Who is on that Playing Card? Why is he stabbing himself?

Meanings of Playing Cards
Who are the figures on the court cards in a standard deck of playing cards supposed to represent?

It is a simple question, but one with two different answers. If we’re speaking of English playing cards and their descendants (which would include American playing cards), the answer is “no one.” This answer is the one most scholars would agree on, based on historical research. It is also the answer most people would be dissatisfied with, because most of us seem to have heard (or to think that we’ve heard) of a list of the people represented on the face cards, and just can’t remember who’s who. Isn’t one of the kings Richard the Lion-Hearted? Isn’t one of the Queens Cleopatra?

So then – now that we’ve tipped our hat to the scholars, let’s get on with it. The traditional associations of persons with playing cards – the meanings of playing cards, if you will – are as follows:

Playing Card	Historical Personage
King of Hearts	Charlemagne
Queen of Hearts	Judith (of the Book of Judith, an Apocryphal Book of the Bible)
Jack of Hearts	“La Hire,” a famous French warrior a.k.a. Etienne de Vignoles
King of Spades	King David
Queen of Spades	Pallas, a.k.a. Minerva
Jack of Spades	Hogier the Dane, one of Charlemagne’s paladins
King of Diamonds	Julius Caesar
Queen of Diamonds	Rachel (of the Bible)
Jack of Diamonds	Hector of Troy alternately, Roland of France
King of Clubs	Alexander the Great
Queen of Clubs	Argine An anagram of Regina
Jack of Clubs	Lancelot

Bibliography

The only book to discuss this subject at length is the now out-of-print Playing cards; History of the pack and explanation of its many secrets, by W. Gurney Bentham. (London, Spring Books.)

I knew most of these, but I was actually surprised about some of them also.   I figured I’d pass along the knowledge.

Tags: Gambling, Gaming, History, Interesting