&spades &hearts Playing Card Players &diams &clubs

[lizlearns]

I wanted to know who each of the face cards in a deck were supposed to represent. It turns out there are two major types of card designs: the French and the Anglo-American.

The French deck characters are as follows:

• The King of Spades is King David, second king of Israel.
• The Queen of Spades is Pallas Athena, of ancient Greek myth
• The Jack of Spades is Ogier the Dane, whose son was killed by Charlemagne's son. He took revenge on the killer by killing him back, but ended up fighting alongside Charlemagne against the Moors.

• The King of Hearts is definitely a king Charles, but whether it represents Charlemagne or Charles VII of France is unclear.
• The Queen of Hearts is Judith of the Old Testament, who, according to legend, charmed her way into an enemy camp and killed Holofernes, king of the Assyrians.
• The Jack of Hearts is Étienne de Vignolles, commonly known as La Hire, a French military commander who fought alongside Joan of Arc.

• The King of Diamonds is Julius Caesar. (We all know who he is.)
• The Queen of Diamonds is Rachel, but again she could be one of several possible women bearing that name. Rachel of biblical invention (Jacob's favorite wife), Rachel as a pseudonym for Charles VII's mistress Agnès Sorel, and Ragnel, a minor character in an Arthurian tale including Sir Gawain and Sir Lancelot all vie for the position of Queen of Diamonds.
• The Jack of Diamonds is Hector, prince of Troy and one of the bravest and noblest fighters in the Trojan War.

• The King of Clubs is Alexander the Great of Macedon, of huge military fame.
• The Queen of Clubs is named Argine, but whether that name is meant as an anagram of regina (Latin for queen) or whether it refers to Argea, Oedipus' daughter-in-law in ancient Greek mythology, is unknown.
• The Jack of Clubs is either Judas Maccabeus, a renowned Jewish warrior, or Sir Lancelot of King Arthur's court.

The Anglo-American deck has a few changes:

• The joker cards are an American invention. They were dreamed up for the game of Euchre, and most decks contain 2 or 4.
• The fancy shmancy design on the Ace of Spades started under James I of England, who required an insignia on that card to show that the tax had been paid on that deck of cards.
• The Queen of Hearts is believed to be Queen Elizabeth of York, King Henry VII's wife (and default queen, but with no power.)

Also, interestingly, during the French Revolution those crazy rebels refused to play with kings, queens, and knaves. Instead, they changed the three ranks of face cards to Liberties, Equalities, and Fraternities.