TO BE CLEAR playing cards -------------- The definition of playing cards is a standard set of 52 varnished paper cards used in most standard card games. {1} Depending on the manufacturer the quality of the cards may vary but the most common material is paper {p} The western world is most familiar with the standard 52 deck of playing cards, but cards in general are a broad term. Simply the word cards don't necessarily mean playing cards, as card(s) can refer to tarot, debit and credit, or any form of identification, a card is at its most basic a rectangle commonly made of paper or plastic with information on it. {2, 3} Playing cards have a deep history related all across Europe, China, and America with history spanning as back as the 14th century and even more! {3, 4} --- HISTORY --- There is no concrete truth to who was the first to invent playing cards but it is believed to have originated from China, moving south then west spreading to India, Persia and then Egypt roughly around 1250-1517 during Mamluk control -(insert image here)- {4} Where cards came from There is no origin point of invention as culture is shared and something like cards is very vast in what you can do and how you can interpret it {p} The oldest complete deck of playing cards is called the Cloisters Playing Cards, a set of 52 cards created around the 15th century in Burgundian territories which is around the Southern Netherlands all made of paper -(insert image here)- {5, 6} It's believed that in the late 1300s during the Crusades that soldiers along with playing chess also played cards, with that in mind the popularity of cards spread throughout Europe “When soldiers had nothing to do, which is most of the time, what do they do? Today they play video games, but in those days they play cards,” -Emilia Maggio {5} However what is known is that cards were originally made for more wealthier folk as production in older times -(find date or era)- was more time consuming, since this was before Gutenberg's printing press they had to be hand painted, and so because of this rich folk love to be very fancy a great example of this are the Mamluk Cards {4,5,7} =Mamluk Cards were created around the 15 century with heavy Islamic roots, and influence from the Chinese Money-Suited Cards which are thought to be one of the first playing cards to have existed, those cards based off of domino tiles The suits displayed are coins, cups, swords and polo-sticks and there are 13 cards per suit, but cards have been lost over time making the deck only 47 cards total the numbers 1 to 10 plus 3 court cards, the King, the Lieutenant and the Second Lieutenant (all male) if the deck was completed it would have been a set of 52 cards all hand painted -(separate the card decks by year/era)- {7,8,} There wasn't a standard in Europe yet for the 4 suits leading to many variations depending on the cultural background -(insert image here)- {5} Mamluk cards are closely related to Chinese money cards, and European cards are originated from Islamic cards {p} The turning point of cards in Europe is seen in the Moorish Deck made around 1420 in Spain being 2 uncut sheets of paper with a woodblock printing press with suits and pips shown on the design, with both Islamic and European influences shown, the Moorish deck is one of the oldest European card decks to date {4,10,8} --- Card really started to be known come of the 14th century when Europe got ahold of them and started producing them on their own, the most famous well know version of a playing card deck is the French style with clubs, heart, diamond, and spades but more on that in a moment ""playing cards reached Europe around the mid-14th century" {p} expanding trade routes existed all across Europe, Asia and Africa because of this as the century changed trading became a lot more common leading to the spread of popularity of playing cards, and with the slow advancement of technology and machine making many craftsmen became traders and started to arise looking for business {p,4} card games are a reflection of society, because of this certain eras have games suited to how cards were mostly used, some to pass time others to gamble -(see wild west and Victorian)- {4} "The Gothic age, from the 13th - 15th centuries, saw fundamental economic and religious changes,A new form of economy evolved, based on production for sale and exchange, in which merchants and craftsmen played increasingly important roles,luxury playing cards were produced for the wealthiest clients." Members tended to live in proximity, so that our street might be named "Baker Street" or "Saddler's Row". {4(direct quote)} playing cards started to be mass produced as the printing press made its way around, it being invented in 1440 but becoming more popular and well used in the 15th century {p,4} In 1423 St Bernadin of Siena preached against games and playing cards, convincing them to burn in "bonfires of the vanities" as cards were directly linked to gambling Even went as far as being card "The Devils Picture Book" Derogatory terms such as card-sharps, cheats, and swindlers were called many who played cards more so on the gambler spectrum {4,11, 12} - As cards started to become more available to the general public, culture started to be formed mostly of gambling {4, EXPAND ON WITH MORE} - Aside from the general public luxury cards were hand painted and used by the upper royal classes sometimes as talking pieces and or fine art {4} The first refences of playing cards was in the 1370s, where exactly? is debated, some say Spain others Germany, but the first documented records of playing cards were in the Cities of Bern and Florence with mentions of banning cards due to gambling Even without card gambling was still frowned upon by the church with dice and others banned {4, 14, 15, 16} Playing cards are have said to originate from China, with the T'ang Dynasty having playing cards since 700 AD this is also believed because China invented printing and paper between 50 and 105 AD " Armies were one of the main ways of transporting cards since they were easily carried and were a good source of entertainment. Trade with Egypt also contributed to the spread of playing cards in Europe." The oldest known Knave of Coins from the oldest known European deck {17, 24} "Historical archives from Barcelona, 1380, mention a certain Roderic Borges, from Perpignan, and describe him as “pintor y naipero” (painter and