Card game with Caesar and Lancelot

Playing cards originated in East Asia, the earliest playing cards can be traced back to the 12th century in Korea and China. From Asia the cards came to Europe, first to Italy and France. In Italy, they are attested from the last third of the 14th century.

The rapid spread of the card game, in connection with money stakes and an accompanying increase in gambling debts soon provoked urban authorities, who often reacted with restrictions and prohibitions.

In several countries, playing cards became taxable soon after their introduction and were therefore stamped by the sovereign who collected the tax. It was not until 1939 that the playing card tax was abolished in Germany.

Incidentally, the court cards Jack, Queen and King represent different historical or mythological persons:
- King of Clubs: Alexander the Great
- King of Spades: David
- King of Hearts: Charlemagne
- King of Diamonds: Julius Caesar
- Queen of Clubs: Juno Regina (Roman chief goddess and wife of Jupiter and patroness of marriage)
- Queen of Spades: Pallas Athena (Greek goddess of wisdom)
- Queen of Hearts: Judith (biblical ideal of piety)
- Queen of Diamonds: Rachel (biblical figure as ideal of beauty)
- Jack of Clubs: Lancelot, the knight of Arthurian legend
- Jack of Spades: Hogier (Holger Danske), an antagonist of Charlemagne, king in Denmark
- Jack of Hearts: La Hire (Étienne de Vignolles), a soldier at the side of Joan of Arc
- Jack of Diamonds: Hector of Troy or Roland, a paladin of Charlemagne