Who invented card games? Card kings: best among equals. Card queens: sheer perfection
September 23rd, 2010
Happens often to a player:
I sat down rich and rose up poor.
Who took the cards, seduced by profit,
He doesn't know the happy game.
The game of chance is sinful:
It was not given to us by God, -
Satan invented it!
Sebastian BRANT. 1494
Have you ever asked yourself the question: What do suits mean? playing cards? Where did the names come from - jack, ace, clubs, spades, hearts, etc. If - yes! Then this article is for you. If you are particularly impressionable, please do not read)
A few words about the history of the issue:
There are 3 versions of the origin of the cards:
1. First - Chinese, although many still do not want to believe in it. Chinese and Japanese maps are too unusual for us and appearance, and by the nature of the game, which is more like dominoes. However, there is no doubt that already in the 8th century in China, first sticks and then strips of paper with the designations of various symbols were used for games. These distant ancestors of cards were also used instead of money, so they had three suits: a coin, two coins and many coins. And in India, playing cards depicted the figure of a four-armed Shiva holding a cup, a sword, a coin and a staff. Some believe that these symbols of the four Indian classes gave rise to modern card suits.
2. Egyptian version of the origin of the cards, replicated by the latest occultists. They claimed that in ancient times, Egyptian priests wrote down all the wisdom of the world on 78 golden tablets, which were also depicted in the symbolic form of cards. 56 of them - the "Minor Arcana" - became ordinary playing cards, and the remaining 22 "Major Arcana" became part of the mysterious Tarot deck used for fortune telling. This version was first published in 1785 by the French occultist Etteila, and his successors, the French Eliphas Levi and Dr. Papus and the English Mathers and Crowley, created their own systems for interpreting Tarot cards. The name supposedly comes from the Egyptian “ta rosh” (“the path of kings”), and the maps themselves were brought to Europe either by Arabs or gypsies, who were often considered to have come from Egypt. True, scientists were unable to find any evidence of such an early existence of the Tarot deck.
3. European version. (Let’s dwell on it in more detail - it is considered the main one). Ordinary maps appeared on the European continent no later than the 14th century. Back in 1367, card games were banned in the city of Bern, and ten years later, a shocked papal envoy watched in horror as the monks enthusiastically played cards near the walls of their monastery. In 1392, Jacquemin Gringonner, the jester of the mentally ill French King Charles VI, drew a deck of cards to amuse his master. The deck of that time differed from the current one in one detail: it had only 32 cards. There were four ladies missing, whose presence seemed unnecessary at the time. Only in the next century did Italian artists begin to depict Madonnas not only in paintings, but also on maps.
4. Occult. According to the writer S.S. Narovchatov, under Ivan the Terrible, a certain Chercelli appeared in Moscow. Chercelli, in Italy was called a Frenchman, in France - a German, in Germany - a Pole, and in Poland he became a Russian. He brought to Moscow a chest wrapped in a shawl, black with red stripes, which seemed to correspond to the colors - black and red. Cards began to be in demand. At first, the authorities were tolerant of practicing with cards, but then they began to persecute them because they saw the interference of evil spirits here. Of the legislative monuments about cards, the Code of 1649 is the first to be mentioned, which prescribes to deal with card players “as it is written about tatyas” (thieves), i.e. beat mercilessly, cut off fingers and hands. By decree of 1696 It was introduced to search all those suspected of wanting to play cards, “and whoever has their cards taken out will be beaten with a whip.” In 1717 Playing cards is prohibited under threat of a fine. In 1733 For repeat offenders, prison or batogs are designated.
So what do the suits and meanings of the cards mean?
The structure of a card deck is known to everyone: ace, king, queen, jack even lower in value, tens, nines, and so on up to sixes or twos in a full deck - a typical hierarchical ladder from highest to lowest:
The Joker is a frivolous figure in tights, a jester's cap, bells... And in his hands is a scepter with a human head strung on it, which has now been replaced by humane artists with musical "cymbals". In pre-revolutionary stage performances similar character called Fradiavolo. “Joker” is taller than everyone else, it has no suit and is considered the strongest in the game. Thus, at the top of the pyramid is not the King, but Daus...
Ace is a word of Polish origin from the German Daus. The German-Russian dictionary indicates the meaning of the word: Daus - devil. It is quite possible that Daus is a corruption of the Greek "diabolos" - a dispeller of slander.
