The Valet de Coeur – Jack of Hearts – was the formidable French soldier, La Hire the Jack of Spades is Hogier, a Danish hero and Hector of Troy, a crusading knight, became the Jack of Diamonds, perhaps meeting Lancelot, Jack of Clubs, at the Round Table. Kings and Queens made unlikely couples: the Queen of Hearts is Judith, the fearsome widow from the Old Testament the Queen of Spades is Pallas, Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare Rachel, the Queen of Diamonds, is another biblical figure and la Dame du Trèfle – Queen of Clubs – is Argine, an anagram of Regina, and thought to be Marie d’Anjou. The market for card games is driven by factors such as. The face cards aren’t just royalty but are drawn from history, mythology and the Bible: the King of Hearts is Charlemagne the King of Spades is David, who dealt with the biblical Goliath the King of Diamonds, armed with a battle axe, represents Julius Caesar and the King of Clubs is Alexander the Great. Card games are popular across all age groups and are played for both entertainment and gambling purposes. Historians suggest these suits represent the four classes of medieval society the court or clergy, the military, the mercantile class and the agrarian peasantry.
The French deck consisted of: the Coeur, a Heart the Pique, a pike staff equivalent to Spades the Carreau, a tile, equal to Diamonds and the Trefle, a three-foil representing a clover, or Clubs.
