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Thursday, October 9, 2008

Kings worth playing



Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
King of Spades = David (from the bible)
King of Clubs = Alexander the Great
King of Hearts = Charles (presumably after Charlemagne)
King of Diamonds = Caesar (presumably after Julius Caesar)


""In the standard English playing card deck, the king and the other face cards represent no one in particular (though the king of hearts is sometimes referred to as the "suicide king" due to the fact that he appears to be sticking his sword into his head). However, the court cards in a French deck do have names. Because the manufacture of playing cards was illegal in the UK during the Interregnum, when the English Restoration came and the court began playing card games, the suits in an English deck came from the French deck, but without all of the lore.

For a period, starting in the 15th century, French playing-card manufacturers assigned to each of the court cards names taken from history or mythology. This practice had largely disappeared by the 19th century.[1] The most common names for the kings were:[2]

R Represents Kings in a french deck