playing card maker). He is the earliest named card-maker. Other card makers named in guild records include Jaume Estalós (1420), Antoni Borges (1438), Bernat Soler (1443) and Joan Brunet (1443). Cards were being produced by craftsmen or artists, printed from woodcuts, engraved, ‘painted or gilded’" (NEED TO FACT CHECK) {4} Most cards that have survived throughout time are from the 15th century mostly made on pasteboards making paper or cardboard, this was mostly done by papermills rather than card makers {4} objects that were depicted as suit symbols include, boars, bears, flowers, falcons, hounds, lions, clubs, cups, ciboria, hares How suits came to be is believed to come from Chinese money cards however the Chinese passed though Islamic countries and then slowly though European countries and so each country (type?) had their own suit symbols, What is most iconic and most known today is the French style of suits with hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds, depending on the region dictated the style of playing cards you would most likely see One of the big changes that happened was the change of rulers, with European style of royalty reflecting the court cards " Stereotyped designs peculiar to particular regions evolved and became standard patterns." {4, 15} Fun fact Nintendo originally started as a card making company, the original name being Nintendo Koppai {18,19} Cards were a staple in the trading world for their easy and portability "Increase in demand for cultural objects led to the inventing of quicker and cheaper production methods… woodcuts, movable type, paper instead of parchment, multiple copies. As card-playing became more popular production was accelerated by these alternative processes, including hand-made cards, cards printed from woodblocks or using stencils, or other improvised techniques." hand painted cards were of course higher quality than mass produced once not only for the images on top but also the cards material more expensive cards had gold and silver accents compared to the black and white mass produced cards although some had color too The more expensive card packs were regarded really high given as specialty gifts as collectibles, some even being heirlooms passes down generations {4} Everyone had a job when it came to production, the images shown on the cards (granted not personal luxury cards) were commonly sketched on vellum and copied from workshops to create the pictures on cards, granted this wasn't always perfect as it was a practice of lower quality card packs {4} As the craft developed it became its own way of communication giving insight of the history of the year it was made, design choice directly reflecting the resources available along with the culture at the time both of high and low {4} ADD THIS IN WITH THE HISTORY BITS!!! The crusades happened between 1095-1291, during that time it's possible cards slowly started to spread from crusaders, but traders and travelers spread them too "Paper is fragile and typically does not survive well across the ages" The origin of cards can be traced back to China, India, Korea??, Persia, or Egypt Games of drinking directly link with cards and in medieval times it wouldnt be a shock to see a rise of card drinking games which may have spread their popularity Dice have been around for centuries much longer than cards, and so, dice and card games naturally went together just as much as drinking and gambling "he Spanish packs also didn't have a 10, and with the absence of 8s and 9s in the national Spanish game of ombre, it resulted in a 40 card deck." " The queen was also eliminated from the Italian courts, and these instead consisted of a King and two knaves, an obermann (upper) and untermann (under). Meanwhile the Two replaced the Ace as the highest card, to create a 48 card deck. "the French developed the icons for the four suits that we commonly use today, namely hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs, although they were called coeurs, piques, carreaux, and trefles " They also used only 2 colors for their suits for ease of production and play {20, 21} The cards that have changed the most throught time is arguably the court cards, the court cards in europe tended to represent the british rule of royalty Granted there are MANY varations of the court cards as some dont even represent a court at all sometimes rather hunters, common folk, or not even people Knave, kings, queens, jacks, princes, hunters, workers, knights, and many more are examples of {p,4,23,} ----------------------- REFERENCES 1 - https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/playing-card 2-https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/card 3- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playing_card 4- https://www.wopc.co.uk/the-history-of-playing-cards/ 5- https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/history-of-playing-cards 6- https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/475513 7- https://www.wopc.co.uk/egypt/mamluk-playing-cards 8- http://mamluk.spiorad.net/history.htm 9-https://www.themahjongtileset.co.uk/money-suited-playing-cards/ 10- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/urbanincarnations/trzes-moorish-deck 11-https://catholicstewardship.com/stewardship-saint-for-may-saint-bernardine-of-siena/ 12-https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02505b.htm 13- https://www.dailystep.com/english-idioms-originated-card-playing/ 14- https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=276 15- https://www.mrsblackwell.com/journal/history-of-playing-cards 16 - http://trionfi.com/card-playing-laws-florence 17- https://libguides.ucalgary.ca/c.php?g=255446&p=1703612 18-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintend o 19-https://www.wopc.co.uk/japan/japanese-playing-cards 20- https://playingcarddecks.com/blogs/all-in/history-playing-cards-modern-deck?srsltid=AfmBOopty5EqMk2HHzJmZNKDmDZOtHo4QL6bzep2myGzgi5E-3bM0h2K 21- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades 22-https://www.awesomedice.com/blogs/news/history-of-dice?srsltid=AfmBOorpUIXhWiGW2--q5X4zRx69M-T-Dsz9PNAff6YqEgm0XvtQC5I0 23- https://www.wopc.co.uk/playing-cards/history-of-court-cards 24- https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=276 --------------- TOPICS LEFT --- WHERE THE ACE CAME FROM AMERICAN HISTORY MODERN USES GAMES

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