Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards

by Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer

CHAPTER XV

EUROPEAN PLAYING CARDS

According to Spanish writers, the authentic history of Playing Cards in Europe begins about 1332, for they point with triumph to an order issued by Alphonse of Castile, presumed to be of that date, forbidding his soldiers to play games or to gamble. It is pointed out by disputatious writers that the command was not directed against Playing Cards, since they were not expressly mentioned by name, as are the other prohibited games of chance. Then there is a second statement that Charles V of Spain, in 1369, denounced cards, calling them by the local name of Naipes, or prophets; and also a third record that, in 1387, dice, cards, and chess were banned by John of Castile.

It is evident through these trustworthy records that gambling was widely practised in Spain, and that, even if cards were not particularly named in the first-mentioned edict, it was but little more than eighteen years later that they had become so common it was necessary to forbid their use through an official decree.

In 1395 the Provost of Paris issued a proclamation against Playing Cards, showing that their abuse in the capital of France had become intolerable. With these and other evidences, it may well be asserted that by the beginning of the fifteenth century Playing Cards were commonly known in the capitals of Europe, where they were publicly used for games and gambling, as well as for fortune-telling.

It has already been mentioned that there are records of Playing Cards in the “Red Book of Ulm,” of 1397, and an account in Nuremburg, dated 1384, when a monk preached against the inordinate love of gaming among his congregation.

Aretino assigns the invention of cards, as well as of chess, to Palamedes, in the Grecian camp before the wall of Troy, thus claiming a very early date for their introduction to Europeans; but, while little credence has been placed on this record, it is more than probable that Tarots were part of the equipment of the camp if the soldiers wished to have their future foretold by the messenger of the gods, and gambling sticks, made of ivory and marked with men’s heads, have been found in the tomb of King Qa, at Abydos, Egypt.

History states that the Crusaders played at “tables” (as draughts or checkers were then called), and also that King Richard Cœur de Lion was fond of chess; but the English histories do not mention cards at that date. German authors infer that cards were introduced into Europe by the Crusaders, who, finding the Tarots common among their enemies (or prisoners), the Saracens, learned to play from them, and as the pictures on the cards were attractive, they used them to send home as missives to their families, and these authors support their theory by pointing out that cards are still called “briefe,” or letters, in Germany, while we might say that these pictures were the ancestors of the postal cards of the present day.

Writers harp on the lack of historical data concerning Playing Cards before the middle of the fourteenth century, oblivious of the fact that previous to that time it is probable that Tarots would not have been classed with games, and that educated people had not learned to use the pack for amusement, nor had the lower classes grasped the fact that they could be converted into a means for gambling, so they disregarded the ancient symbols, which they considered only useful for fortune-tellers, so cards at that date would not have been classed as gambling tools.