Deluy c.1490? Source / Bibliothèque nationale de France. The only survivors among Spanish-suited cards in France today are Aluette cards (primarily of Brittany) and the French Catalan pattern of the Eastern Pyrenees.Ībove: Latin-suited cards produced by J. They were also produced in France for home consumption in certain regions, and not necessarily for export.

Spanish-suited cards reached many different places, having spread along trade routes of the time or where there were dynastic connections. Some early French cards have Latin/Spanish suit symbols. Cartes à jouer d'un jeu au portrait de Lyon ► Latin-suited cards.If the French suit system was invented in circa 1480, the question arises what type of cards were the French using before that invention?Ībove: archaic cards with a suit of crescent moons and a court of king, queen and knave, coloured in red, violet, green and yellow, by F.

No-one knows what sort of cards these were as they did not survive. There is also the well-known account of a certain Jacquemin Grigonneur who in 1392 was paid 56 sols Parisis for three packs of gilded cards, painted with divers colours and several devices, to be carried to the king for his amusement. Indeed, an ordinance from Paris, 1377, forbade card games on workdays.Īnother ordinance from the city of Lille, dated 1382, when Lille belonged to France, forbade various games including dice and quartes (an early word for cards). It seems that the provinces bordering on Italy and Germany were the first to produce playing cards. Some of the oldest cards still in existence come largely from Lyons, a city in which the craft of cardmaking flourished from an early date and which became an important centre of French card-making. The game of Tarot was also brought from Italy into France.ĭuring the 16th and 17th centuries France was the major supplier of playing cards in Europe.

Card playing was introduced into France at an early date.

Uncut 1st playing cards