King. Interestingly, all card images had real or legendary prototypes. For example, the Four Kings are the greatest monarchs of antiquity: Charlemagne (hearts), the biblical King David (spades), Julius Caesar (diamonds) and Alexander the Great (clubs).
There was no such unanimity regarding the ladies - for example, the Queen of Hearts was either Judith, Helen of Troy, or Dido. The Queen of Spades has traditionally been depicted as the goddess of war - Athena, Minerva and even Joan of Arc. After much debate, the biblical Rachel began to be portrayed as the queen of spades: she was ideally suited for the role of the “queen of money”, since she robbed her own father. Finally, the queen of clubs, early Italian maps who acted as the virtuous Lucretia, turned into Argina - an allegory of vanity and vanity.
Valet (French valet, “servant”, “lackey”, etymologically diminutive of “vassal”; old Russian name"serf", "khlap") - a playing card with the image of a young man. All real prototypes of jacks (according to the European version) are the French knight La Hire, nicknamed Satan (hearts), as well as the heroes of the epic Ogier the Dane (spades), Roland (diamonds) and Lancelot the Lake (clubs).
“Trump” cards, their very name, have their own special purpose. "Kosher" i.e. Talmudists call ritual sacrifices “pure”... which, as you understand, is connected with Kabbalah.
Now the suits:
In French version swords became "spades", cups - into "hearts", denarii - into "diamonds", and "wands" - into "crosses", or "clubs" (the latter word in French means "clover leaf"). These names still sound different in different languages; for example, in England and Germany these are “shovels”, “hearts”, “diamonds” and “clubs”, and in Italy they are “spears”, “hearts”, “squares” and “flowers”. On German cards you can still find the old names of the suits: “acorns”, “hearts”, “bells” and “leaves”.
As for the occult principles, their essence is as follows:
1. “Cross” (Clubs) - a card depicting the cross on which Jesus was crucified and which is worshiped by half the world. Translated from Yiddish, "club" means "bad" or "evil spirits"
2. “Vini” (spikes) - symbolizes the gospel spear, that is, the spear of the holy martyr Longinus the Centurion, with which he pierced the stomach of Jesus
3. “Worms” - implies the gospel sponge on a cane: “one of the soldiers took the sponge, filled it with vinegar and, putting it on the cane, gave Him to drink.”
4. “Tambourines” - a graphic depiction of the Gospel forged tetrahedral jagged nails with which the hands and feet of Jesus were nailed to the wooden Cross.
Interesting fact, that in the USSR during the NEP years there were attempts to depict workers with peasants on maps and even introduce new colors - “sickles”, “hammers” and “stars”. True, such amateur activity was quickly stopped, and maps were stopped printing for a long time as “attributes of bourgeois decay.”
First map, which is mentioned, was created on a piece clay.
What are the cards for?
Imagine how difficult it would be to describe in words all the buildings in your city. It’s easier to depict their position.
This is the map!
The first map that is mentioned was created on a piece of clay, which was then fired. This was in Egypt over 4000 years ago.
How were the cards used?
In ancient times, landowners depicted their possessions on maps, and kings depicted the lands of their kingdom.
But when a person tried to depict the location of distant objects on a map, he encountered.
This is due to the fact that the Earth is round, so measuring large ones is enough.
And the astronomers helped in creating the maps
Astronomers provided great assistance to the first cartographers, since their research was related to the size and shape of the Earth.
Eratosthenes, who was born in 276 BC in Greece, determined the diameter of the Earth. His data was close to real.
His technique made it possible for the first time to correctly calculate the distance to the north and south.
Parallels and meridians
Around the same time, Hipparchus proposed dividing the world map into equal parts along parallels and meridians.
The exact position of these imaginary lines, he believed, would be based on study.
Ptolemy in the second century AD, using this idea, created a revised map, divided into equal parts by parallels and meridians.
His textbook on geography was the main one on this subject even after the discovery. The discoveries of other travelers also expanded interest in maps and charts.
When was the first collection of maps published?
In 1570, Abraham Ortelius published the first collection of maps in Antwerp. Founder modern cartography is Geradus Mercator.
On his maps, the straight lines corresponded to the curved lines on the globe. This made it possible to draw a straight line on the map between two points, and also to determine using a compass.
Such a map is called a “projection”; it “projects” or transfers the surface of the Earth onto a map.
Why are maps also called atlas?
On the title page of the book (collection of maps) by Abraham Ortelius the giant Atlas was depicted.
That is why today we call a collection of maps an “atlas”.
