Get the Full Story of Playing Cards
King of Spades – King David of Israel
King of Diamonds – Julius Caesar
King of Clubs – Alexander the Great
King of Hearts - King Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor born around 742 and only King in the deck without a moustache and with a sword through his head, otherwise known as the "Suicide King".
Did You Know?
The King of Hearts represents the only King in the deck without a moustache and with a sword through his head, thus coined the Suicide King. Earlier images of the same card show the King of Hearts wielding an ax. Over time, poor copying by card makers caused the ax to lose its head and eventually turned into a sword which seems to stick right through the King’s head.
The Queens
Queen of Spades – Athena, the Greek Goddess of War
Queen of Diamonds – Rachel, Biblical Matriarch, Wife of Jacob
Queen of Clubs - Argea, a Queen in Greek mythology or Argine an anagram derived from regina, the Latin word for queen.
Queen of Hearts – Judith, Biblical heroine who saved Israel from Assyrian invasion
The Jacks
Jack of Spades – Ogier the Dane, a knight of Charlemagne
Jack of Diamonds – Hector, a Trojan Prince
Jack of Clubs - Judas Maccabeus, a Hebrew warrior or Lancelot, an Arthurian knight
Jack of Hearts - La Hire, comrade-in-arms to Joan of Arc and member of Charles VII's court
What’s in the Cards?
When churches banned gambling, many Europeans disguised their decks with extra cards, which later evolved into tarot cards used for fortune telling. Notice how the tarot kept a few familiar features.
Mention tarot cards and images of a gypsy fortune teller peering over a crystal ball might come to mind. Actually, the earliest tarot cards in Europe started out as an ordinary deck of playing cards. When churches began denouncing and prohibiting gambling, many Europeans disguised standard decks used for betting by adding extra cards. Notice how the suits used in tarot cards closely match those used in the Middle East - swords, staves (or a wand), cups, and coins (disks or pentacles). Tarot cards also use face cards like Kings and Queens as well as number cards from ace to ten.
The tarot decks with 78 cards started out as a game called triumph, similar to bridge. Early forms first appeared between 1430 and 1450 in Northern Italy, where it became tarocchi, Italian for tarot. Followers of the occult saw the symbolic symbols in the tarocchi decks as a divination and used them for cartomancy . Some of the early associations of the occult may have also traveled from the Mamluk deck used in Egypt where fortune tellers thought a pack of cards contained hieroglyphic secrets to life.
The Leader of the Pack
“Duty Three Pence” - The Ace of Spades stands out because it would traditionally indicate that the tax had been paid on a deck of cards.
Ever notice how the Ace of Spades always stands out in a deck of cards? This didn’t happen by chance. After cards became popular, European rulers saw the opportunity to make more money by taxing each deck. Initially, a stamp was placed on the wrappings of playing cards. Later, one card in each deck received a stamp to indicate the duty had been paid even after the wrapper was torn off.  In the 1700s, the Ace of Spades commonly received the stamp probably because it lay on the top of every deck. Today the Ace of Spades still carries the tradition of standing out as the leader of the pack.
You Don’t Know Jack!
Can you tell the difference between the King and the Knave?
Ever wonder why the third rank face card goes by Jack and not Prince or Knight? Actually, the court cards originally featured a King, Queen, and Knave, meaning a male royal servant. The word Jack came along for a few reasons. First of all, it has a similar meaning to Knave referring to a “common man” as in the expression, Jack of all trades, master of none. The term Jack may also come from the game cricket in which the worst batter would go last. Teammates often teased the final batter, calling him “Last Man Jack”. 11 people bat in cricket, similar to the number 11 represented by the Jack in a deck of cards. Finally, a card game called Game of Fours dating back to the 16th century referred to the Jack as a point awarded for winning a trick with the Knave of Trumps.
In the past, calling the Knave card a Jack was considered low class as seen in Charles Dickens’ novel, Great Expectations when Estella exclaims, "He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy!" The official switch happened when card makers abbreviated face cards by the first letters in 2 or 4 corners; King to K, Queen to Q, and Knave to Kn. Instead of writing Kn to distinguish Knaves from Kings, the 11th card became J for Jack to more clearly distinguish the two cards.
The Joker in the Pack
The Joker used to serve as the highest trump card in the many games.
What’s the point of having that court jester in the pack of cards anyway? As a matter of fact, the Joker used to represent the highest trump card in most games. The Joker comes from Juker, the original German spelling of the card game, Euchre. Many antique Joker cards contain labels such as "Highest Trump" or "This Card Takes either Bower". (Bower or Bauer means Jack in German, and refers to the highest pair in a game of Euchre.) Later the card became less popular, but modern decks still contain two Jokers, usually one in color and the other in black and white.
Playing cards have come a long way since they started out as inscriptions on bones centuries ago. Today even the smallest detail carries a story of its own. In the end, whether you get a pair of Jacks or a Royal Flush, it’s all about how you play the hand you’re dealt.
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