Tonight I was asked, "On a deck of playing cards, who were the original French Kings and what suites were they?" What a fascinating question to ask...so I did a little internet search and here is what I found out about the history of the playing card:
...It is believed to have originated in China once paper was discovered, and all cards were then created by hand.
...As it was hard to mass produce cards made by hand, they moved to making cards with stencils.
...And the orignial decks consisted of 56 cards, not 52.
The Parisian Design of Kings are as follows:
King of Spades: David
King of Diamonds: Caesar
King of Clubs: Alexander
King of Hearts: Charles (Charlemagne)
Just to go a bit further....
Queen of Spades: Pailas (warrior goddess)
Queen of Diamonds: Rachel (mother of Joseph) I particularly like this card! :)
Queen of Clubs: Argine (anagram of regina which is Latin for queen)
Queen of Hearts: Judith (Book of Judith)
and a bit further, shall we?.....
Knights or Knaves:
Spades: Ogier (Knight of Charlemagne)
Diamonds: La Hire (Commander in arms with Joan of Arc)
Clubs: Hector (prince of Troy)
Hearts: Judas Maccabee (led Jewish rebellion against Syrians)
What a completely fascinating history of the playing card. Thanks Greg for the lead.
I know this is a subject that is completely out in left field; however, I find these kind of topics quite interesting. Now if there is ever a lull in conversation, you have a great conversation starter....
Blessings from the Queen of Diamonds Rachel
2 comments:
Rachel, I have been told I am a few cards shy of a full deck!!
Hey, thank you for saying hi on my blog the other day. It's good to hear from you!
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