:companion of See also:Cortes, who describes the See also:interest manifested by the See also:Aztecs in the card games of the See also:Spanish soldiers. Early in the-15th century the making of cards had become a See also:regular See also:trade in Germany, whence they were sent to other countries. Cards were also manufactured in Italy at least as early as 1425, and in England before 1463; for by an See also:act of See also:parliament of 3 Edw. IV. the importation of playing cards is forbidden, in consequence, it is said, of the complaints of manufacturers that importation obstructed their business. No cards of undoubted English manufacture of so early a date have been discovered; and there is See also:reason to believe, notwithstanding the act of Edward IV., that the See also:chief supplies came from France or the Netherlands. In the reign of See also:Elizabeth the importation of cards was a See also:monopoly; but from the time of See also:James I. most of the cards used in this country were of See also:home manufacture. A See also:duty was first levied on cards in the reign of James I.; since when they have always been taxed.

It has been much disputed whether the earliest cards were printed from See also:

wood-blocks. If so, it would appear that the See also:art of wood-See also:engraving, which led to that of See also:printing, may have been See also:developed through the demand for the multiplication of implements of play. The belief that the early card-makers or card-painters of See also:Ulm, Nuremberg and See also:Augsburg, from about 1418-1450, were also wood-engravers, is founded on the See also:assumption that the cards of that period were printed from wood-blocks. It is, however, clear that the earliest cards were executed by See also:hand, like those designed for Charles VI. Many of the earliest wood-cuts were coloured by means of a See also:stencil, so it would seem that at the time wood-engraving was first introduced, the art of depicting and colouring figures by means of stencil plates was well known. There are no playing cards engraved on wood to which so early a date as 1423 (that of the earliest dated wood-engraving generally accepted) can be fairly assigned; and as at this period there were professional card-makers established in Germany, it is probable that wood-engraving was employed to produce cuts for sacred subjects before it was applied to cards, and that there were hand-painted and stencilled cards before there were wood-engravings of See also:saints. The See also:German Briefmaler or card-painter probably progressed into the wood-engraver; but there is no See also:proof that the earliest wood-engravers were the card-makers. It is undecided whether the earliest cards were of the kind now common, called See also:numeral cards, or whether they were tarocchi or tarots, which are still used in some parts of France, Germany and Italy, but the See also:probability is that the tarots were the earlier. A pack of tarots consists of seventy-eight cards, four suits of 326 numeral cards and twenty-two emblematic cards, called atutti or atouts (= trumps). Each suit consists of fourteen cards, ten of which are the pip cards, and four See also:court (or more properly coat cards), viz. See also:king, queen, See also:chevalier and See also:valet. The atouts are numbered from r to 21; the unnumbered card, called the fou, has no See also:positive value, but augments that of the other atouts (see Academie See also:des jeux, See also:Corbet, Paris, 1814, for an account of the mode of playing tarocchino or tarots). The marks of the suits on the earliest cards (German) are See also:hearts, bells, leaves and acorns, No See also:ace corresponding to the earliest known pack has been discovered; but other packs of about the same date have aces, and it seems unlikely that the suits commenced with the deuces.

Next in antiquity to the marks mentioned are swords, batons, cups and See also:

money. These are the most common on Italian cards of the See also:late 15th century, and are used both in Italy and in Spain. See also:French cards of the 16th century See also:bear the marks now generally used in France and England, viz. cceur (hearts), trefle (clubs), pique (spades) and carreau (diamonds). The French trejle, though so named from its resemblance to the See also:trefoil See also:leaf, was in all probability copied from the See also:acorn; and the pique similarly from the leaf (griin) of the German suits, while its name is derived from the See also:sword of the Italian suits. It is not derived from its resemblance to a See also:pike See also:head, as commonly supposed. In England the French marks are used, and are named—hearts, clubs (corresponding to trefle, the French See also:symbol being joined to the Italian name, bastoni) , spades (corresponding to the French pique, but having the Italian name, See also:spade=swords) and diamonds. This confusion of names and symbols is accounted for by Chatto thus—" If cards were actually known in Italy and Spain in the latter See also:part of the 14th century, it is not unlikely that the game was introduced into this country by some of the English soldiers who had served, under See also:Hawkwood and other See also:free captains, in the See also:wars of Italy and Spain. However this may be, it seems certain that the earliest cards commonly used in this country were of the same kind, with respect to the marks of the suits, as those used in Italy and Spain." About the last See also:quarter of the 15th century, packs with animals, See also:flowers and human figures, for marks of the suits, were engraved upon See also:copper; and later, numerous See also:variations appeared, dictated by the caprice of individual card-makers; but they never came into general use. The court cards of the early packs were king, chevalier and See also:knave. The Italians were probably the first to substitute a queen for the chevalier, who in French cards is altogether superseded by the queen. The court cards of French packs received fanciful names, which varied from time to time. jusqu'a ce jour, sur l'origine des cartes a jouer (See also:Dijon, 1826) ; M.

C. See also:

Leber, Etudes historiques sur See also:les cartes a jouer, principalement sur les cartes francaises (Paris, 1842) ; William See also:Andrew Chatto, Facts and Speculations on the Origin and See also:History of Playing Cards (See also:London, 1848); P. Boiteau D'Ambly, Les Cartes a jouer et la cartomancie (Paris, 1854), translated into English with additions under the See also:title of The History of Playing Cards, with Anecdotes of their use in See also:Conjuring, Fortune-telling, and Card-sharping, edited by the Rev. E. S. See also:Taylor, B.A. (London, 1865) ; W. See also:Hughes See also:Wiltshire, M.D., A Descriptive See also:Catalogue of Playing and other Cards in the British Museum, printed by See also:order of the trustees (London, 1876) ; Origine des cartes a jouer, by R. See also:Merlin (Paris, 1869) ; The Devil's Picture Books, by Mrs J. K. See also:Van See also:Rensselaer (New See also:York, 189o) ; Bibliography of Works in English on Playing Cards and Gaming, by F. See also:Jessel (London, 1905) ; and especially Les Cartes a jouer, by See also:Henri Rene d'Allemagne (Paris, 1906) (an exhaustive account).

End of Article: CARDS, PLAYING

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