Playing Cards & Wargaming TRUMP IT! • Page ��� of ��� 1 6 © 2015 Ian Russell Lowell

Gaming has been a human activity for a very long time. Human- has been called Homo Ludens — ‘Man the Games-player’ — by Johann Huizinga in his 1938 book of the same name. The earliest identifiable gaming devices to be found are dice, made variously from bone, ivory, stone, and even clay — all readily obtainable and cheap materials in themselves. The cost is in the effort of making the dice themselves.

The first requirement of a good general is that he knows his men, so we must begin by looking at the army you will command — the pack itself. … Just as in any army, you will find that there different ‘regiments’ — in this case, the four suits … Spades ♠ , Hearts ♥ , Diamonds ♦ , and Clubs ♣ . Most armies have their crack regiments which are considered superior to the others, and the pack of cards is no exception. In certain games the four suits are rated in the order of importance given above, though … the position can soon alter. There is also an established system of ranks within each regiment, from the Ace at the top to the humble 2 at the bottom —.the equivalent of Private Third Class. But in the heat of battle even the humblest soldier can play a decisive part, perhaps turning defeat to victory, so ignore him at your peril. … The picture cards are your officers. The King is most important, then the Queen, finally the Jack (the Jack is sometimes called the Knave, which reminds us that cards first came to Europe in the Middle Ages). The other ranks go down from 10 to 2, ranking in numerical order. Don’t forget the Ace — a key member of your army who will play a vital part in your strategy. The Ace even ranks above the King in importance.

Andrew Backhouse (1976: pp. 15, 17), Illustrated Card Games for Children

A WORKSHOP ON PLAYING CARDS & WARGAMING

WITH IAN RUSSELL LOWELL

The true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task-garden,

heaven is a playground. G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

The large lead prepared astragalus recovered from the Late Bronze Age palace

in Ugarit-Raş Şamra. From Richard Holmgren (2004: fig. 2, p. 214) ‘“Money on the hoof”:The astragalus bone — religion, gaming and primitive money’. Holmgren

proposes a connection between the uses of the astragalus (‘knuckle bone’ from the hind

legs of sheep and goats) in the continuum of religion-fate-chance and the exchange of money in trade deals, gaming exchange and as religious offertory. The astragalus is seen

as the forerunner of dice and dicing.PECUS. Man and animal in antiquity. Proceedings

of the conference at the Swedish Institute in Rome, September 9-12, 2002. Ed. Barbro Santillo Frizell (The

Swedish Institute in Rome. Projects and Seminars, 1), Rome 2004. www.svenska-institutet-rom.org/pecus

Iacta alea est ! ‘The die is cast!’ Gaius Julius Caesarcrossing the Rubicon

(Roman die)

Playing Cards & Wargaming TRUMP IT! • Page ��� of ��� 2 6 © 2015 Ian Russell LowellDicing has developed its own terminology over the centuries, some of which was passed eventually on to cards, for example the names of one pip, two pip and three pip cards as ‘ace’, ‘deuce’ and ‘trey’. ⚀ ACE /eɪs/ ⚁ DEUCE /dju:s/ ⚂ TREY /tre:/ ⚃ CATER /ʹkeɪtɘ/ ⚄ CINQ /sɪŋk/ ⚅ SICE /saɪs/ or /sʌɪs/

Stories about the history of cards usually include the origin of the four suits being reflections the social divisions within Mediæval society.

♥ Hearts or Cœurs The clergy ♣ Clubs or Trèfles The nobility ♦ Diamonds or Carreaux The mercantile class ♠ Spades or Piques The peasantry. The story recognises that the English suits are derived from the French, but that is the only truth to be gained from it. A passing acquaintance with packs of cards from Spain, Italy and/or Germany would show that these are not the suits used in these countries.

From the (originally) French suits (left hand column) — simplified to be able to be printed in just the two

colours — through the German, Swiss, Italian to the Spanish (right hand column). But still in Germany

and Italy there are also great regional variations.

