History of Playing Cards and Tarot

A Timeline

This timeline of the hisotry of playing card and Tarot is based on Madame Heather Hall's research, and and has been presented as a handout in her class on this topic at Pennsic. The handout is available for download - click the link beloy for a copy.

Download Handout Here
  • ce105: Chinese invent paper
  • 9th c. Tang dynasty: scribe Su E mentions a princess who plays at a game of 'leaves' with other courtiers. Many scholars suggest that this is an early name for cards, and evidence continues to support card play from here onwards. It is possible that Korean divination arrows were the inspiration.
  • 8th c.: Arabs in Uzbekistan acquired paper making skills from Chinese prisoners. The Caliphate embraced its use and built mills far and wide, importing paper to Spain by 950. About 1150 a paper mill appeared at Xativa, near Valencia, and by 1390 mills appeared as far as Nuremberg.
  • 9th c.: Chess is introduced to Europe
  • Ayyubid period 1173-1250: The Mamluks prize games for wellness of body and mind. These include a card pack with suits of coins, polo sticks, scimitars, and cups, curiously called tuman (myriads). The Mamluk pack also features a rank (second viceroy) that did not exist in Mamluk culture, suggesting a borrowed game. The oldest known specimen is dated late 12th c.
  • 1337: an entry from Abbey de St. Victor states “quod nulla persona audeat nec praesumat ludere ad taxillos nec ad paginas nec ad eyssychum” (that no one should venture* or undertake to play at dice, pages, or chess).
  • 14th c.: Noted writers such as Boccacio(1313-1375), Chaucer(1343-1400), and Petrarch(1304-1374) do not mention playing cards.
  • 1367: An ordinance in Bern prohibits gambling with cards.
  • 1369: A Paris gaming ordinance does not mention cards, but an ordinance from 1377 does. Documentation of cards escalates from here onwards.
  • 1371: A Catalonian rhyming dictionary defines naip as playing cards. Early Spanish and Italian references also include naib, naibi, and other spellings of what may have descended from the Arabic na'ib (viceroy), a rank in the Mamluk cards.
  • 1376: naibbe is forbidden by decree in Florence.
  • 1377: Dominican friar Johannes' sermon from Basel describes a 52 card pack. He does not describe suits, and the surviving 15th century copies may have later packs incorporated.
  • 1376: naibbe is forbidden by decree in Florence.
  • 1379: An entry in the Chronicles of Viterbo mentions “naib” being introduced by a Saracen. Italian nobles challenged each other frequently and often sourced out soldiers for local territorial squabbles. Southern Italy was under Saracen control, and likely provided professional fighters from throughout the Caliphate. This suggests a natural and perhaps common introduction method to Europeans.
  • 1380: Rodrigo Borges of Perpignan, Catalonia, is listed as pintor y naipero, “painter and maker of cards.”
  • 1392: Charles Poupart, treasurer of Charles VI of France, records the purchase of three packs of illuminated cards from Jacquemin Grigonneur. 19th c. author M.C. Leber suggested (erroneously) what is now called the “Charles VI tarot” or “Grigonneur tarot” was one of these.
  • c.1400: Xylography begins to flourish throuought Europe. References to wood carving for printing in Europe begin in the 14th century, with concrete evidence by the 1390s. This technique allows for volume production, along with the color adding method a la morisca, a style of finger painting. By this time, cards were known to be manufactured in a region stretching from Spain through France, Italy, and Switzerland to Southern Germany. Printed images are considered vulgar.
  • 1399-1412: Annals of Egypt and Syria by ibn Taghri-Birdi mentions that emir al-Malik al-Mu'ayyad won a big sum playing Kanjafah, a card game of Persian origin.
  • 1402: Ulm, Germany: oldest known documentation of 'kartenmacher' (maker of playing cards).
  • 1408: Paris court records mention con artists using cards for three-card monte-like scams.
  • 1423: Bologna: St. Bernadin of Siena's sermon against gaming results in a bonfire of thousands of cards, dice, and backgammon boards.
  • 1426: Ordinance from Nordlingen, Germany, mentions karnoffel. It is the oldest known record of a card game, as well as the oldest to use trumps in play, even though there are no trump cards. Many German ordinances appear in these times, and many are augmented shortly after published. Card manufacture is a big industry in parts of Germany now and is governed by strict guilds. German and Italian crafters begin to engrave metal for printing cards, allowing for high detail. Many crafters are women.
  • 1434: Maria of Castile receives a box of beautiful cards presented by mercer Miguel de Roda.
  • 1440: A note records Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta of Florence paid four and a half ducats to Giusto Giusti for trionfi. Flaunting extravagance was a concern for the nobles of northern Italy, who commissioned illuminated packs to commemorate events and as gifts. These were regarded as precious curios, allowing them to survive centuries.
  • 1440: Fillippo Maria Visconti of Milan pays 1500 gold pieces for an illuminated pack.
  • 1442: Florentine recipt for 12 Soldi 3 Denari for a 'cheap' trionfi pack. Many packs are acquired from mercers.
  • 1444: Many Tailleurs de cartes are on records by this time in Lyon.
  • 1450s: Apparently French in origin, Stencilling the piped cards means only the court cards need be printed with xylographs, substantially cutting cost. This affordability made them popular and influential. One late xvi century cardmaker from Lyons experimented with crescent moons in place of carreaux (diamonds).
  • c.1500: Patterns develop. Card makers retire and sell equipment, as well as plagiarism and consumer influences steer patterns into being. As they became more established in Europe, official patterns were designated for taxes and tariffs.
  • Manufacturers begin to produce cards with simple patterns on their backs.
  • 1450: Fernando de la Torre of Spain mentions fortune telling with cards.
  • 1463: English Parliament prohibits the importation of 'cardes a jouer.'.
  • 1475: De Honesta Voluptate by Babtista Platina suggests card play as a digestive aid for gentlemen, provided no unscrupulous or personal gain motives are involved.
  • 1487: a fortune-telling book is published in Ulm; uses a standard playing card pack.
  • 1527: Tiofilo Folengo publishes the Merlin Cocai sonnets, in which tarot cards determine the fates of the characters.
  • 1550: Portuguese sailors introduce cards to Japan. Cards appear in early Portuguese archeological sites as far afield as Peru and Java.
  • 1602: Miguel de Cervantes writes a short story that mentions veintiuna, or Twenty-one.
  • 1605: King James decrees that a tax stamp costing six shillings be placed on the ace of spades.
  • 1663: Gerolamo Cardano publishes Liber de Ludo Aleae (Book on Games of Chance).
  • 1780: Jean-Babtiste Alliette publishes a book on divination with a Piquet pack, and claims he learned the skill from a Russian.
  • 1781: Antoine Court de Gebelin publishes Le Monde Primitif, where he suggests ancient Egyptian origins for the Tarot.
  • 1782: “Etteilla” as Alliette now calls himself, publishes a work on divination with tarot.
  • 18th c.: Double-headed cards begin to appear. Some areas take to this idea slowly, or even never, while it becomes standard for many other patterns.
  • 19th c,: Indexes appear and become common. Lithography and other printing techniques make woodcut/xylograph cards obsolete.
  • Turned cards appear for some patterns, including the Anglo-American or 'poker' pack. This places the suit pip on the left of every court card.
  • Jokers appear. This card acts as a universal trump.

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