A military commander in the French army, who was in combat along with Joan of Arc was also an artisan who designed and crafted cards. His name was Etienne de Vignolles, AKA La Hire. Saint Joan so impressed him with her courage and heroic deeds that he removed the knight in the deck in favor of a dame. Decorating cards with religious motifs, or those depicting human forms were not a problem to the Catholic Church. King David was symbolized in the deck with the king of spades with sword in hand and quiver at his feet. Charles the Great was represented by the king of clubs, Julius Caesar became the king of diamonds, and Alexander the Great, the king of hearts. The four sources of western civilization were thus represented by the four kings.

Today’s Queens and Jacks did not evolve as consistently. Athena represented the queen of spades, undoubtedly also drawn to be reminiscent of the soldier, Joan of Arc. Rachel, for whom Jacob hung around for 14 years to marry was the queen of diamonds. Oddly, the queen of hearts was depicted by Judith, the lovely maiden who lopped off the head of Holofernes. Now it gets complicated: the queen of clubs was an amalgamation of an abstract favorite of kings, termed Argine, which may have been named for an anagram of regina (queen). But again, it could have been used to suggest Joan of Arc as the king of clubs was depicted by Charles the Great, a very distinguished French Catholic honcho.

A knight from Charlemagne’s court served as prototype for the jack of spades; Hector – for diamonds; la Hire for hearts; and Judas Maccabeus for clubs. As a variation of this, the four jacks represented four famous knights, with their names printed below them on the cards: Lancelot, Ogier, Roland, and Valery. Youthful, beardless, warriors with long haircuts wielded a battle axe. All except Valery (who happened to be the chief craftsman of that deck) had a scent hound at their feet.

Still lower on the scale came the cards from 10 to 2, marked by the appropriate number of suit symbols, greatest value accorded to the greater number. The English word “Ace” first meant “unit,” and had French, Spanish, German and other equivalents: as, aas, ass, etc. The Ace stood lower on the scale than 2. However, the medieval Catholic Church viciously opposed such a classification. God was “one,” and hence any game or numeric system which defined His number as the lowest was blaspheme and Satan’s work. Anyone who would not agree had to be convinced by an array of means which were difficult to argue with down at the basement.

The Ace stands today for something almost metaphysical – the quintessence of oneness, if you will, which becomes more valuable than any one personification. In reality, should a lone, simple card be given such mystical attributes?

The question remains as arguable today as it was during the middle ages. In many countries there is no clear cut distinction between spiritual and earthly values, both being essential to present-day self definition. Today perhaps more than ever, any good citizen reveres the national, the mystical, the quantum-physical, and the downright pornographic of Esquire decks. The Ace is all or nothing, depending on how you see the contemporary concoction of concepts, and symbolizes best, perhaps, a kind of postmodern rhetorical indeterminacy which can take you anywhere or nowhere.

Back to earth – cards serve the same purpose today as they did back in the middle ages. The rank of cards in the deck possibly reflecting back on the rank of humanity in society, from monarch to serf, with value depending upon rarity and the specific results of thousands of combinations.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives PKR Rakeback and True Poker Rakeback.

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