Cards originated in China, where was paper, then were used in India, which influenced the Muslim world, allowing the entry of cards into Europe during the last quarter of the fourteenth century.

Mamlūk playing cards from Topkapı Sarayı Müze, İstanbul — 9 Coins (top left), 7 Swords (top right), 6

Polo-sticks (bottom left), King of Cups/Malik at-Ṯūmān (bottom right).

Gott würfelt nicht.‘God does not play (at dice).’

Albert Einstein (1879-1956)

Playing Cards & Wargaming TRUMP IT! • Page ��� of ��� 3 6 © 2015 Ian Russell LowellA year after Huizinga’s Homo Ludens was first published, an article was published in Bulletin l’Institut français du Caire by Leo A. Mayer entitled ‘Mamluk Playing Cards’ in which Mayer described how he had discov- ered a set of very early playing cards at the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul. The 46 handmade cards were from of three different packs and were (Mayer wrongly assumed) of five suits — Cups, Coins, Swords, Polo-sticks, and Staves— numbered One to Ten and with four court cards in each suit. The latter had no pictorial representation but rather each had a title of description with a religious text. This discovery was virtually overlooked until re-edited and republished as a book in 1971 with additional information about similar cards. Court cards are all male — a King and two Jacks, effectively; still reflected in modern German packs with König (King) and the Ober(mann) and Unter(mann), and with Chevalier as well as Valet in the French Tarot pack.

The Mamlūk pack or Mulūk wa-nuwwāb (Kings and Viceroys) originally consisted of 52 cards in four suits — Swords or Suyūf, Polo-sticks or Jawkān,

Cups or Ṯūmān, and Coins or Darāhim — with three court cards — King or Malik, Viceroy or Nā'ib malik, and Sub-Viceroy or Nā’ib thāni. (It is an interesting

speculation as to whether ‘One for his Nibs’ in Cribbage and ‘Jackanapes’ are legacies of Na’ib?

Spanish and Italian packs still have as their four suits: Swords, Cups, and Coins, with Clubs replacing Polo-sticks. The Spanish word for playing cards — naipes still reflects the Mamluk Nā’ib — ‘Jack’ or ‘Knave’.

Another article — ‘A “Moorish” Sheet of Playing Cards’, published in The Playing Card in 1987 — by Simon Wintle compares his discovery of ‘Moorish’ playing card sheets with the Mamluk pack, especially with the depictions in the replacement cards in that pack, and also with a later 15th century Catalan sheet, which reveals the historical development.

Moorish cards (left) from Instituo Munical de Historia, Barcelona; 1495 Catalan sheet of cards (right), found in bindings of a book.

The suit of Swords from the Istanbul Museum — on the right hand side: the pink tinted illustrations show the cards of the original pack, with the purple

and green tinted illustrations showing the replacements — on the left hand side: are the court

cards, but none of these are original but rather pipped cards to which the texts have been added as

replacements for the lost or damaged originals.

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From Nā’ib to naipes. 1376 Florence (23 May) — A game called ‘naibbe’ is forbidden by decree, with the implication that the game had only recently been introduced there.

1377 Basle — ‘Tractatus de moribus et disciplina humanæ conversationis’, a printed sermon by a Domincan friar named John describes a pack of 52 cards in four suits, each having a king, under which are two ‘Marschalli’ — one who holds the suit symbol up in his hand like the king, and the holds it downwards — and cards numbered one to ten in pips. 1377 Viterbo, Italy — Noted in a (now lost) Chronicle: a new game called ‘nayb’ introduced by a ‘Saracen’ (i.e. an Oriental, Arab or Muslim). 1380 Barcelona (26 October) —Inventory by the merchant Nicolas Sarmona lists “a game of cards (nayps) of 44 pieces”. [Either an incomplete pack of 52 or two sequences of ‘trumps’?] From Simon Wintle (1987).

In the Hofämsterspiel (‘Royal Household’) pack of playing cards (c. 1450-1460) in each suit there is a clear place of in the social pecking order, and with a marked division between the royalty, who have no numerical value, and the servants, who do. Each

suit has a King and a Queen but no Knave.

