A while back, I mentioned here that I enjoyed playing games with our grandkids. Most of the card games we play use unique decks for a particular game, like Uno, Crazy 8, etc. But sometimes we play card games using a standard deck of cards. One of the times I was playing with Emily, she made the comment that “face” cards (I think she called them “picture” cards) were really ugly.
I told her that the “pictures” were drawings of real people — she was more skeptical than impressed and of course when she asked who, she wasn’t familiar with any of the names, so she probably just put the information in the category of another one of Poppi’s tales.
But supposedly the face cards do represent real people. Playing cards were introduced in Europe in the early 1400s and face cards were initially composed of only Kings, Knights and “knaves” (now known as Jacks.) It wasn’t until around 1440 that Queens made their introduction — first in Germany.
Anyhow, there’s not total agreement, but most people in the know about these things believe today’s face cards depict these people:
King of Spades — David (from the Bible, the King of Israel)
King of Clubs — Alexander the Great (King of Macedonia)
King of Diamonds — Julius Caesar (dictator of the Roman Republic)
King of Hearts — Charles the 1st (King and Holy Roman Emperor of Italy)
Queen of Spades — Pallas Athena (In Greek mythology, Athena was the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, arts and skill — whew!!)
Queen of Clubs — Argine or Argea (One theory is that Argine is an anagram for “regina,” latin for “Queen.” Others think the Queen of Clubs represents Argea, the mythological mother of Argus)
Queen of Diamonds — Rachel (Another biblical figure, Rachel was the mother of both Benjamin and Joseph)
Queen of Hearts — Judith (the fictional heroine of The Book of Judith, from the Old Testament of the Eastern Orthodox Bible.)
Jack of Spades — Ogier the Dane (the son of the King of Denmark in 8th century.)
Jack of Clubs — Judas Maccabeus or Lancelot (A never settled debate)
(Judas Maccabeus was a Jewish priest that is acclaimed as one of the greatest warriors in Jewish history. Sir Lancelot of the “knights of the Roundtable” and the most trusted of King Arthur’s knights.)
Jack of Diamonds — Hector (A Trojan prince in Greek mythology, the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War.)
Jack of Hearts — La Hire (Étienne de Vigolies, called La Hire was a French military commander during the Hundred Years’ War.)
If you’re wondering why these people were chosen, it probably comes from the early origins of playing cards. The face cards we see today were developed in 16th century France when they pretty much took over the production of playing cards.
But no matter who, or even if, the face cards represent real people, playing cards have had some amount of influence in all our lives — we can’t change the cards we are dealt, it’s just how we play the hand. I remember my uncle used to say, trust everybody, but cut the cards…..
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