Why do they include Jokers in a deck of cards?

[PjPinsonnault]

If we agree that the court cards could represent real people, King Charles (Hearts) was executed by beheading, so it would make the image of a sword behind the head fitting as most beheadings took place with the victim's face away from the blade.

Pj

 

[SorenErik]

For those interested, the designation of royal cards to historical figures is attributed to the French, although the cards were used in decks long before representations were doled out.

Paris court card names

King of Spades - David

King of Hearts - Charles (possibly Charlemagne, or Charles VII)

King of Diamonds - Julius Caesar

King of Clubs - Alexander the Great

Queen of Spades - Pallas

Queen of Hearts - Judith

Queen of Diamonds - Rachel (either biblical, historical, or mythical as a corruption of the Celtic Ragnel, relating to Lancelot below)

Queen of Clubs - Argine (possibly an anagram of regina, which is Latin for queen, or perhaps Argea, wife of Polybus and mother of Argus)

Knave of Spades - Ogier the Dane/Holger Danske (a knight of Charlemagne)

Knave of Hearts - La Hire (comrade-in-arms to Joan of Arc, and member of Charles VII's court)

Knave of Diamonds - Hector of Troy

Knave of Clubs - Could be Judas Maccabeus or Lancelot

Again, this isn't fact, but just how some decided to represent the cards. Interesting, though.

Pj

This is interesting, as the King of Spades was named after King David. Anyone ever look at the King of Spades on the Lions deck? It looks just like David Blaine. I always knew he had the King adjusted to look like him, now it makes perfect sense as to why.

 

[adjones]

This is interesting, as the King of Spades was named after King David. Anyone ever look at the King of Spades on the Lions deck? It looks just like David Blaine. I always knew he had the King adjusted to look like him, now it makes perfect sense as to why.

The King of Spades on the original Split Spades deck was also made to look like him.

 

[ThrallMind]

As you'll see in a few pages, there's actually 365.25 days in a year, so it could all be BS and random. Hell if I know.

Pj

Actually, every single day the second gets longer. Not enough to where we will notice it in our lifetime, but it does happen.

So, when decks were originally created, a year could have been 364 days.

-ThrallMind

 

[PjPinsonnault]

Actually, every single day the second gets longer. Not enough to where we will notice it in our lifetime, but it does happen.

So, when decks were originally created, a year could have been 364 days.

-ThrallMind

Interesting! Taken from NPR:

The U.S. Naval Observatory has announced that it will add an extra second to the nation's atomic clocks this New Year's Eve—the first time a "leap second" has been deployed since 1998. The adjustment is necessary because the length of an atomic day—i.e., 86,400 seconds ticked off an atomic clock—was set according to observations made around 1900. Back then, the Earth rotated a tiny bit faster than it does in 2005. Scientists say the rotation slows about 2 milliseconds every 100 years.

Thanks for the thought!

Pj

 

[M_dalgashon]

This is a really great thread... Thanks all of you for sharing this information, it's a very interesting history lesson .