The first ten cards (Decade E) of the 50 card Mantegna Pack portrays the social stratification of

contemporary 15th century Italian society. I Misero (Beggar), II Famtio (Servant), III Artixan

(Craftsman), IIII Merchadante (Merchant), V Zintilomo (Squire), VI Cavalier (Knight), VII

DOXE (Duke), VIII Re (King), VIIII Imperator (Emperor), X Papa (Pope). With the Spiritual

Authority at the highest, even above the Emperor. The first ten cards (Decade A) reveal the

contemporary cosmography of the period: the seven ‘planets’ — Luna, Mercurio, Venus, Sol, Marte,

Iupiter, Saturno (XXXXI-XXXXVII), then XXXXVIII Octava Spera (Eighth Sphere/Heaven), IL

Primo Mobile (First moved, prime sphere) and L Prima Causa (Initial event, Unmoved Mover).

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The Ambras Court Hunting cards (Ambraser Hofjagdspiel) originally consisted of fifty-six cards in four suits: Heron (Reiher), Falcon (Falken), Hound (Hunde) and Lure (Luder/Federspiel). The number cards go from One (Ace) to Nine, with the Banner as Ten. Banner cards were used through-out Southern Germany (mainly in areas adjacent to the Alps) in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and are still in use today in Switzerland. The court cards are made up of König (King), Königin (Queen), Ober (ranking between Queen and Knave), and Unter (Knave). All these figures are mounted on horseback. Only two cards are lost, the Eight of Falcons and the Two of Hounds, so that fifty-four of the original fifty-six are extant.

Dr Ulrike Jenni, Ambraser Hofjagdspiel

The Stuttgart pack (Stutt-garter Kartenspiel) dated c.

1430, has suits of Ducks, Falcons, Stags and Hounds. The pack originally

contained 52 cards: the numeral cards (1–9 and Banner card) indicated by repeating the suit sign. In the court cards, the suit symbols are depicted in a harmonious relationship with the human figures:

ducks and falcons with male courts; hounds and stags with female court cards.

World of Playing Cards • www.wopc.co.uk/germany/stuttgart.html

“Hold your tongue,” said the Queen. “I won’t!” said Alice. “Off with her head!” the Queen shouted at the top of her voice. Nobody moved. “Who cares for you?” said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this time). “You’re nothing but a pack of cards.”

Lewis Carroll (1865),Alice’s Adventures in

Wonderland

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Modern reproductions of German playing cards from a satirical pack produced by Peter Flotner of

Nürnberg c. 1545. The suit symbols have been simplified and moved upwards to allow the

maximum space for illustrations.

The Visconti-Sforza Tarot is also known as the Colleoni-Baglioni Tarot and/or Francesco Sforza Tarot. It was produced around 1451 by Francesco Sforza, the Lord of Milan, probably to celebrate his marriage to Bianca Maria Visconti, the natural daughter of Duke Filippo Maria Visconti.

The Ambraser and Stuttgart playing cards depict noble pursuits and were undoubtedly preserved because they were hand-made at great expense for royalty and nobility. They are snapshots of contemporary life: as valuable as court paintings and other possessions of the rich and powerful to tell of their life and interests. By the sixteenth century we have, through printing, a similar wealth of images of life for the ordinary person — the artisan and the peasant. The very earthy scenes depicted in these card was to become the nature of the decoration of German cards, together with the standardisation of the suit symbols as Eicheln (Acorns), Laub or Grün (Leaves or Green), Herzen or Rot (Hearts or Red), and Schellen (Bells).

‘Tarot’ is misleading term, as the cards were produced for playing the Tarocchi or Trionfi style of game which involved trumps. These were seep rate from the main four suits of court and ‘pipped’ cards. The illustrations of the trumps also contain portraits of the newly married couple.

Illustrated here are

‘The Fool’ (above)

and the twenty-one

trumps (Trionfi).

Fifteen incomplete

packs are known

collectively as the

‘Visconti-Sforza Tarot’.