What is the story behind the face card in a deck of cards?

Question

What is the story behind the face card in a deck of cards?

Answer 1

In a Deck of Playing cards... there is the Ace Card, this is usually considered the highest of importance in most games... but acts as the Number 1.

The Royals start at Jack, Queen, then go to King. While I am not so sure if there is a complete "Story"... I think they are just to help represent a more important role in the game then a Number Card.

In most Games... Royals, or Face Cards... are considered way more important.

Answer 2

Playing cards arrived in Europe during the late 14th century (around 1370) from the Islamic world. The earliest cards we have are the Malmuk cards having the same structure as we have now. The suits were swords, polo sticks, cups and coins. Each had 10 pip cards and three court cards: King, Rider, Footman. Because Islam doesn't (usually) allow the depiction of living creatures, these figures were represented by beautiful abstract patterns. The polo sticks, unfamiliar to Europe, became batons and these suits are now known as the Latin pattern. The pattern is still used in many countries. Of course, European card makers represented the court figures rather than using patterns.

The queen first appears in a Milanese pack with 6 court cards in each suit - a male and a female of each rank. Most of the extra court cards were dropped to leave four in a 56 card pack. It was to this that 21 trumps and a Fool were added in the mid 15th century to create the tarot pack (created for playing card games and still used for them).

As playing cards gained in popularity, new suit signs began to appear. In Germany, they have Acorns, Hearts, Leaves, and Bells (the court cards are all male being Konig, Ober, Unter). In Switzerland, there is the Jass pack which has Acorns, Shields, Roses, and Bells. If memory serves, it was in the 16th century that French suits arrived and become very successful - mostly for economic reasons. Other suit signs required costly wood block printing, while the French suits could be reproduced with just stencils.

It is worth noting that at the beginning of the 18th century, German card makers began producing French suited tarot cards, looking quite unlike the old Italian designs - these became dominant for tarot games.