The origin of playing cards is unknown, although they initially arrived in Europe in the late 14th century. The earliest records, mostly of card games being outlawed, are from Berne in 1367, and they appear to have spread throughout all of Europe quite quickly. Little is known about the design and quantity of these cards; the only significant information is found in a text written in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1377 by John of Rheinfelden, who, in addition to other versions, describes the basic pack as consisting of the four still-in-use suits of 13 cards, with the courts typically being the King, Ober, and Unter (“marshals”), although Dames and Queens were already well-known by that time.
The suits of Batons or Clubs, Coins, Swords, and Cups were one of the earliest card patterns to emerge. These suits are still present in classic decks of playing cards from Italy, Spain, and Portugal, as well as in contemporary (occult) tarot cards that originally appeared in the late 18th century.
Between 1440 and 1450, in Milan, Ferrara, Florence, and Bologna, additional trump cards with allegorical pictures were added to the conventional four-suit pack, resulting in the first known tarot decks. The additional cards, known simply as trionfi, later became known as “trumps” in English. These new decks were known as carte da trionfi, triumph cards, and trionfi. The first recorded account of trionfi can be discovered in a 1440 Florence court document referring to the transfer of two decks to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta.
The about 15 Visconti-Sforza tarot decks that were painted in the middle of the 15th century for the rulers of the Duchy of Milan are the oldest surviving decks of tarot cards. Martiano da Tortona likely wrote about a missing tarot-like pack that Duke Filippo Maria Visconti had ordered between 1418 and 1425 because the painter he describes, Michelino da Besozzo, left for Milan in 1418 and Martiano himself passed away in 1425. He spoke of a deck of 60 cards, 16 of which featured Roman gods, and four different bird suits. The sixteen cards were referred to as “trumps” because Jacopo Antonio Marcello said that the now-deceased duke had created a new and magnificent category of triumphs in 1449. The Sola-Busca and Boiardo-Viti decks from the 1490s are two other early decks that also had classical themes.
The Minchiate enlarged deck was in use in Florence. Along with conventional tarot imagery, this 97-card deck also features astrological signs, the four elements, and other themes.
Tarot was not routinely condemned in its early history, despite a Dominican priest railing against the sinfulness of cards in a sermon from the 15th century (mostly because of their usage in gambling).
The initial decks of tarot cards are said to have been few in number because they were all hand-painted. The printing press was the first tool that made mass production of playing cards feasible. During the Italian Wars, tarot began to spread outside of Italy, first to France and then to Switzerland. The Tarot of Marseilles, which has Milanese origins, was the most widely used tarot deck in these two nations.
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What year did the first Tarot deck appear?
The sniper threatening Greater Washington, D.C. placed a taunting tarot card near the shooting scene with the words “Dear Policeman, I am God.” Where are tarot cards made?
In the late 14th or early 15th century, northern Italy is where tarot cards most likely first appeared. The Visconti-Sforza deck, the oldest surviving set, was made for the family of the Duke of Milan sometime around 1440. The cards were used to play tarocchi, a bridge-like game that was then quite popular among nobility and other leisure enthusiasts. The whimsical designs on the cards, from the Fool to Death, were reportedly inspired by the costumed characters that marched in carnival parades, according to tarot historian Gertrude Moakley.
What is the age of the oldest Tarot deck?
The Sola Busca is the oldest complete tarot deck. About 4050 years after the ViscontiSforza tarot, it was published in 1491. Copper etchings were used to construct the Sola Busca tarot, which gave it more detail and shading than the more typical woodblock-printed tarocchi decks of the era. Black ink was used in the original printings on white paper, which were subsequently sent to various Italian studios for painting and gilding. The outcome was a card that resembled the gold foiling on Visconti-Forza tarot decks in look. The minor arcana that follow in contemporary Rider-Waite-Smith tarot decks are similar to some of the pips in the Sola Busca; we’ll talk more about that well-known deck later. The Sola Busca deck would have been accessible to Pamela Coleman Smith, who created the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, in 1909, when she visited the British Museum.
What is the world’s oldest card?
Playing cards began to spread across Asia by the 11th century, and they eventually reached Egypt. Four remnants discovered in the Keir Collection and one in the Benaki Museum are the earliest cards still in existence. They are from the 12th and 13th centuries, respectively (late Fatimid, Ayyubid, and early Mamluk periods).
Leo Aryeh Mayer found a nearly full set of Mamluk playing cards in the Topkap Palace in Istanbul in 1939. These cards are from the 15th century and resemble the fragments shown above. It is actually made up of three separate packs and isn’t a full collection; the missing cards were probably replaced. 52 cards in four suitspolo sticks, coins, swords, and cupsmade up the first Topkap pack. Ten pip cards and three court cardsthe malik (king), the n’ib malik (viceroy or deputy king), and the n’ibwere present in each suit (second or under-deputy). Without this rank, the Mamluk suits would be structurally identical to a Ganjifa suit; however, the thn n’ib is an illegitimate title, thus it may not have been included in the earliest versions. In fact, the Arabic term “Kanjifah”which is still used in some regions of the Middle East to designate contemporary playing cardsappear on the king of swords. The Mamluks, the majority of whom were Central Asian Turkic Kipchaks, gave their cups the name “tuman,” which in Turkic, Mongolian, and Jurchen means “myriad” (10,000), which can be attributed to influence from further east. Wilkinson speculated that the ideograms for “myriad” in Chinese and Jurchen may have been reversed to create the cups.