The invention of an English cartographer
The world's first puzzle was invented by English cartographer John Spilsbury around 1760. But it was not intended for entertainment, but for educational purposes, since it was a map of Europe cut into states. This teaching method was very visual and the children really liked it, and only many years later did other people come up with the idea of producing game puzzles.
❀ ❀ ❀ Where did playing cards come from?We've all seen a deck of cards and played the game of flip-flop or regular fool more than once.
But, probably, few people have thought about where playing cards actually came from. Meanwhile, they have a very long and interesting story! And jacks, queens, kings have prototypes.
Mystic Tarot
The deck of cards in the form to which we are accustomed appeared relatively recently. However, the history of playing cards begins in ancient times.
According to the occult version, cards were invented by priests in Ancient Egypt, and all the knowledge of humanity is encrypted in them. The priests created 78 golden tablets on which they applied magical signs. 56 such tablets are called the Minor Arcana, and it is they who have become regular cards. And the 22 Major Arcana are mystical Tarot cards that are still used by fortune tellers and soothsayers to this day.
This is what modern Tarot cards look like
However, there is no scientific confirmation of this version. However, archaeological research shows that maps actually appeared a very long time ago.
On ancient frescoes you can see that in Ancient Egypt there was a certain semblance of cards - cuttings with numbers printed on them, and there was a game very similar to a card game. The same games amused the people of India, only the first cards made there were made of ivory and shells.
Interestingly, Arabic maps confirm the occult version of their appearance. They also have 56 Minor and 22 Major Arcana. At the same time, Muslims are prohibited by the Koran from depicting people on maps, so they only have arabesque ornaments.
Analogs of maps appeared in China and Japan, but they were sophisticated and intricate in an oriental way and bore little resemblance to modern ones. In the East, maps were drawn on paper - these were strips on which various symbols were depicted.
In the X-XII centuries, travelers from Europe reached the Middle Kingdom. Europeans liked the clever Chinese games, which they brought home.
Chinese map, Ming Dynasty,
approximately 1400
Four main kings
Maps began to spread throughout Europe. There is a story about how the familiar deck with kings and queens appeared. They say that it was invented in 1392 by Jacquemin Gringonner, the jester of the French king Charles VI the Mad, who, as one might guess from his nickname, suffered from mental illness. To entertain his master, the jester began to invent various card games and at the same time modified the deck.
Gringonner, to flatter the master, drew four kings and announced that each of them had its own prototype. The King of Hearts is Charlemagne, the King of Spades is King David, the King of Diamonds is Julius Caesar, and the King of Clubs is Alexander the Great.
The jester declared himself a joker.
This is a very interesting card character - he seems to be a fool, but in fact he is the strongest in the deck. And in life, it was the jester who, under his mask, could tell the truth to kings.
Later, jacks appeared in the deck, which also had historical or mythical prototypes. The Jack of Hearts is the French knight Etienne de Vignolles, nicknamed La Hire, a faithful ally of Joan of Arc; peak - the hero of the French epic Ogier the Dane; diamond - Roland from “The Song of Roland”; club - Lancelot of the Lake from the legends of King Arthur.
Interestingly, for a long time there were no queens in the deck. Only in the 16th century did female characters appear on playing cards. And each of the beautiful ladies again had a prototype! The Queen of Hearts is the heroine of the biblical legend Judith. Queen of Diamonds - Rachel, Jacob's wife. Interestingly, the suit of diamonds means money, and Rachel, according to legend, was stingy. The Queen of Spades was the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, Pallas Athena. Dido from Virgil's Aeneid was initially considered the queen of clubs. But then the queen of clubs turned into the insidious seductress Argina - this is an anagram of the word regina, that is, “queen”. Court artists who created maps for monarchs gave Argina a resemblance to the royal favorite. Interestingly, if a new mistress appeared, the painters had to draw a different deck.
During the French Revolution, cards lost their popularity.
French Revolution playing card,
symbolizing freedom and brotherhood
Kings and ladies, even though they were cartoons, were overthrown from their thrones. And famous oppositionists and fighters against regimes appeared on the maps: Brutus, Voltaire, Horace, La Fontaine, Moliere, Rousseau, Saint-Simon...
Shovels and clubs
Card suits also did not arise out of nowhere. In the first decks they were called “swords”, “cups”, “denarii” (a monetary unit) and “wands”. Later, swords turned into spades, cups into hearts (from the adjective chervonny - red), denarii into diamonds, and wands into crosses or clubs (the latter word from the French “clover”).
