Baraja Morisca — Early XV century playing cards

Baraja Morisca¹ ~ an early suit system

This 48-card gothic era pack is preserved in the Fournier Museum at Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain). It was originally classified as Italian, but this identification has been revised to “probably Catalan origin”. The estimated date has also been narrowed down to c.1400-1420.

These are popular, more democratic playing cards, rather than luxury hand-painted cards for the élite. Making cards economically from woodblocks is easier when packs have either 40 or 48 cards (2 x 24) instead of 52 cards. That's why, after the early 1400s, Spanish-suited packs typically dropped the 10s and had pip cards 1 to 9, along with three court cards (10, 11, and 12).

The cards were coloured by a technique known as 'a la morisca' which involved using the fingers dipped into the pigment. As their popularity spread, new methods of production were discovered to produce packs of playing cards more cheaply.

Above: cards from a primitive Latin suited pack, possibly of Catalan manufacture, dated by paper analysis as “early XV century”, which makes this one of the earliest known surviving packs of playing cards. There are Moorish influences in some of the cards: see the double-panelled Saracenic shield on the cavalier of swords (bottom row). As the pack is incomplete it is not possible to ascertain whether it ever contained 10s but we reckon that it would have been a 48-card pack for the reason already mentioned. Plain backs, 95x65 mm.

The cards show lingering evidence of a suit system derived from early Arabic cards originating from the Mamluk Sultanate, which in turn spread to various parts of Europe during the 15th century. It seems that the original 52-card format was adjusted to 48 cards for practical reasons when woodblock printing was adopted to mass-produce cards. The cavalier of swords holds a double-panelled Saracenic shield which was common in Muslim-occupied Spain at that time, with a kind of double tassel made of silk and feathers. Thus the artist was copying what s/he could see in real life.

Images on this page of cards in the Museo "Fournier" de Naipes de Alava (Diputación Foral de Alava, Cuchillería 54, 01001 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain) are taken from Agudo Ruiz (2000) and Suarez Alba (1991). Used with permission.

See Online Catalogue of the Museo Fournier de Naipes de Álava►

¹ Note on the term "morisca": The moriscos were Muslims in Spain who, after the Reconquista in 1492, were required to convert to Christianity in order to remain in the territory. They were called "moriscos" to differentiate them from "moros," which referred to Muslims from North Africa. This was part of an effort by the Catholic Monarchs and their successors to unify the country under Christianity, especially after the fall of Granada in 1492.

Before the Reconquista, the moriscos, then simply known as Muslims or "Andalusians," were part of the multi-cultural Islamic society in Al-Ándalus, governed by Muslims from the 8th to the 15th centuries. Muslims, Christians and Jews coexisted. Most Muslims in Al-Ándalus were farmers, artisans, and merchants, and they introduced techniques like irrigation systems, waterwheels, and the cultivation of fruits and vegetables such as citrus, rice and sugarcane.