For whatever person the name of Valery may have been intended, it seems certain that it is not to be found as that of a distinguished character in any of the old French romances. Mons. Paulin Paris, having been consulted on this subject, thus gives his opinion, in a letter addressed to his friend, Thomas Wright, Esq., so well known for his numerous publications on Middle-Age Literature: "The name of the Valet of Hearts seems to me extremely curious, for it ought necessarily to bring to mind the name of Erart de Valeri, the famous companion of Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily, to whom his contemporaries chiefly ascribed the gain of the battle of Tagliacozza, in which Manfred [the opponent of Charles] was killed. [249] It might, therefore, be supposed that the pack [to which the four Valets in question belonged] was either of Sicilian or Italian fabrication; for the names Lancelot, Roland, Ogier, and Valeri were equally familiar to the Sicilians of the fourteenth century. I have said a few words about this Erard de Valery in the article on Charles of Anjou, in my Romancero François." [250]
Though by no means agreeing with Mons. Paulin Paris, that these cards were either of Italian devising, or manufacture, I am yet inclined to think that his conjecture about the name of Valery is correct, and that a corroboration of it is to be found in the inscription on the Valet de Pique, in the "Coursube" cards, previously noticed at page 211. This inscription is read ctarde, by Mons. Duchesne; but, to my eye, the letters, as they appear in the fac-simile given in the specimens of cards published by the Society of Bibliophiles François, appear much more like the name erarde; and if, on a careful examination of the original, it should be ascertained that this was the word intended, I should then unhesitatingly conclude that the person represented by this was Erard de Valery. The objection that one of those cards is the Valet of Hearts, and the other the Valet of Spades, is of no weight, for the old French card-makers were by no means consistent in the practice of always giving the same name to the same card. From the red rose which appears on the shield held by Valery, an Englishman might be justified in supposing that those cards, if not of English manufacture, were more especially, if not exclusively, fabricated for the English market, at a period shortly after the accession of Henry VII, [251] when the Red Rose of Lancaster had obtained the ascendency. By assuming, indeed, a small portion of French license on this subject, it might even be asserted that those cards were of English manufacture; seeing that they were discovered in the covers of a book which had formerly belonged to an English monastery, and that the features, expression, and bodily proportions of the Valets are rather characteristic of Englishmen than Frenchmen. In support of this speculation, it may further be observed that, in former times, monks were accustomed to act as their own bookbinders, and that there is reason to believe that playing cards were manufactured in England as early as 1463. [252]
In the latter quarter of the fifteenth century, several packs, or sets, of cards were engraved on copper, having the suits distinguished by figures evidently introduced according to the fancy of the artist, and bearing no resemblance to those which occur on cards of an earlier date. As the art of engraving on copper was then of recent invention, and its productions comparatively scarce and high priced, it may be concluded that those cards were chiefly intended for the amusement of the wealthier classes. Though Mons. Leber is of opinion that such cards were not intended for the purpose of play, it is yet certain that they might be so employed; seeing that they consist of the same number of suits as the common cards of the period, and have also in each suit, like the latter, a certain number of coat cards, and a certain number of others which have their value determined by the number of marks impressed on them. One of Mons. Leber's reasons for concluding that such cards were not intended for the purposes of play, is, that being delicately engraved on copper, it cannot be supposed that they were meant to receive the colouring which, in his opinion, was essential to a pack of cards. [253] It may, however, be observed that people may play very well with uncoloured cards, more especially when the suits are so strikingly distinguished as in the cards alluded to.
Perhaps the earliest specimens of the cards in question are those which have Hares, Parroquets, Pinks, and Columbines as the marks of the suits, and of which a complete pack, or set, of fifty-two pieces, is now in the Bibliothèque du Roi. [254] They are not cut up, but appear just as they came from the hands of the printer, and each separate piece of paper contains either four or six cards. The four Aces form one plate; the numeral cards from Four to Nine are contained on four plates; and the Twos and Threes appear promiscuously mixed with the coat cards on five plates more.
Circular Cards. XVth Century. (p. 222)
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