Spanish Playing Cards

SPAIN has played a pivotal role in the history of playing cards in Europe and Latin America. The accepted view is that the early history of playing cards in Europe was related to the invasion of North Africa, Spain and Sicily by Islamic forces during the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt which ended in 1517. After this, the Spaniards carried their playing cards with them to the 'New World' where the legacy of Spanish-suited playing cards still prevails today from Mexico to Patagonia.

Early documentary sources refer to games of cards in merchants' inventories, to various card-makers and to prohibitions of card games, mostly around Barcelona and Valencia, in the late 1300s and early 1400s. The types of cards mentioned include "large cards, painted and gilded" as well as "Moorish" cards and "small" cards.

With the marriage in 1468 of the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille, the Spanish nationality came into existence in its definitive form. The catholic monarchs inherited the trading routes linking the Cantabrian ports with Flemish and French production centres. To this they soon added trade routes to England, North Africa and Italy. Catalonia experienced a revival of its importance in the Mediterranean reaching as far as Egypt. And, of course, Columbus discovered the 'New Indies' in 1492… thus Spain became a sort of emporium for the exchange of goods and artefacts from a very broad compass reaching almost literally to all four quarters of the globe.

Some of the earliest-known tarot cards, hand painted and illuminated in the 15th century, were discovered in Seville. Other 15th and 16th century evidence of Spanish playing cards have turned up in Latin American museums and archives. An interesting example are the archaic Spanish-suited cards unearthed in the Lower Rimac valley, Peru during archaeological excavations which are very similar to cards by Francisco Flores preserved in the Archivo de Indias (Seville).

Click on the images below, or search in the box at the top, to see a selection of playing cards from Spain over the centuries.

Gothic Spanish-suited cards   The Spanish National pattern   José Gombau, 1833   Sanmarti, 1840   José Martinez de Castro (Madrid)   Fournier Hermanos (Burgos) 1860   Heraclio Fournier S.A. (Vitoria)   Baraja de Amor, Hijos de Taboadela, 1871   Hija de B. Fournier (Burgos)   S. Giráldez, Barcelona, c.1910   República Española Souvenir   Simeon Durá (Valencia)   Belgian Spanish Cards   Juan Roura (Barcelona)   Vic Joc de Cartes, 1990