Playing Cards - Origin, History, Legends & Oddities

I. Introduction

Undoubtedly, the deck of playing cards is one of man's most versatile and treasured toys. It is cheap, easy to carry, takes hardly any space, and is available anywhere. It can be used for games of chance or of skill; simple games and complicated ones. It can be a social activity or a profession, and if you are alone you can play at patience (solitaire). Other uses include card-tricks and divination.

II. Origin

It has been claimed that they were playing cards already in Old Egypt. Although this is quite possible, the only "proof" is that the Queens on certain old cards were named Berenice, Arsinoe, and Cleopatra (who were queens of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt).

Another suggestion is an origin related to the game of chess, due to the common concept of fighting kings.

A third idea is that it began in China, inspired by some dominoes-like game - or in India.

All this must be seen as speculation, as must the suggestion that the first cards were Chinese paper currency.

What is known then?

What we know is that cards existed in Mamluk Egypt (lasting 1250-1517 AD), because there are still cards preserved. They prove only that they had cards at that time, but not whether they had had them long before that or not. The same applies to more than 1000 years old Indian cards that still exist.

There are card rules and descriptions of cards preserved from Japan, and mainly from China, which are older than that, and there the trail ends. They still don't prove anything about the origin. China is a good guess, but the only fact we know for sure is that card playing stems from the Orient. The details, however, are lost in the mists of history.

III. Europe

It seems likely that Europe got playing cards via two different routes. One was via returning crusaders; the other via the Moors in Spain, where Christian card players early got their own patron saint, St Anthony, possibly a wholly fictitious person. A third way can have been through China travellers, but that direct route is not very probable.

In the second half of the 14th century, card playing was established in many parts of Europe. According to documents, hand-painted cards for the King were paid for by the treasurer of France in 1392; and a Parisian ordinance from 1377 limited the right to card playing, obviously a widespread addiction at the time. Long before that, the French king, Charles IV (1294-1328) had cards painted for himself.

Ca 1470, French card makers created the suites as we know them today: Spades, Hearts, Clubs and Diamonds (Spearheads, Hearts, Trefoils and Squares). Although this originally French (or Norman) deck dominates in the world today, certain old decks are still used for some games in certain places, like the German deck with Hearts, Bells, Leaves, and Acorns, which is used for Skat. Old decks from Italy used swords, batons, cups, and coins, as did the old Spanish deck. Incidentally, the Spanish word for sword, espada, is the origin to the word "Spades".

The number of cards in the French-style modern deck is 52, but it took some time to reach that. Basically 5 different decks have survived from the 14th century till today:

The already mentioned French (sometimes called Anglo-American), with 52 cards; the Spanish, with 48 cards; the Italian, with 40 cards; the German, with 32 (or 36) cards; and the Tarrochi/Tarot pack, with 78 cards (including a trump, beside the four suites). Variations exist, locally or for specific games.

The origin of the Tarot, or Tarrochi deck is disputed. It has been suggested to be derived from Old (Pharaonic) Egypt, but there is no evidence at all supporting that. The evidence we have shows that it was used in Italy, somewhere in the first half of the 15th century, but don't say anything about its origin.

IV. Some Symbols, Legends & Oddities

ACE OF SPADES

Ace of Spades, sometimes considered as the card of the highest value, has in various contexts been used as a symbol of good luck, while it is sometimes associated with death.

In England, James I imposed a tax on playing cards, and then the Ace of Spades had to be marked to show that the tax had been paid by the manufacturer. This tax existed in the United Kingdom (since 1711 as stamp duty) till 1960. The Ace of Spades kept its function until 1862.

DEAD MAN'S HAND

The poker hand consisting of two pair, black aces and black eights, is called "Dead man's hand". According to legend this was the hand of Wild Bill Hickok when he was shot to death.

GRACE'S CARD - the six of hearts

Richard Grace, governor of Athlone for James II, was offered to betray his King (whose cause was lost) and join William of Orange on good terms. On a six of hearts he wrote his reply: "Tell your master I despise his offer, and that honour and conscience are dearer to a gentleman, than all the wealth and titles a prince can bestow."

Since then the Six of Hearts is a symbol of loyalty unto death.

THE CURSE OF SCOTLAND - the nine of diamonds

The origin of this symbol is disputed and several explanations have been suggested. The most likely is the story of Sir John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair. According to legend he wrote the orders for the Massacre of Glencoe in 1692 on a nine of diamonds.

Another widespread suggestion is that the Duke of Cumberland used this card to write an order that the Scottish prisoners from the battle of Culloden, in 1746, should be given no mercy.

JOKER

The joker was invented in North America for the game Euchre (Alsatian; "juker"), and spread with Poker to Europe.

SYMBOLISM

52 cards represent the number of weeks in a year; the sum of the value of the cards being 364, the closest one can get to the number of days of a year. Black and red can be day and night; and the four suites (spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds) would symbolise the four seasons. The 13 cards of each suit would be the 13 yearly phases of the lunar cycle; while the 12 cards being the four kings, queens, and knaves, would represent the 12 months.

A coincidence? No one knows. The earliest mention of this interpretation I know of is from the 18th century, in a private document.

The four suites can be interpreted as the four elements, or the four humours as well.

Some Mathematics

You can order the 52 cards of a deck in 52! possible ways.

That is 52*51*50*49*...*3*2*1, a number in the size of 8*10^67. That is 8 followed by 67 zeroes!

A poker hand consists of 5 cards, the order in which you get them does not matter. There are 2598960 different possible hands.

You calculate that by 52*51*50*49*48/5!

103776 poker hands have exactly 2 aces; 48 have exactly four. The probability to get one of the 48 hands with 4 aces is 48/2598960.

There are 4 possible hands of Royal Flush, 36 of Straight Flush, 624 of Quads (four of a kind), 3744 of Full House, 5108 of Flush, 10200 of Straight, 54912 of Trips (3 of a kind), 123552 of Two Pair, 1098240 of One Pair.

V. Note

1 In 1895, W.H. Wilkinson wrote "Chinese Origin Of Playing Cards". It is classic reading for anyone interested in the origin of playing cards. You can find it here:

http://healthy.uwaterloo.ca/museum/Archives/Wilkinson/Wilkinson.html

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This article is based on material previously published in Meriondho Leo.

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