In other countries, the suits are called differently: for example, in England and Germany - shovels, hearts, diamonds and clubs, in Italy - spears, hearts, squares and flowers.
Damn Cercelli
There is a legend about how cards appeared in Russia. They say that under Ivan the Terrible, a certain adventurer appeared in Moscow - the Italian Cercelli, whom the townspeople immediately nicknamed Chertello. However, his Italian origin is questionable, because Chertello in Italy was called a Frenchman, in France - a German, in Germany - a Pole, and in Poland he was Russian.
Paul Cezanne. "Card Players" 1895
He brought to Moscow a chest with cards, wrapped in a black and red shawl, which corresponded to the colors of the suits. But Muscovites said that these were the colors of hellfire.
And then a real epidemic began in Moscow: cards began to be in great demand, and Chercelli decided to start printing them. However, he was soon expelled from Moscow for his demonic toys, and cards were banned for a long time.
However, despite all the obstacles, cards took root in Rus' and became closely ingrained in its history and even culture - just remember Pushkin’s “Queen of Spades” or Nikolai Rostov’s famous card loss from “War and Peace.”
After the October Revolution in 1917, Soviet cards even appeared in Russia, on which workers and peasants appeared instead of kings and jacks. Moreover, the suits also changed: instead of diamonds and spades, the cards featured sickles, hammers and stars. Then cards were banned altogether.
Nowadays you can play cards, and what’s more, decks are produced to suit every taste: souvenir, fortune-telling, with various historical characters. You can even order cards with images of yourself and your friends, with whom you can then play the fool. Just don’t miscalculate - what if someone gets offended that he is not a king, but some kind of nine...
This is what a modern popular deck of cards looks like. It was created in the 1860-1870s by Adolphe Charlemagne by order of a Russian card factory. Based on popular French maps. Not everyone knows that each figure in the deck has its own prototype. But more on that later.
Origin of playing cards
A deck of ordinary playing cards originated. In the 14th and 15th centuries it was the most fashionable hobby in Europe. And the cards of the Minor Arcana were used by mid- and low-level Europeans. Over time, their number decreased and instead of 56 cards there became 52. Where did the 4 cards go? The Minor Arcana cards contain the following figures: King, Queen, Knight and Jack. They considered that in terms of the gradation of the hierarchical ladder and age, the Knight and the Jack were not very different, so they left only Valtov. And since games are different to this day, decks were still sometimes used with 2,3,4,5 -kami, and sometimes without. Those. there are 36 cards in the deck. And now more details.
The first converted playing cards
In 1392, the jester of the French king Charles VI the Mad named Jacquemin Gringonner often entertained him with card games. And, to please him, he created his own deck based on the existing ones. He drew famous personalities as characters in the deck. This deck was very similar to the modern one, with only one difference: initially there were no queens, there were kings, knights and pages. And the jester drew himself! This is how the joker appeared in the deck (in tune with Jacquemin). Although, perhaps, the jester moved into this deck only from the Major Arcana of Tarot cards. All suits have now been renamed and changed. Denarii of Tarot cards turned into diamonds, and then into diamonds, cups (bowls) - into the suit of hearts, wands - into crosses, and later into clubs (French translation - clover, trefoil), swords - into spades.
So, the king of hearts is depicted as Charlemagne, the king of diamonds is Julius Caesar, the king of clubs is Alexander the Great, and the king of spades is King David. Those. these cards looked like their characters and were signed, the rest were not.
Later, jacks were redrawn as famous personalities. The Knave of Hearts is the French knight Etienne de Vignoles, nicknamed La Hire, known as the faithful ally of Joan of Arc; the jack of diamonds is Roland, the best knight of King Charlemagne, from the “Song of Roland”, later Hector de Marais, brother of Lancelot and also a knight of the Round Table; club - Lancelot of the Lake from the legends of King Arthur; peak - Ogier the Dane, brave comrade-in-arms of Charlemagne.
To be continued...
Every resident of our country has played cards at least once in their life. Be simple sneaky fool or aristocratic preference. At the same time, most fans of card games are sure that some abstract characters are depicted as jacks, queens and kings. This is wrong…
Joker: The Jolly Sorcerer
The most surprising thing is that the only card in the deck that does not have a real prototype is the Joker. In many card games it is not used at all, but in others it acts as the highest trump card. Moreover, the word Joker itself, translated into Russian, means a merry fellow, a jester and a mischief-maker. True, sometimes the Joker is drawn as a little imp, thereby emphasizing the story of his appearance from fortune telling cards Tarot. In a deck of magic cards, the Joker is an evil wizard. At the same time, the most popular version of the origin of the word “Joker” is the name of the game Juker, in which this card character first appeared.
