pothos.org

Hello,
I was listening to an explanation this morning as to how our modern playing cards were created- why we have diamonds, clubs etc.etc
I was under the impression that the cards design was related to various kings.- Alexander and Julius Caesar included yet the explanation I heard this morning was completely different.
Where did the idea that the cards design was based on kings, come from?
Best regards,
Dean.

Hello Dean,

The internet is chock-a-block with sites that make this claim with little or no explanation, however, the following from an urban legends site seems to ring true, the source of the information being Roger Tilley's A History of Playing Cards. Quite interesting, actually.

http://www.snopes.com/history/world/cardking.htm
"Early choices for the identities of the kings included Solomon, Augustus, Clovis, and Constantine, but during the latter part of the reign of Henry IV (1553-1610) they were more or less standardized as representing Charlemagne (hearts), David (spades), Caesar (diamonds), and Alexander (clubs). . . In summary, the court cards in decks of playing cards were not initially identified by name. The assignation of identities to the kings (as well as the queens and knaves) was a temporary practice unique to French card masters that began around the mid-15th century, was not standardized for some time, and was discontinued at the end of the 18th century. The royal figures on modern playing cards no more represent specific persons than do the kings and queens in chess sets." Best regards, Amyntoros

Hi and thanx very much for the time taken to answer.
Dean.

You're quite welcome. I've been curious about this claim for a while myself and your question gave me a reason to investigate further, although I really didn't expect to find an answer on the Web. I was pleasantly surprised with the result. Who'd have thought there was a book on the history of playing cards?Best regards,Amyntoros