King (playing card)
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The king is a playing card with a picture of a king on it. The usual rank of a king is as if it were a 13, that is, above the queen. In some games, the king is the highest-ranked card; in others, the ace is higher. (In pinochle, both the ace and the 10 rank higher than the king.)
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.
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]
- King of Spades: David (a biblical king)
- King of Hearts: Charles (presumably after Charlemagne)
- King of Diamonds: Caesar (presumably after Julius Caesar, dictator of the Roman Republic)
- King of Clubs: Alexander (king of Macedon)
[edit] References
- ^ "The Four King Truth" at the Urban Legends Reference Pages
- ^ "Courts on playing cards", by David Madore, with illustrations of the Anglo-American and French court cards