Card kings: best among equals
According to historical chronicles, playing cards began in Europe in the 14th century. Royalty also did not hesitate to play cards. At this time, by the middle of the 15th century, the main images of queens, jacks and kings appeared in Europe. At that distant time, as today, a deck of cards consisted of 52 sheets, divided into four suits. This figure is not accidental, because 52 is the number of weeks in a year, and suits are the four seasons. The most amazing thing is that today it is known exactly who was the prototype of the images of kings in a card deck. The king of spades was King David, known to readers from the Old Testament. The role of the King of Clubs was played by the great conqueror Alexander the Great. The King of Diamonds, an equally famous ruler, is Julius Caesar. The youngest, from a historical point of view, turned out to be the king of hearts - Charlemagne. It is symbolic that each of the prototypes of card kings left its indelible mark on the history of mankind. Alexander the Great conquered half the world. King David turned out to be the most famous crowned character in the Old Testament. Well, Charlemagne created the Holy Roman Empire. Gaius Julius Caesar became famous as the most popular dictator of ancient Rome.
Card queens: sheer perfection
Card queens also had their own real prototypes. However, these were not wives at all, the people who gave the prototype to the card kings, but completely strangers to them. The Queen of Hearts is the warlike Judith, who accomplished many feats on the pages of the Old Testament. It was she who cut off the head of the leader of the Assyrians in cold blood, saving the city of her childhood from the invasion of conquerors. According to other sources, considered more reliable, the magnificent Helen of Troy became the Queen of Hearts. According to legend, her mother was the Queen of Sparta Leda, and her father was Zeus himself. The Queen of Diamonds is the wife of one of the knights of the Round Table - Ragnel. As the queen of clubs, artists depicted either the Greek goddess Argina, who was responsible for vanity and empty vanity, or Lucretia, who represented virtue. It turned out to be more difficult with the queen of spades. Three real women are competing for her role, the image of each of whom appeared on card sheets at different times. Most often this is Minevra - the goddess of wisdom, war and victory. Less often, Athena, who was also responsible for successful fighting or the legendary medieval heroine Joan of Arc.
Jack: servant of kings
Real historical figures acted as jacks in a deck of playing cards, as in the case of queens and kings. True, if these people found out how the treacherous artists who created the decks of cards treated them, they would be greatly offended. Jack in French means servant or lackey. However, the prototypes of jacks were never such. The Jack of Hearts is the knight Etienne de Vignelet, the closest ally of Joan of Arc. Jack of Spades - noble knight Ogier of Denmark. According to legend, he repeatedly killed dragons, exterminated many giants, and was generally a bosom friend of the fairy Morgana. Subsequently, the sorceress awarded Ogier the gift of eternal youth for nights of passionate love. Jack of clubs - the famous knight Lancelot. The frantic Roland plays the role of the jack of diamonds.
Chinese and dominoes
Who invented playing cards: Italians, Spaniards, French, or were they a gift to humanity from evil spirits? Alas! The author of playing cards is known - they are Chinese. The most surprising thing is that cards in China are not an independent game, but a simpler and cheaper to produce variety of dominoes. Once upon a time, the Chinese excitedly played dice, then they transformed into dominoes, which in turn degenerated into cards. This happened at the moment when the dominoes were transferred to cardboard. The result was cards with a point scale, to which figures were added over time. The Ching-chieh-Tung dictionary mentions that cards were invented in 1120 AD, and 12 years later they became widespread throughout China. There is a true, alternative version of the origin of playing cards from ancient Egypt. It’s as if, thousands of years ago, Egyptian priests encrypted all the wisdom of the world on 78 golden tablets. Some of them were symbolically depicted in the form of cards, and 56 of them (Minor Arcana) were playing cards, and 22 (Major Arcana) were used exclusively for fortune telling. However, both the Chinese and Egyptian versions of the origin of playing cards are nothing more than a legend, while in Europe the cards have been known since the 14th century. For example, in 1367 in Bern, card games were banned by official decree, and in 1377, the Pope's envoy complained that monks were playing cards right outside the walls of their monastery.
