The Origins of Playing Cards
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How did they evolve?The diverse cultural context led to a diversity of playing card types. Whereas France was the leading centre for manuscript illumination, Germany led woodcut and engravings, which have a close affinity to printed matter. The Renaissance flowered in Italy, whilst Moorish influence endured in Spain until the 15th century. First came the Latin (Spanish) suit systems, which are still employed in Spain and the Americas, Italy, the Philippines, some parts of France and North Africa. Germanic suit systems (including Swiss) evolved after a period of experimentation with different combinations of suits, and finally the French suit system was invented which has become the most widely-used suit system around the world. |
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