Etienne de Vignolles, called La Hire, a French military commander who fought alongside Joan of Arc, happened to be a card craftsman. He was so impressed with the legendary maid’s heroism that he replaced the knight in a deck of cards with a dame. Catholics had no objection to depicting human form on cards, decorating cards with Judeo-Christian motifs. The King of spades was King David, with the trophy sword in hand and his sling on the bottom of the card. King of clubs was Charles the Great, King of diamonds was Julius Caesar, and King of hearts was Alexander the Great. The four kings represented the four sources of western civilization.

Today’s Queens and Jacks did not follow such a consistent path. The queen of spades represented the goddess Athena, which could also have been a representation of that kindred warrior, Joan of Arc. Rachel depicted the queen of diamonds whose husband, Jacob, waited around for 14 years to marry her. Somewhat disturbingly, the queen of hearts represented Judith, who quite unromantically cut off the head of Holofernes. The queen of clubs did not follow this same pattern. She represented a collection of images that formed Argine, an abstract favorite of kings, whose name appears to be an anagram of “regina” (queen). This also could be a possible reference again to Joan of Arc, as Charles the Great, the French Catholic major domo, was the king of clubs.

A knight from Charlemagne’s court served as prototype for the jack of spades; Hector - for diamonds; la Hire for hearts; and Judas Maccabeus for clubs. As a variation of this, the four jacks represented four famous knights, with their names printed below them on the cards: Lancelot, Ogier, Roland, and Valery. Youthful, beardless, warriors with long haircuts wielded a battle axe. All except Valery (who happened to be the chief craftsman of that deck) had a scent hound at their feet.

For the lower numbers, cards two to ten, their value was on the same scale, i.e. two to ten. The Ace, an English word first defined as “unit”, did not fit into the two through ten range and had French, German, Spanish and other equivalents: as, ass, ace, etc. The Ace was actually valued below the two. The medieval Catholic Church took great exception to this as God was “one,” so to represent the almighty’s number as the lowest on the scale was clearly the work of the devil. Anyone deigning to disagree with this was shown the door to the torture chamber.

The Ace stands today for something almost metaphysical - the quintessence of oneness, if you will, which becomes more valuable than any one personification. In reality, should a lone, simple card be given such mystical attributes?

This was debated in the middle ages as it is sometimes done so now. Many countries in our world do not distinguish been spiritual and material matters with both being important to one’s definition of self. In modern times, perhaps more than in ancient times, the rational, mystical, and even blatant sexuality are revered in the designs of a deck of cards.

Back to earth - cards serve the same purpose today as they did back in the middle ages. The rank of cards in the deck possibly reflecting back on the rank of humanity in society, from monarch to serf, with value depending upon rarity and the specific results of thousands of combinations.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Betfair Rakeback as well as Red Star Rakeback.

Tags: Poker

Share This