Fyrste pycke a quarell, and fall out with hym then,
And soo outface hym with a carde of ten.
Skelton's Bowghe of Court.
From the following passage in Pulci's 'Morgante Maggiore,' it would seem that, in Italy, in the fifteenth century, the King of cards was occasionally referred to as the type of a presumptuous person:
"E com' e' giunse, gridava il gigante;
Tu se' quì, Re di Naibi, o di Scacchi,
Col mio bataglio convien ch'io t'ammachi."
"And when the two together came, the giant shouted out,
And here you are, my King of Cards, or e'en of Chess, pardie!
My club then with your shoulders must without delay make free."