II) A History of playing cards in Europe

First Historical References to Playing Cards in Europe

We can say with a good deal of certainty that playing cards were not known in Europe before middle of 14^th century. That certainty comes from the fact that famous writers of Pre-Renaissance era never mentioned them in their writings. Franchesco Petrach (1304 -74) and Boccacio (1313 - 75) wrote about dice and other forms of gambling but nothing was said about cards. Also, the Church ordinance dated 1363 and 1369 edict by Charles V of France prohibiting playing dice games and other games of chance did not speak of cards in any way.

First historical documents, which give a positive proof that cards spread into Europe, place that event after 1370. Most of those documents are related to prohibitions and restrictions on gambling and cards by European cities. The Law of the City of Florence dated 1376 forbade by the vote of 98 elders to 25 playing the game “naibb”, "which recently been introduced into these parts”. The modern version of the word “naibb” is Spanish “naipes”, which means “playing cards”. Similar ordinance in German city of Regensburg dated 1378 declared card games punishable by law if played for high stakes. The Chronicle of the City of Viterbo dated 1379 talks about the game of cards called” naybb”. Town ordinances of Paris (1377) and St. Gallen (1379) also outlawed card playing but only for working classes leaving it available for a high society.

By the early 15^th century cards spread through most of Europe. Their popularity grew so big it provoked a reaction from Church. Monk Bernardine of Sienna preached against the evil of gambling at Bologna in 1423 so passionately, a big part of the population of the city burnt their cards in public fires. That was repeated by John Capistran in Nurenberg in 1452 and tens of thousand of dice, cards and backgammon boards were thrown into the fire.

Introduction of playing cards into Europe

There were few theories on how playing cards reached Europe.

Marco Polo Theory

According to that theory cards were brought to Europe from China thanks to Marco Polo voyages in 13^th century. The fact that the earliest historical references to playing cards date at the end of 14^th century makes that theory unacceptable. Besides chronological problems with that theory, the difference between Chinese cards and games of that era and European packs and games is too obvious for Chinese cards to be a direct ancestor to European cards. Also, playing cards are not mentioned in Marco Polo’s published reports of his travels “Il Milone”.

The Crusaders Theory

That theory has the same chronological problems as the previous one. It claims that Asian cards followed ancient trading “silk” routes from China through Persia and Egypt all the way to Holy Land. The Crusaders returning home after a defeat by Saladin, supposedly, brought cards with them to European cities. The last Crusade, however, was over by 1291 – almost 80 years before European cards were first mentioned by historical evidence.

The Gypsies Theory

The theory falsely stated that the playing cards were introduced into Europe by traveling gypsies. The facts are that the gypsies infiltrated Europe almost 100 years after first cards appeared in European cities.

The Mameluks of Egypt Theory

According to it the cards came from the Mameluks of Egypt. That theory is generally accepted now due to undisputed historical evidence found by L.A. Mayer. In 1939 he discovered in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum in Istanbul the complete pack of cards, which could be traced to 12^th or 13^th centuries. Early Italian packs of 14^th century look almost identical to Mameluks pack. It consists of 52 cards of 4 suits. The suits are swords, polo-sticks, cups and coins. The cards include numerals from 1 to 10 and three courts – King, Deputy-King and Under-Deputy.

One question still remains open – did the cards enter Europe through Italy or Spain? The odds are that it happened through Italy, because cards like any other goods followed major trade routes and Venice was the main trade gate into Europe. Another argument for Italy is that early Italian pack resembles Mameluks pack a lot closer than a Spanish pack. There is still a possibility that the cards were brought to Europe first by Spanish Moors. Uncut sheet of cards dated 15^th century discovered in Barcelona shows close similarity to Mameluks pack.

A History of European Packs

By the end of the 14^th century playing cards spread widely across Europe and found home in Italy, Spain, Germany, France and Scandinavian countries. Since in their expansion to Europe playing cards most likely reached Italy first, the probable evolution of the European pack was: 1) Italian pack first, then 2) Spanish pack followed by 3) German and 4) French.

All European packs of the 14^th century were 4-suited. They had differences in the type of suits and the number and types of court cards. There were 3 main varieties of packs: 1) Italian and Spanish, which were almost identical, 2) German and 3) French. The Tables below shows the characteristics of those packs and their differences.

PACKS	SUITES
Italian
Spanish
German
French

French Pack introduced major changes that simplified the pack and its production. Four suits were divided in two black suited and two red ones. Previously, suits came in 4 colors – black, red, blue and green. The suits markings (“pips”) were made smaller and their shape was simplified. In result the production of the cards became cheaper and faster and by 15^th century France turned into Europe’s leading manufacturer of playing cards. French cards were exported to England, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and other countries.

French suits, which eventually were accepted by other card-playing nations, represented 4 classes of medieval French society. Hearts symbolized the Church, the pikes (spades) represented the military, a paving tile (diamond) was the symbol of the merchant class and a clover leaf (clubs) stood for farmers.

The first playing cards were imported into England in early 15^th century. The packs had Italian-Spanish and French design. English card makers started manufacturing cards around 1450. They copied French design and introduced the custom of making cards recognizable from both ends. Later on English started the custom of decorating the ace of spades and that’s why “the ace of spades is the most beautiful card in the deck”. That custom originates from a tax levied by British government on every deck. The ace of spades was taken from the deck to the tax office to get a tax stamp. Eventually the stamp was placed on the package, but the additional decoration (resembling the stamp) survived on the ace of spades.

III) Arival of Playing Cards to America

There is no question that the first playing cards came to America with Spaniards. It was possible to find in the 20^th century among the Indians of American Southwest the cards made of deer and ship skin with the design similar to old Spanish Cards of 16^th century. Many cards used by Indians shared with Spanish cards the same names for court cards and suits. The History of Florida published in Madrid in 1723 mentions the fact that soldiers of Spanish expedition played the cards made of leather.

There is a legend saying that sailors in Columbus voyage were forced by their superstition to throw cards overboard to stop the storms and bad weather in dangerous seas. When they finally arrived to the New World they made new cards out of the leaves of the copas trees.

European colonists brought with them playing cards they enjoyed in their old countries. English brought them to Virginia, Spanish to Florida and the Dutch to New Amsterdam. The cards even invaded Puritan New England, which is proved by a Plymouth Colony record of 1633 saying that few persons were fined for playing cards. In 1656 Pilgrims enacted the Law, which fined adults for playing cards and even subjected children to a public whipping for a second offence. The biggest fine for students in Harvard University was not for fighting or drinking but for playing cards.

Many Founding Fathers including Washington, Jefferson and Franklin were enthusiastic card players.

Copyright 2006 Progress Publishing Co.

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