Who designed the original Tarot deck?
Things become a little mystical around Halloween, when horror movies are playing nonstop on TV and your holiday-loving neighbors’ yards are decorated with grotesque decorations. We decided to explore the background of tarot cards in honor of one of the most enchanted seasons of the year.
Tarot cards were initially just another card game, one that was a lot like the bridge that is played today, despite the fact that we now link them with the occult. Like other decks, the earliest known tarot cards appeared in Europe in the fifteenth century, with the wealthiest households in Italy purchasing the most well-liked sets. It was expensive to commission what was practically dozens of tiny paintings because there was no printing press and only hand-painted cards were available.
These early tarot cards, known as tarocchi in Italian, included suits, trump cards, and even pips, just like any other deck.
While others experimented, the mainstream use of tarot cards for divination didn’t begin until Frenchman Jean-Baptise Alliette produced the first comprehensive book on tarot card reading in the late 1700s. Under the alias Etteilla, he published his own deck along with a user’s manual for the cards. He incorporated ideas about astronomy and the four elements to give each card a purpose. He asserted that he had taken extensive inspiration from the Book of Thoth, a work purportedly penned by Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom.
He incorporated ideas about astronomy and the four elements to give each card a purpose.
Etteilla was the first to allocate the cards to a certain sequence and spread, including a front-to-back method that is still in use today. He issued a revised edition of his manual in 1791 when his writings gained popularity, making him the first known professional tarot reader.
The next significant change to tarot cards occurred in 1909. You’ve probably seen the pictures for the Rider-Waite deck, created by publisher William Rider and tarot reader A. E. Waite. The Rider-Waite deck, like Etteilla, came with a written manual explaining how to interpret the cards and what each one meant. When the cards in this deck were arranged together, the intricate scenes presented a narrative. The Rider-Waite Deck was updated and reprinted in the 1970s, along with a new instruction manual by Stephen Kaplan, which led to the most recent tarot card renaissance.
What Tarot card is the rarest?
The Fool is typically seen as a card from the Major Arcana when performing a tarot reading. Contrary to popular belief, the Fool does not fall under either category in tarot card games. Instead, the Fool serves a function that is distinct from both the simple suit cards and the trump cards. As a result, the Fool has no number assigned to it in the majority of tarot decks that were initially created for playing games. Although Waite assigns the Fool the number 0, in his book, the Fool is discussed between Judgment (number 20) and The World (number 21). The Tarocco Piemontese is the only traditional game deck that numbers the Fool 0. Since the 1930s, the corner index for the Fool in Tarot Nouveau decks has frequently been a black inverted mullet. The Fool is one of the most expensive cards in practically all tarot games.
What tarot deck is the most conventional?
Tarot cards by Rider-Waite The Rider-Waite deck is the most well-known deck of playing cards ever. Together with Arthur Edward Waite, Pamela Colman Smith produced this timeless work in 1909, and 113 years later, the detailed imagery is still powerful and arresting.
Where did Tarot card reading begin?
Even while the tarot is the most well-known, it is just one form of divination deck. Others include regular playing cards and what are known as “oracle decks,” a word that refers to all other fortune-telling decks that are not the typical tarot. Later, Etteilla turned to a conventional tarot card, which he asserted had knowledge passed down from ancient Egypt. Etteilla’s thesis was in line with the writings of Court de Gbelin, who purportedly saw Egyptian symbols in the depictions of tarot cards. Although the Rosetta Stone was recovered in 1799 and hieroglyphics had not yet been deciphered, many European thinkers of the late 18th century thought the religion and writings of ancient Egypt carried important lessons about the nature of humanity. They gave the tarot cards more authority by connecting their imagery to Egyptian mythology.
Etteilla asserted that tarot cards began with the fabled Book of Thoth, which allegedly belonged to the Egyptian god of knowledge. Etteilla built on Court de Gbelin’s Egyptian connection. Etteilla claims that the book, which served as the inspiration for the first tarot deck, was inscribed onto gold plates by Thoth’s priests. Etteilla issued his own deck in 1789, one of the first specifically created as a divination tool and became known as the Egyptian tarot, based on these notions.
Is astrology a branch of tarot cards?
Tarot has evolved over time into an intuitive art that may assist you in planning for both the best and worst scenarios. Tarot cards are filled with symbolism, but you might not be aware of how closely it is related to astrology. In need of a Tarot deck? A card from the Major Arcana, for instance, corresponds to each sign of the zodiac.
When was the initial card deck created?
In ancient China, playing cards were first created. They were discovered in China during the Tang Dynasty in the ninth century (618907). The Collection of Miscellanea at Duyang, written by Tang Dynasty author Su E, describes Princess Tongchang (the daughter of Tang Emperor Yizong of Tang) playing the “leaf game” in 868 with members of the Wei clan (the family of the princess’ husband). This is the earliest known mention of the card game in human history. Ouyang Xiu (10071072), a scholar of the Song Dynasty (9601279), claimed that playing cards and card games date back to at least the middle of the Tang Dynasty and linked their invention to the concurrent use of sheets or pages as opposed to paper rolls as a writing medium. Yezi Gexi, the first known book on cards, is thought to have been authored by a woman in the Tang dynasty and was discussed by Chinese authors of later dynasties.
