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By Thomas Kearns
There was a card craftsman who, as a French military commander, battled alongside Joan of Arc. His name was Etienne de Vignolles, known as La Hire. The courage and heroism of the legendary maid of Orleans so impressed him he removed the knight from a deck of cards and replaced it with a dame. Decorating cards with religious motifs or those depicting humans did not raise the wrath of the Catholic church. The king of spades was designed after King David including his sword and quiver. Charles the Great became the king of clubs, Julius Caesar the king of diamonds, and Alexander the Great was symbolized by the king of hearts. These four members of the monarchy came together to represent the four springboards of western civilization.
The depiction of what we would call today Queens and Jacks was not as consistent. The queen of spades was drawn in the form of Athena, meant likewise to remind of the warlike Joan of Arc. The queen of diamonds was the beautiful Rachel that Jacob waited for 14 years before be able to take her as wife. The queen of hearts stood for Judith, the heroine who had beheaded Holofernes. While the queen of clubs was a collective image and represented a certain abstract favorite of kings, named Argine, which was apparently an anagram of “regina” (queen), or which possibly meant to suggest Joan of Arc again, since the king of clubs was Charles the Great, the distinguished French Catholic leader.
The jack of spades was from a knight in Charlemagne’s court; diamonds were for Hector; for hearts we have La Hire himself and Judas Maccabeus represented clubs. A variation on the theme had the four jacks being represented by four well-known knights: Lancelot, Ogier, Roland, and Valery. These four were youthful, clean-shaven and longhaired warriors, all with battle axes. All had a bloodhound-like dog at their feet except for Valery, possibly because Valery was the chief craftsman who created the deck.
Still lower on the scale came the cards from 10 to 2, marked by the appropriate number of suit symbols, greatest value accorded to the greater number. The English word “Ace” first meant “unit,” and had French, Spanish, German and other equivalents: as, aas, ass, etc. The Ace stood lower on the scale than 2. However, the medieval Catholic Church viciously opposed such a classification. God was “one,” and hence any game or numeric system which defined His number as the lowest was blaspheme and Satan’s work. Anyone who would not agree had to be convinced by an array of means which were difficult to argue with down at the basement.
The Ace stands today for something almost metaphysical – the quintessence of oneness, if you will, which becomes more valuable than any one personification. In reality, should a lone, simple card be given such mystical attributes?
The question remains as arguable today as it was during the middle ages. In many countries there is no clear cut distinction between spiritual and earthly values, both being essential to present-day self definition. Today perhaps more than ever, any good citizen reveres the national, the mystical, the quantum-physical, and the downright pornographic of Esquire decks. The Ace is all or nothing, depending on how you see the contemporary concoction of concepts, and symbolizes best, perhaps, a kind of postmodern rhetorical indeterminacy which can take you anywhere or nowhere.
Otherwise, the cards serve us pretty much as they served any specific class or a mixture of class during the middle ages or the Renaissance. The basic hierarchy of the deck from King to lowest number, and the 2.598.960 possible combinations of varying value, the value of combinations decided by their rarity, allow ample possibility to project anybody’s social and spiritual aspirations.
About the Author: The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives
Rakeback at PKR Poker
and
Rakeback at Virgin Poker
.
Source:
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