Playing cards have been popular since ancient times, with 52 cards being the standard. The French adapted the spade suit from German playing cards, with the king of spades representing aristocratic knights. French card makers saved time by carving the designs of the king, queen, and jack on wooden blocks or copper plates, making cards more affordable for ordinary people. As a result, French suits became the norm in Europe and the rest of the world.
Playing cards have been a popular form of entertainment among adults and children all over the world since ancient times. The number of cards used in a card game varies from country to country, but in modern times 52 is generally an accepted standard. There are four suits – diamonds, spades, clubs and spades – and the king of spades lands heads last.
The origin of the king of spades is French; other European and non-European countries had a variety of different dress and characters. The French adapted the suit of spades from the suit of leaves which was used in German playing cards. It was common for the clothes to represent historical figures or the prevailing social class. While the German leaf dress was a representation of the middle class, the French spade dress came to represent the spearheads of aristocratic knights.
French card designers were the first to identify royals in suits with historical or existing royal characters. The cards usually bore the actual character’s name, but there was no standard consistency here. Because different designers had different preferences or loyalties, it was quite common for different cards to represent different royals. King David was a popular choice for the king of spades and was shown with a lyre and sword. In fortune-telling, where actual characters were not a requirement, the King of Spades was often portrayed as an intelligent and difficult character, most often a lawyer with shaky ethics.
The reason why the French King of Spades has become the standard in playing cards is due to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of French card makers. At a time when printing was a laborious and expensive process, they came up with a quick way to produce cards. Instead of carving each card separately, they carved the designs of the king, queen, and jack on wooden blocks or copper plates and used them for all suits. The suit symbols were added later with stencils.
The French printing process saved time and allowed French card makers to produce cards at a faster and more cost-effective rate than their European counterparts. As a result, it became possible for ordinary people to afford playing cards, and as more and more people bought the inexpensive French cards and learned to play the French suits, these started to be the norm on the European continent. The rest of the world soon followed suit.
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